A great venue to go to see a stand up comedian; more intimate and much more civilised say than…read moreMiddlesbrough Town Hall. The staff are friendly and attentive and the recently renovated bar is nice, if a little cold and functional, but there's never too long a wait to be served and the drinks choice and prices are good for a theatre. Apparently, with the current local government cuts, the theatre is now under threat of closure. Please pledge your support by signing the petition on your next visit.

A great place to go to see a band or stand up act. The cinema is great showing some good stuff I…read morewouldn't normally get chance to see. The updated bar is quite nice but I wish it wasn't quite as contemporary as it is. It can feel a little cold and unwelcoming (if not for this I'd certainly use it as my local) but aside from that it's a great place.

The Darlington Media Group is a unique media resource for Darlington and the north east of England…read more They provide darkrooms, digital photography facilities, broadband and wireless internet access, video production equipment and post production facilities up to HD standard. All the facilities are open to anyone for a small fee. They host Darlington's only programme of photographic exhibitions in Decisive Moment Gallery. The work and facilities are backed up by a varied education programme, offering users the skills needed to create their own media works. They aim to meet the needs of anyone, from skilled practitioners to people who are just starting out in developing their skills and practice. They have a long history of work with community groups to help them develop and use media skills. The Decisive Moment Gallery is an exciting new venue dedicated to the best in photography. It programmes 6 exhibitions each year, drawn from the work of photographers both at home and abroad. Currently it's showing work from an East German photographer, but this is constantly changed programme. It has a regular annual competition in conjunction with Darlington Council called the Big Snap.

Great shop on three floors: art, cards, gifts, kitchenware, jewellery, clothes.. And a fab little…read moreself service coffee shop on the first floor. Tea, coffee, hot choccie.and some lush cakes. Cosy sofas, great music playing (Bob Dylan as I sit here writing this). Oh and free wifi :)

I nipped into Dalesway Gallery, situated in the lovely little market town of Ilkley, just to…read morepurchase some birthday cards actually. I work in an office with a great deal of people and as a rule we generally make an effort to buy birthday cards for people's birthdays. I'm usually pretty useless at this sort of thing, and I've little excuse, but I am forever forgetting to give cards. In a surprising moment of preparedness I made the move towards Dalesway in order to stock up. Although cash-wise this was a bad idea (it wouldn't have worked out to bulk buy according to my wallet ... ) it was a great idea art wise to pop in! I hadn't actually noticed that they sold art works as well as cards, I was being that one track minded! Inside there were a number of lovely special arty cards, some funny ones with animals, some beautiful landscape photography ones, some vintage style ones and so on. They also had a number of prints and art works on sale too. There were these huge framed prints in the window, one of a vase of flowers (a proper above-the-fireplace type of picture) and another two of these purple field scenes. As well as those they had some interesting 'fashion' prints of men and women dressed in lovely clothing only none of those images included the person's face. I realise as I write that it sounds macabre, but it wasn't really! Anyway, an interesting bimble worth the visit.

At first I hated this place because it involved the demolition of my two favourite places, the…read moreDovecot arts centre and the Cannon Cinema. But it grew on me. It is big and yellow and was shut down for a year or so because of mis-management. A bit of the wall revolves because of 'art.' The outside is spoilt by metal walkways to save on cleaning costs. There is one big theatre, a smaller auditorium used for stand up gigs, a gym, a cinema and rehearsal rooms, as well as bars and restaurants. It is a little too big for the area but I think the guys have got their act together in terms of publicity so that people in the area who want to go know when stuff's on. It really comes alive during Stockton festival, when all the weird european street performers use it as a base. If you're in the area this is the best place to go for a night out.

I Love this show - its the last friday of every month and they do a couple of special gong shows…read moreeach year - watch out for those in the arc brochure. The setting up stairs is excellent you can either reserve seats for larger groups or just turn up on the night. You have a choice of sitting at a table or sitting in stadium seating up the side. Only complaint I have is that the breaks between acts where you have time to go to the bar are too long - they are supposed to be 15 mins but are always at least 30 mins as the staff try and get people in from the bar area - you can bring your drinks into the show with you. By the end of the night people are getting a little rowdy as a lot of alcohol is consumed. But very good fun.