Little more than five years ago, you could count the amount of decent boozers in Kirkcaldy on one hand.
These days the number has doubled and that's without taking into account all the quieter midweek haunts in the area.
Now Fifers, as everyone surely knows, are up there with Glaswegians and Aberdonians when it comes to handling their drink.
But what use does Kirkcaldy really have for another fancy pre-club establishment when most other joints there have recently been revamped and refitted?
Even Wetherspoon's have one of their flat-pack pubs in the town. Well, Bar None's definitely better than a Wetherspoon's. But then, your local flea pit probably has more character (and a jukebox), so that isn't really saying much.
What Bar None does have - once you get past the cool blue neon signage and the surprisingly friendly bouncers - is a seating area that feels a little like an intimate cafe area.
That's not surprising, because the place actually used to be a video shop. Quite a sizeable one, mind you, but still not the sort of place you'd expect to find a thriving weekend atmosphere.
Once you head through the back, it's immediately obvious some pretty major surgery was carried out on the building during the refurbishment. There isn't an Arnie movie or a dog- eared copy of Weird Science to be found, just a massive two-level affair with the bar area downstairs and a plusher- looking restaurant upstairs.
The restaurant is off-limits after mealtimes, although you can see through the glass panelling that surrounds the first floor balcony that it's nicely fitted- out.
Although the name of the place is more than a bit similar to the All Bar One chain, Bar None definitely isn't playing the middle-class sophistication card - at least, not on weekend nights.
Instead, they run an early-evening office party on Fridays with cheap drinks, DJs and a free buffet. In keeping with the plentiful seating and all the floorspace to stand in by the bar, it's a pack- 'em-in-and-get-'em-drunk sort of affair - one which caters nicely for people who want to make a night of it and get round early licensing laws.
With DJs on Thursday to Saturday and a big screen behind the bar showing video feed of them changing the CDs, the place feels almost like a nightclub - but without the dancefloor.
If you can get over the dizzying orange colour scheme and the matching uniforms the staff wear, Bar None's a perfectly good place to start your night's entertainment.
Open: Mon-Sun, noon-midnight
Food: Mon-Sun, noon-2.30pm; Wed-Sun, 6-9.30pm
Drinks: Pint of Tennent's, £2.20; bottle of Red Square, £2.50; vodka and coke, £2.00.
Rating: 3 star
Details
01592 641 741
That's not surprising, because the place actually used to be a video shop. Quite a sizeable one, mind you, but still not the sort of place you'd expect to find a thriving weekend atmosphere.
Once you head through the back, it's immediately obvious some pretty major surgery was carried out on the building during the refurbishment. There isn't an Arnie movie or a dog- eared copy of Weird Science to be found, just a massive two-level affair with the bar area downstairs and a plusher- looking restaurant upstairs.
The restaurant is off-limits after mealtimes, although you can see through the glass panelling that surrounds the first floor balcony that it's nicely fitted- out.
Although the name of the place is more than a bit similar to the All Bar One chain, Bar None definitely isn't playing the middle-class sophistication card - at least, not on weekend nights.
Instead, they run an early-evening office party on Fridays with cheap drinks, DJs and a free buffet. In keeping with the plentiful seating and all the floorspace to stand in by the bar, it's a pack- 'em-in-and-get-'em-drunk sort of affair - one which caters nicely for people who want to make a night of it and get round early licensing laws.
With DJs on Thursday to Saturday and a big screen behind the bar showing video feed of them changing the CDs, the place feels almost like a nightclub - but without the dancefloor.
If you can get over the dizzying orange colour scheme and the matching uniforms the staff wear, Bar None's a perfectly good place to start your night's entertainment.
Open: Mon-Sun, noon-midnight
