The Macbeth

Tumbledown old boozer with a roof 'garden' (read: smoking/breathing space) dedicated to giving young, new bands a stage on which to strut their (still developing) stuff. It boasts plenty of familiar, now highly successful names on its list of performing alumni, including Ladyhawke, The xx, Paloma Faith and The Cribs, not to mention the likes of Franz Ferdinand, who treated excited and sweaty, sardined-in fans to a preview of their upcoming third album here in June 2008. A handy staggering distance from Old Street, it's a seven-day-a-week destination venue for all sounds fresh and (at least potentially) happening.