Whether you’re out with your friends, as a couple, with work colleagues or the kids, Bournemouth can offer you a great night out. With restaurants serving cuisine from all around the world to cocktail bars mixing up a storm, places to dance, places to chat and places to play, there’ll be a venue in town to suit your mood.
Looking for live music, karaoke, no music at all? Bournemouth offers a melting pot of nights out to match your plans. From night clubs to wine bars, restaurants to late-night cafes, cinemas to theatres, gentlemen’s clubs to casinos and everything in between, if you thought Bournemouth was amazing in the daytime, watch it come alive at night.
Discover The Triangle
Starting at the top of town in The Triangle and this friendly village is packed with places to mix and mingle.
Canvas is a London-style loft bar and live music venue. The doors open from 5pm Wednesdays to Sundays and admission is free unless they are hosting a ticketed event in the Live Lounge. They get a lot of big artists and DJs but still manage to keep a low-key vibe.
The Winchester just next door a bar dedicated to showcasing and celebrating arts, music and entertainment with a live act every night of the week whether theatre, dance, spoken word or clubland experience.
Just next door is Does Your Mother Know, or DMYK. This is a modern and stylish bar and club open from 4pm with live DJs and events most evenings.
The Xchange Club is an ‘attitude free bar’ – Bournemouth’s longest-running gay bar (still going strong after 27 years), which prides itself on being fun, friendly and prejudice free. There are two dance floors and a variety of live acts most days of the week. The Xchange was so-named because back in the day it had telephones on all the tables you could use to dial in to anyone who caught your eye – a feature sadly retired in the smartphone age!
Heart of town
Head down Commercial Road on the way through to town and you’ll reach Halo, formerly The Landmarc, a converted church which is now a popular club venue. Halo has two bars on two floors and unsurprisingly great acoustics!
Just a few paces away on Terrace Road you get to Eden, a garden bar and club with its own Live Music Club welcoming acts from jazz and blues right through to slash metal! The garden area has a retractable roof so you can enjoy alfresco drinking and dining all year round!
A venue that demands attention is the LEVEL8IGHT Skybar in the Hilton Hotel. This lofty venue offers views across the rooftops of Bournemouth across the gardens and out to the coast. So, throw on your finery and order yourself a cocktail!
Exploring Exeter Road
Head along Exeter Road past the vast Bh2 complex of 13 restaurants and 10-screen Odeon cinema with iSense technology and you get to the Bonsai Lounge. This exclusive, Oriental-themed venue welcomes the town’s well-groomed and offers a classy and contemporary night out.
If you want something a little more ‘beachy,’ The Lost Paradise just downstairs is a real breath of fresh air. This Balinese cocktail bar, club and restaurant combines beach barbecue with a tropical party whether popping in for post-work drinks or here for the long-haul.
Just along the road in the Royal Exeter Hotel you’ll find Bar So. This contemporary bar, restaurant and nightclub has two large outdoor terraces a stone’s throw from the Bournemouth International Centre with cocktail bar and downstairs club and dance floor.
The Royal Exeter has another trick up its sleeve with 1812, its very own chilled and sophisticated lounge bar, live music venue and restaurant. It is named after the year the building was established – the mansion home to Captain Lewis Tregonwell, the founder of the town.
Beach-front attractions
Follow the sea breeze right to the mouth of the Pier and you’ll find Aruba, a laid-back venue with a split personality.
By day it welcomes beach visitors, business meetings, friendly gatherings and sandy families but by night the lights go down and the music goes on for the ultimate beach party with the best sea views.
Approaching Horseshoe Common
Head across to the junction of Old Christchurch Road and Horseshoe Common and you’ll find Cameo and MYU Bar just along Fir Vale Road. This vast venue spans four rooms giving you a great variety of music and club style plus VIP booths.
Along Old Christchurch Road
Head out on to the main Old Christchurch Road and the first venue you encounter is popular Australian-themed Walkabout bar. Expect themed nights, Aussie-style big-eats and lots of live sport!
Camel Bar and Hookah lounge a little further along is an Egyptian-themed venue with bubbling shisha pipes, live DJs and chilled out garden area.
Next stop, Bar Republiq (formerly 176), a Manhattan-styled ‘secret VIP boutique club’ heavily influenced by New York’s socialite party scene with cocktails, champagne and exclusive live events.
Revolution by comparison is a vast venue offering a warm welcome to people and parties of all sizes. Part of the national vodka chain, expect an extensive cocktail list, live DJs and lots of fun.
Around the Lansdowne
Approaching the Lansdowne area of town you reach Le Chic, a swish lounge, bar and club where sass and style rule.
Right on the roundabout is O’Neill’s, the Irish chain pub offering live music and DJs, live sport and Irish-themed pub grub.
Heading up Holdenhurst Road you get to The Old Fire Station, the oldest student union venue in the UK with three rooms of music and four bars. It runs a variety of themed nights for the town’s student population and also welcomes world-class acts on public ticketed tours.
Something for everyone
This is only a quick snapshot of venues offering nightlife around the centre of Bournemouth. You’ll find lots of live music and entertainment in many of the town’s hotels and restaurants, intimate performances and global-name entertainers all bustling for attention.
Add to this Bournemouth’s theatres, bingo halls, sports facilities and late night cafes – plus its unbeatable natural attractions including the beautiful coastline and tranquil parkland and you’ll find something to surpass all expectations for a great night out.