IT MAY surprise you to learn that The Berkeley Suite hosts Scotland's only weekly reggae and dance hall session.

This hip Charing Cross basement is a den of many things, but home to the entire country's sole regular reggae night?

Even more surprising is that The Suite's atmosphere – all red velvet, gold fittings and dark corners – is perfect for this sort of affair.

Amid the clamour on the dancefloor there was a communal lack of pretence here when it's full of asymmetric Shoreditch wannabes.

On the mic was Speng Bond, the 80s dancehall kingpin, waxing lyrical over frighteningly fat basslines as the front rows moved as one – skanking, hands in the air, grins etched on faces. That was last Thursday.

The previous night had been a world apart.

French electro producer College, aka David Grellier, unleashed his Daft Punk-esque nostalgic dance on a full house who were mostly seated throughout.

It was a gig with a difference: College's music features heavily in last year's neo-noir drama Drive, and a screening of the film was shown after he played – hence the seats.

It might have worked better had the order been reversed – watch the film, then rave – as Grellier's driving, pulsating synths and relentless 4/4 bass drum made sitting down impossible.

But if the scheduling was based on female eye candy, then the Frenchman – bald, bespectacled but still cool – followed by the demi-god that is Ryan Gosling, was pretty much spot on.