Art + clubbing, Manchester

There are cities where it always pays to press on down dark alleys into apparently derelict buildings in search of good things. Berlin is one and in Manchester, Kraak, hidden in an old textile warehouse on the fringes of the Northern Quarter, brings a little of that same grimy excitement. It's primarily a cheap, malleable exhibition space used by local visual artists, but the adjacent Kraak Venue also hosts underground club nights. Recent parties have run the gamut stylistically from a showcase for Manc indie label Akoustik Anarkhy to dissenting house music night Backtofront. On 20 August, New York techno producer Adam X brings his tough love, at Mitternacht.
• Stevenson Place, off Stevenson Square (07855 939129, kraak.co.uk)

Art + hair salon + music + food, Belfast

Originally, this was going to be a hairdressing salon where Emma Gilles would ply her trade. Crafty, however, has grown into a delightful, if difficult to define, shop, salon and tea room, where Gilles explores her favourite things: music, art, fashion, design, food. You can, as planned, get your hair cut, but you can also buy antiques, work by young Northern Irish designers and artists or customised clothing, or take a seat and graze on cakes. On Saturdays, it's "tea and tunes" time, with up-and- coming Belfast musicians and DJs.
• 29 Wellington Place (07599 289176, craftybelfast.com)

Art + cafe + theatre + music + publishing, Edinburgh

Vegetarian cafe, art gallery, radical theatre, music venue, literary forum, yoga and massage centre, ad hoc language college: it is almost easier to list what this iconic venue doesn't do. Volunteer-run, not-for-profit The Forest is also home to rehearsal studios, artists' workshops, a screenprinting facility, an avant-garde music label, Forest Records, and its own publishing imprint. Although, potentially, not for long. A change of landlord means the Forest's future is uncertain, and the team is busily raising funds in order to ensure its existence after 31 August. Go, eat, create, donate. It could be your last chance for a while.
• 3 Bristo Place (0131-220 4538, blog.theforest.org.uk)

Cinema + contemporary art, Derby

For indie cinema and contemporary art gallery in one, head to QUAD for foreign-language films, album-listening club the Long Player, and a monthly eclectic DJ session called This Song Will Change Your Life. This month, QUAD also opens Ha Ha Road, an exhibition exploring humour in modern art (12 August to 23 October). A collection of absurd artworks will be accompanied by special events including an attempt by the 1623 Theatre Company to prove that – no, really – Shakespeare can be funny. There's also a great bar and restaurant.
• Market Place, Cathedral Quarter (01332 290606, derbyquad.co.uk)

Art + clubbing, Glasgow

This one-time tobacco warehouse by the Clyde is home to around 120 creative souls and, after several years of building a head of steam, it is increasingly opening to the public. SWG3's gallery spaces, which spill out into the adjacent railway arches, have been showing specially curated work for several years, but from September the refit of its 500-capacity live venue will be complete and it will start opening two or three nights a week. The Electric Frog street and warehouse party (10 and 11 September), part-programmed by local DJ heroes Optimo and headlined by the Fall and Mogwai, will christen the new venue.
• 100 Eastvale Place (0141-357 7246, swg3.tv)

Bar + cafe + craft workshops, London

Aimed at those for whom an interest in cakes, craft skills and good interior design overlap, Drink, Shop & Do is simultaneously a cafe and cocktail bar, a forum for creative play and a design store where the line between fixtures, fittings and retail products is artfully blurred. Basically, everything you can see is for sale, from the knives and forks to the art on the walls. Most of it in a vintage kitsch style. DS&D showcases the work of around 30 new London designers but after dark, it's your time to get creative. Monthly events range from papier-maché monster-making (11 August) and a "1950s pin-up" hairstyling and make-up evening (18 August), to musical bingo (25 August).
• 9 Caledonian Road (0203-343 9138, drinkshopdo.com)

Tea room + film + music + chess, Liverpool

Ostensibly, Leaf is a tea room and cafe, and a good one, too. Its homebaked cakes are great, as are its loose-leaf teas, and the kitchen delivers sharply executed breakfast and lunch dishes (mains around £7). At the same time, Leaf is also a constantly mutating creative space: one that, in any given month, will host cinema nights, connoisseur club events, acoustic gigs, and life-drawing classes. A chess club launched with an evening of WuChess, as devised by the Wu-Tang Clan's GZA. Look out for the expert-led Craft Creative classes (18 and 31 August) and the Retro Sundays mini vintage market (last Sunday of the month).
• 65-67 Bold Street (0151-707 7747, thisisleaf.co.uk)

Studios + theatre venue + bar, Salford

Britain's most bohemian back-street boozer, the Kings Arms, comprises several artist-maker studios and a top-floor events space which is home to theatre collective, Studio Salford, and also used for left-field music and film events. Downstairs, you will find a good selection of European beers and real ales at the bar, and a book club and free comedy nights in the snug. It is a friendly, unpretentious nucleus of activity, well worth the short walk from Manchester city centre. Even if you just want a pint.
• 11 Bloom Street (0161-832 3605, studiosalford.com, myspace.com/kingsarmssalford)

Cafe + film + music venue, Nottingham

Just across the road from the Broadway (broadway.org.uk), Nottingham's arthouse cinema, Lee Rosy's serves speciality tea and cake, and offers a platform to the "creatively afflicted". There are cult and locally made film screenings, a knitting circle, live gigs and theatre and performance art. On the first Thursday of each month the basement is taken over by Gambling Lambs (gamblinglambs.com), a group of card/board/computer games enthusiasts who, not content with KerPlunk, have invented their own.
• 17 Broad Street (0115-959 8890, lee-rosy.co.uk)

Cafe + art + craft market, Cardiff

Milgi describes itself as "chameleonic", and who could argue with a cafe-bar which, as well as delivering good cocktails and vegetarian food (it went fully veggie after polling customers), is an exhibition space for installation art, offers life drawing classes in its yurt, and runs the monthly Northcote Lane vintage-craft market (first Sundays). For something a little noisier, try Milgi's sister venue, the impeccably now bar, club and creative hub Cardiff Arts Institute (cardiffartsinstitute.org).
• 213 City Road (029-2047 3150, milgilounge.com)