Chueca & Malasaña – Local tips (art & culture)

Living up to every jazz club’s expectations, El Junco starts late and keeps things very laid back.

The smoky atmosphere is packed full of musicians, students and other cool-looking people. It’s jazz, man. Saturday nights are purely DJs; Sunday nights are reserved for the blues, appropriately so for those of us who have to work on Mondays; while Tuesday nights are jam sessions for local musicians.

Between sets DJs spin jazzy beats – sometimes more funky, sometimes more electronic, but the live shows will have you tapping your feet, snapping your fingers and possibly scatting if you’ve had enough drinks.

Entrance is free except Friday and Saturday after 01:30, but it can fill up fast depending on the night. Check the website for the monthly line up of events.

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El Junco | Art & culture, Bars, Music | Fancy drink € 8.00
Plaza Santa Bárbara 10 | Chueca & Malasaña | +34913192081
23:00 – 06:00 daily

Madrid’s best second-hand English bookstore also has beer, coffee, quiz nights, snacks and great company.

J&J Books and Coffee is a well-known local haven for expats to collapse into friendly English conversations (Spanish is also spoken!) and to buy second-hand books. Wednesday and Thursday nights are “intercambio” nights to chat alternatively in Spanish and English, while Friday night turns into the rowdiest collection of intellectuals competing at trivia.

During the day the upstairs bar ranges from mellow to lively for coffee drinkers and book perusers, while the downstairs is full of thousands of books.

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J&J Books and Coffee | Art & culture, Bars, Coffee & tea, Shopping | Coffee € 1.25
Espiritu Santo, 47 | Chueca & Malasaña | +34915218576
Mon – Thu & Sat 11:00 – 00:00, Fri 11:00 – 02:00, Sun 16:00 – 22:00

While strolling around Malasaña, you can’t miss the colorful tile facade of the Juanse Pharmacy. Dating back to the early 1900s, the pharmacy and laboratory Juanse made their own concoctions and medicines (nowadays it’s a normal pharmacy).

The tile display has suffered some graffiti attacks in the recent years, but you can still enjoy their giant ads for toothache powder (the woman clutching her jaw with a handkerchief really looks like she’s in pain) and my favorite: the ad for diarrhea medicine showing a sad child hovering over a chamber pot.

Chances are we’ve all had embarrassing ailments, so here is beautiful tile-work to pay public homage.

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Juanse Pharmacy | Art & culture | Free
Calle San Andres / Calle San Vicente Ferrer | Chueca & Malasaña
24 hours daily

More than just a cafe, this old staple of Madrid is a music and poetry venue. Almost every famous songwriter, musician, and poet has passed through this decadent and charming hangout.

It´s actually one of my favourites because every time I go, it reminds me all its history. The building started as a cow house, then it changed into a wine house and used to be the place where Journalists and writers gathered.

From 1975, it is a cafe. It has an “L” shape so when you first enter there´s a bar and, if you walk further, you´ll find a small stage for the shows. On this stage there is still a real “pianola” dated from the beginning of the last century. And it works!

Most of the very popular Spanish singer-songwriters as Pedro Guerra, Rosana, Tontxu or Kiko Tovar started here. Nowadays, it´s a very well known cafe in Spain and Latin America. Not only that: right now you can enjoy storytelling for adults, photography and painting exhibitions or poetry reading, as the selection varies depending on the day. Its owner, Ricardo del Olmo, is promoting new talents and wants to consider this place as a cultural reference. I think he´s doing a great job!

Café Libertad 8 is located close to a lot of bars, in the Chueca district, so it could be the beginning of a long night out in the city! Enjoy!

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Libertad 8 | Art & culture, Bars, Music
C/ Libertad 8 | Chueca & Malasaña | +34915321150
Mon – Fri 17:00 – 02:30, Sat 18:00 – 03:00, Sun 15:00 – 00:30