BOX

SURROUNDED by much cooler bars with better bands and better-dressed patrons, Box has its work cut out just getting punters through the door.

Thankfully, it maintains a core customer base of boys in indie bands, youngsters who don't know any better, and grizzled old rockers who really should know better but simply don't care.

Positioning itself as a platform for raw local talent, the quality control when it comes to picking the acts is non-existent, which at least gives young bands the shot at a no-pressure gig when they're in their formative stages.

It also gets some great PR.

The cast of Still Game helped the pub hit the headlines last year by turning up at its regular Still Game quiz night, and it boasts a strong connection with ICW, the Glaswegian wrestling troupe who have featured in a couple of highly entertaining BBC Scotland documentaries.

A video of wrestlers Jack Jester and Red Lightning "brawling" in the bar went viral recently, and Jester is a regular guest DJ.

That's fine for wrestling fans, but the mass appeal of a DJ set from Grado - the self-described "chubby wee chancer fae the tap end of Stevenston" - cannot be emphasised enough.

It's the difference between a bar full of sweaty adult men who are into wrestling, and a bar full of the people who have delighted in Grado's comic genius - that is to say, everyone in Scotland.

Until then, it shall probably remain the preserve of first-gig teens and people waiting until The Garage opens.