It is difficult to overstate the importance of the Subbie to Glasgow’s clubbing scene. This is a venue with a rich history, a roster of respected residents, and a global reputation for parties that cater to the truly discerning dance fan.

Without a doubt it is Scotland’s most important club, but its name resonates far beyond this country. In April, a feature by the tastemaking Australian site In the Mix named it as their best small club in the world. World-famous DJs - from Derrick May to James Murphy to Tiga - have taken to its booth and later went on to tell interviewers and their peers that it is a must-visit.

So its absence from these pages over the past few months, as it has undergone a complete refurbishment, has been keenly felt. On any given weekend the Jamaica Street sweatbox is the town’s safest bet for a top night out, so being without it has been a bit like losing a limb. Dancefloors as diverse as SWG3 and The Waverley have filled in, but a substitute is never as good as the real thing, is it?

Mercifully, the Subbie-shaped void in our nightlife is about to be filled. The club reopens tomorrow night and its first party is hosted by local crew Thunder Disco Club – they of the elastic basslines, sleazy house beats and generally louche vibes. Their guest is Agoria, who seems a perfect fit. The French favourite, who grew up in the country’s bucolic rural south-east before seeing Jeff Mills in Lyon at a young age, spins “deep, stripped-back, melodic techno tracks,” but don’t let that fool you: the guy can mix it with sophisticated disco and borderline-lewd funk as well. Support comes from Hammer and Jube.

On Saturday, the dons of underground house are back in their spiritual home as Harri and Dom headline the first Subculture in months. They’ll ramp up the hysteria with four hours of roof-raising house as the club’s regulars settle into their new surroundings. And when it’s over? Well, we do it all again next week, don’t we?

• Thunder Disco Presents Agoria, tomorrow, Sub Club, 11pm – 3am, £10

• Subculture, Saturday, Sub Club, 11pm – 3am, £10

Bucky Skank

Reggae fans unite: on Saturday, Optimo’s fifth annual celebration of Jamaican soundsystem culture takes over The Art School. JD Twitch and JG Wilkes don’t just spin beat-driven dancefloor oddities: they’re experts at dropping weighty, bass-driven reggae and dub, too. Combine this with a dancefloor packed with tonic wine-fuelled scamps and you have a recipe for chaos of the best kind.

• Bucky Skank, Saturday, The Art School, 11pm – 3am, £6

Lebowski’s South Opening Party

When I moved to Shawlands five years ago, I never could have envisioned the wave of gentrification triggered by my arrival. It took a while, but the area’s businesses – finally cottoning on to the lavish spending power and taste for the finer things in life that all freelance journalists enjoy – have been transforming their offerings appropriately. The dowdy Corona has been replaced by the shabby chic Butterfly and Pig (goodbye £3 bottle of Echo Falls, hello £5 pint of Moretti!). The Polish deli is gone and there’s now a Harvest Grain market across the street, where a kilo of quinoa. The greasy spoon café has made way for Strange Brew, where I get my Saturday morning flat white and smashed avocado on toast. Is all of this a good thing? The answer, undoubtedly, is “yes”. No questions asked.

The old Sammy Dow’s in Strathbungo is one of the area’s most recent – and notable - victims. The local fixture made the transition from OAP rock hangout to pop-up hipster bar last summer, and has more recently been serving up modern-tinged Scots fare as the Stag’s Head. From tomorrow, though, Finnieston’s finest White Russian temple opens its doors in the Southside, serving up delicious milky delights to the good people of the Bungo. If there’s a sure sign that an area is undergoing a redevelopment, it’s when the oldies have to make way for Coen Brothers-inspired cocktail lounges.

And in more good news for those south of the Clyde, the latest instalment of Shawlands’ premier soul night, Southside Soul, takes place on Saturday. Loraine Williams joins Felonious Munk on the decks for an evening of music for dancing, taking in soul, Motown, and ‘60s R&B – all strictly on vinyl. And with social club prices at the bar and home baking to nibble on, there’s a delightful community feel to the whole thing too. What’s not to love about that?

• Lebowski’s South Opening Party, tomorrow, Lebowski’s South, 7pm – 12am, free

• Southside Soul, Saturday, Pollok Ex-Services Club, 7pm – 12am, £5

Night Moves

23/06/2016

Hillhead Book Club

In these hipster end-times, naming your bar Hillhead Book Club would – depending on how you see things - appear pretentious at best and downright detestable at worst. The fixie bike-riding, artisanal bread-eating West End stereotype is now so universally derided that catering so specifically to them is almost asking for a bad-tempered Twitter storm to be unleashed on your business. It would be madness.

Luckily, the Book Club appeared on the scene six years ago, when being a hipster was still relatively cool. Its gramophone cocktail bowls (hi, We Want Plates campaigners) were quirky, its mismatched crockery and teacups cute. And its raucous BYOB launch party quickly became the stuff of legend – so much so that it became a yearly tradition that’s actually enjoyable, unlike all that Christmas stuff.

Four years on from opening, The Book Club is, without doubt, as wildly popular as it was when it appeared. Weekend nights here are rammed and DJs including Chicago deep house legend Felix da Housecat and shimmering, snaky beatmaker Floating Points have played at special bank holiday parties.

For all that the Southside is the “New West End,” there are still some things that Hillhead does better than anywhere else. The Book Club’s Vinicombe Street parties are always a bit wilder than Strathbungo’s annual Bungo in the Back Lanes. And this handsome, elegant building and its impressive interior has no comparison south of the Clyde. The West End might always teeter on the edge of becoming a parody of itself, but bars like the Book Club ensure that it remains the real deal.

Night Moves

23/06/2016

Hillhead Book Club

Q: What activity is top of your Glasgow bucket list?

1. Lee Johnston, 24, Paisley, “Go to Firewater”

Duncan Logie, 21, California, “A pakora sub crawl”

2. Chloe Gardener, 22. Dumbarton, “Visiting the Science Centre”

Dan Cruickshank, 21, Partick, “A trip to the late-night Gregg’s”

3. Beatrice Infrano, 23, Maryhill, “Sunset from the top of the University”

Arianna Pedrazzoli, 25, West End, “Kayaking down the Clyde”

Daniele Bicelli, 26, West End, “Get sunburned in Scotland”

4. Finlay McFadzean, 23, Kelvindale, “Go on a Maryhill safari”

Martje Rave, 21, Kelvindale, “A swim in the Clyde and the resulting course of antibiotics”

5. Imogen Carmichael-Jack, 21, Milngavie, “Ride a unicorn down Sauchiehall Street”

Hugo Drummond, 22, West End, “Play the clarinet in the Sub Club”

6. Molly D’Aguirlar, 21, Glasgow

Favourite Club? Sub Club

Favourite Bar? Hillhead Book Club

Favourite DJ? Jackmaster

Favourite Band? Sister Sledge

First Club? Viper

What You Drinking? Rum and Coke

Describe Your Dancing? Pretty amazing.

7. James Lind, 19, City Centre, “Be in the Evening Times”

Tom Stephenson, 21, East End, “Play a gig and have my friends actually turn up”