Club – Nasti
On the ever-changing night scene, Nasti Club remains avant garde 12 years after its opening. On the menu is live music and three different clubbing sessions over the weekend, mostly ironic electro and fun pop for the indie crowd. It has an underground atmosphere, but be prepared to queue.
• Calle San Vicente Ferrer 33 (Metro: Noviciado), nasti.es/nasti1. Open Fri-Sat approx 11pm-6am, from €6
Live music – Café Central
Open since 1982, the grandad of live music bars (not a popular concept in Madrid, excluding flamenco tablaos) offers jazz in the widest sense. Behind its red facade is a cosy decor of wooden chairs and marble tables at which you can drink (€2), eat (€10 menus on weekdays, €14 at weekends) and listen to international bands playing weekly programmes. It's open all year round, and the summer terrace is a hit.
• Plaza del Ángel 10 (Metro: Puerta del Sol). Open Sun-Thurs noon-2.30am, Fri-Sat noon-3.30am, €10-15 supplement during concerts
Neighbourhood bar – Tipos Infames
"Tormented by unemployment, Spain needs new firms like Tipos Infames," said the Economist in November 2011. The three brave entrepreneurs behind this bookshop/wine bar fight the crisis with combinations such as reading Picnic at Hanging Rock while enjoying a crisp Australian white. Their sleek premises embody the gentrification of the gritty Malasaña district into a chic paradise.
• Calle San Joaquín 3 (Metro: Tribunal), tiposinfames.com. Open daily 11am-3pm, 5pm-10.30pm
Cocktail bar – Del Diego
Now that the whole city seems to drink gourmet gin and tonics in specialised cocktail bars that open every other week (Spaniards are the world's third-biggest consumers of gin), the exquisite waiters at Del Diego keep mixing deliciously simple gin fizz and gimlet cocktails, in which you do not find cucumber slices or rose petals.
• Calle Reina 12 (Metro: Gran Vía). Open daily 7pm-3am, cocktails from €10
Tapas bar – Casa Labra
On 2 May 1879 ,Pablo Iglesias founded the Socialist Party in this taberna famous then, as it is now, for its bacalao – salt cod in the form of tajada (battered slice) or croqueta (croquette). There is also a sit-down restaurant.
• Calle Tetuán 12 (Metro: Puerta del Sol), casalabra.es. Open 9.30am to 3.30pm, 5.30pm to 11pm; restaurant, 1.15pm to 3:30pm and 8.15pm to 10pm. Tapas from €1.20
