Granero

What is it about this time round?

I will now talk a bit about one of the discos I have been to most this year in Granada. In fact, it is by far the one I’ve frequented most and you will soon understand why. I’m referring to Granero.

Where can we find this disco?

First and foremost, before describing where exactly is Granero, here goes its website: http://www.granerogranada.com/

So, going to the crux of what I want to explain in this section, “Granero, Café y Copas”, which is the full name you can see written on the signage, is found in Plaza Poeta Luis Rosales, without number. It lies exactly behind the local council, right next to Plaza Isabel la Católica and perpendicular to Calle Reyes Católicos, just opposite the Gran Via. Also, two minutes away is Plaza Nueva where there is the Court and then walking further down you get to Puerta Real with Burger King serving as a landmark, leading on to Calle Recogidas.

How can one get there in the easiest way possible?

Well, surely just like what applies to go to many places in the city, walking is always the best bet. There’s an open parking lot close by, as in the case of Mae West which is 15 minutes away. Then walking back to your car will be easy since it’s all downhill.

If you choose to go by bus, then it’s worth knowing that many of them can drop you off in Gran Vía, just a stone’s throw away from the disco. So in essence, getting there will not be a problem whatever means of transport you opt for.

What are its opening hours and on which days does it open?

It is clearly stated on its website that it opens every day of the week from 4pm to 6am, specifying that on weekends they close at 7am. As you can see, the opening hours are very flexible and remarkably extensive. This allows for a sustained vibe in Granero which is worth keeping in mind if you don’t have any particular place in mind to party tonight (to party, to just have a coffee or well, whatever you feel like! )

Furthermore, if on some night there are practically no people in the club, it will certainly close earlier but this is common practice and most probably you will already be feeling kind of prepared for that. If I have to be honest, there were times when I used to be at Granero every single day of the week, and there has always been a crowd, although from 3am onwards on Mondays, Tuesdays and occasionally also on Wednesdays, the crowd starts wearing thin. On the other hand, the place is jam packed with people on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays until 6 in the morning so consequently, you will not need to worry about being chucked out earlier than you had planned. On the contrary, you are guaranteed to have a good time.

Can you describe the place physically?

Once you get to the aforementioned square where the disco is, the first thing you will notice is that there are two entrances. You will see the first entrance if you come from Plaza Isabel la Católica. You will notice that immediately to your right there is a bench to sit on and a flight of steps a couple of metres away. It is constantly guarded by one or two bouncers depending on which day of the week it is, and there is almost never a long queue. In fact, getting in is easy, also because this entrance is used only on days on which business is slow, such as Tuesdays or Wednesdays. If you enter through this door, you will get to the main dance hall, which is not huge as I will describe later.

Another option for getting in is though a different entrance which is used on days when the place is pumping, as it typically is on Fridays and Saturdays. On a day like this, the queue will most probably stretch quite far regardless of the time. Therefore, if you don’t particularly enjoy queuing, I don’t suggest you visit this place on weekends. Needless to say, bouncers are stationed at this entrance as well. Going through this entrance, instead of getting to the main dance hall, you get to the lower floor, where you can leave your coat in the cloakroom or make use of the restrooms. This is also the room you need to go through in order to reach the VIP area, where you have to pay to get in and where I have not been as yet (I’ve heard it’s not exactly worth it, but I admit I’m curious about it).

Ok, so now we’re in and we know that the upper floor is the main dance hall whereas if you go to the lower floor, it’s either to collect your belongings from the cloakroom, use the restroom, go to the VIP area or just have a chat with the guy/girl you picked up whilst dancing. The restrooms are ample, there isn’t usually a long queue to use them and the lower floor is big enough to have a relaxed conversation without being pushed in all directions. Now that I’ve described the secondary areas, I will move on to the main hall upstairs where the dance floor is.

If you have come in through the entrance which leads directly to the upper floor, you will see a bar a few metres to your right and another one facing it around 5m away which is where everyone lets his/her hair down and dances the night away. Between these bars, which are modern and made out of marble, there are a number of parallel columns (actually just two), which give the impression that there are like three smaller halls within the same large hall. On the left hand side of the hall, and also on a small edge which goes around all walls and columns, you can leave your drink so that you don’t have to hold it constantly, just in case your favourite tune comes on and you feel like you’ll need all your bodyparts to dance to it.

Granero used to be an old granary, which is where the name derives from. It has gone through numerous refurbishments, until the desired modern ambiance was finally created, full of green and UV lights and well, many other colours which get you in the mood to dance away like there’s no tomorrow. Just a few metres away from the entrance, there are steps leading to the lower floor which I’ve already described and which I will refrain from talking about again (good idea yeah).

The DJ is situated at the end of the bar at the opposite end of the hall, in the corner in front of the entrance from which you can access the aforementioned area. Once again, the décor is modern and it is the perfect spot to be able to see what everyone in the hall is doing, allowing you to observe whether the crowd is moving to the music or else, dozing off.

What about how busy the club usually is and what type of people is it frequented by?

Regardless of at what time you drop by, there will always be people. The issue is how many people you feel comfortable being surrounded by and what type of person you are. This is because, of course, it’s one thing being the type of person that doesn’t mind having people constantly at inches from your face which indirectly encourages you to talk to them, and it’s a completely different thing if you all you care about is letting your hair down and dancing away on the dance floor. For the former type, the weekend is your ideal days to be there since the club is choc-a-block until the early hours of the morning. For the latter type, on the other hand, you’re better off going on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays (or maybe even on a Thursday depending on whether there’s some particular party on and what sort of vibe there is).

The crowd is usually composed of young people in their twenties, and you’re bound to hear people describing the club as a place for “guiris”, because most of those who go there are foreigners, especially on Wednesdays since the sort of atmosphere created is aimed at them. For the rest, you’ll be let in the club regardless of your attire and age. They’re usually not picky when it comes to whom to let in which is always a plus to keep in mind when deciding where to head to for your night out and why.

Surprisingly, it is frequented by a huge number of women, which for many men is an excellent reason to head to Granero without giving it too much thought. I said surprisingly because we all know that in the majority of other clubs and discos it’s the other way round. Maybe it’s because women tend to go more for the Erasmus experience, or maybe because on average, in Granada apparently there are more women than men (and I’m not complaining! )

In a few words, when the crucial hour of 3am starts approaching, most clubbers in Granero would have reached a point whereby there isn’t much left to do other than head home due to the quantity of alcohol going round in their stomachs. Men who have no idea where they are and who try their luck with just any woman, or woman who get so much in the mood that they start rubbing against whichever man happens to be closest and collecting more kisses than they would need to make them happy. What’s sure is that when the lights go up signaling everyone to go home, you’ll be able to notice that the place is littered with condoms, which I’m not sure is a sign that people had been having sex or maybe just that…that…I can’t think of any other scenario. It has to be that people have sex there (does someone have any other theory? )

In a general way, what does the place offer? And above all, what are the best things on offer?

On broad lines, it’s a disco so we can imagine that the majority of people there have been drinking and they just want to be somewhere where there’s a lot of people, where the temperature goes up and where they can listen to music. Some people just want to get lucky whilst others just want to shake the stress off and dance.

More specifically, there are a number of things that make you want to go back to Granero time and time again. Firstly, it’s the music they play. It’s not the usual run-of-the-mill remixes which ultimately make you feel like you’ve had enough and you just want to listen to something else and forget about all that happened in there. Granero changes the style of music from song to song, depending on the type of crowd or what sort of party is on. This is because, I repeat, as much as people may love latin music, reality is that sooner or later, when Hip-Hop or RnB comes on, the whole vibe changes. So in short, when it comes to the style of music, you can get to listen to Rock ‘n’ Roll, Hip-Hop, RnB, Salsa, Bachata, Reggaeton, Pop, Electro, Dance and even Swing. They keep changing the style of music, so time flies by really quick.

Another particular thing about Granero is that if you’re not shy, you can also dance on the bar, which will always liven up the party. Let’s admit it, we have all stopped to watch that one person who climbs up on the bar to dance without a single care in the world. Completely legit, especially if you like dancing and it happens to be a night when there’s just no space to move around; getting on the bar will be your opportunity to get your groove on. However, being that I’ve done this a couple of times, I have to give you a suggestion: be careful because of the size of the bar and the lights, since you can hit your head against the lights every 1. 5m and the bar is barely 70cm wide. So if you’re not aware of what you can and cannot do once you’re on the bar, maybe it’s best not to risk it cause of the danger of falling off. The same person giving you this piece of advice has slipped because of the typical spilled drinks on the bar which take some minutes to be wiped off; I slipped backwards and was lucky enough to fall on my feet and not backwards (which would have been nothing but a total fail; I wouldn’t want anyone to go through that).

In addition, being able to wear whatever you feel like is always an advantage. Linking this to another positive thing about Granero, I’ll point out that they have a number of hooks distributed along the walls and the bar at a height of about 60cm. You can hang your coat, jacket or jersey there without having to drop them off in the cloakroom. After all, it’s always the same story: there will be many people who prefer not paying for the cloakroom and using the hooks, but they’re already full. In that case, you have two options, You can either dump it on top of everything, which means that if someone is looking to steal something, your coat has the highest probability of being stolen; or else you can remove everything from the hook without dropping anything, put your coat at the bottom and all the rest on top of it – which will create another problem, namely that whoever had put his coat at the bottom in the first place will continue thinking it’s still there and will grab your coat on his way out instead of his. As with most things, the ideal thing would be to check your stuff is still there every now and then, so the best option is to put it on top so it’s constantly under your control. There will always be those who are totally wasted, have no idea where they left their stuff and start unhooking everything and throwing it wherever. Don’t panic, because most of the time all they want is their jacket and have no intention of stealing. In any case, don’t let your guard down.

The final result is a huge pile of jackets and coats on the floor, all mixed up and a good number of them stepped on by someone. For this reason, I always prefer going without a jacket; after all, feeling cold is a mental thing (it surely is, if you don’t believe me, google it), so in this way you’re free of the burden of having to keep checking constantly on your stuff, which is always a good thing.

But ….... What about the prices?

I’ve already made reference to the fact that entrance is free of charge, regardless of how many people there are (which makes sense if you think that if it fills up, this attracts more and more people, so when the place closes, it is still full almost every day, plus that having good prices inside will encourage people to buy a drink sooner or later); then again, the prices of drinks you buy once you’re in are also interesting.

On a good number of days, beer, tinto and shooters are sold at Eur1, which makes pre-drinking at your house totally unnecessary. On the contrary, by drinking straight at Granero you make take more advantage of the time you spend there and you can order whatever you feel like. Drinks usually cost Eur5, which is very reasonable given the generous size of the drink and the fact that it practically translates to half the market price - in many other places it’s more expensive (the price resembles more those of pubs and bars rather than those of discos). There is a wide variety of drinks on offer and getting the drink you had in mind is no big challenge.

Would you recommend it for other occasions?

Yes I would recommend the place for other occasions, for many other occasions in fact. For example, on Wednesdays there are many things going on in that area. You can head to the Aliatar first, which is five minutes away, close to Puerta Real, and when the swing party is over at around 1am, you can head to Granero, which would be bustling with people. There you can let loose for as long as your body can resist or as long as the following day’s duties allow.

I would also recommend it for other reasons:

1. There’s always party: You can’t go wrong. If you’re still debating where to go, you know Granero is always waiting for you. You can rest assured that if nobody joins in your plan A, Granero is again waiting for you. And if you’re bored at home and looking for something to do, once again Granero is waiting for you.
2. All sorts of music: whether you prefer upbeat music, slow music, romantic or a good raeggae rhythm. Granero will always give you a dose of what you like, and you will not regret having gone.
3. It’s Guiriland: whether you’re looking to get off with someone or to improve your language skills (by the way, this is undoubtedly what those who go there are looking for, it’s mathematical, no doubt about that). Irish, French, Italians (found anytime, anywhere and for whichever reason), Americans, Portuguese (not too many of these), Moroccans, South Americans from different countries and an infinity of other nationalities, they’re all there. Variety is abundant and therefore, coupled with the fact that Granada welcomes more Erasmus students from all over Europe than any other city, there’s always a different crowd although many people are repeat clients. Semesters pass by in the blink of an eye, time flies and many students sooner or later have to go back home, whilst others, on the other hand, fly to Granada to start a new experience.
4. It’s free: There isn’t much to add about this point. Knowing, for example, that at Mae West you may have to pay to enter depending on which day you go, sometimes even Eur15, then it’s only logical that Granero starts gaining new fans and clients which gradually start moving away from those places where entrance is at a charge.

Who is this place mostly aimed for?

At all those who want to have a good time dancing away or those who are looking to get lucky. For those with the latter aim, you won’t have to face many obstacles at Granero because since everyone is considerably, or rather, very drunk, it makes for an environment in which many people do what under normal circumstances they wouldn’t. There are no race or sexual orientation issues, or dress code issues, so anyone can easily get in and feel free to behave as he/she wants.

So after going there… what would you recommend doing?

So imagine you’ve spent the night in Granero. The plans to follow are probably scarce since Granero is typically the last place people hit on their nights out because of the fact that it closes at 6am earliest. Then if you’re also liking the music, it’s quite improbable that you move on from there to some other place.

But let’s imagine a different scenario. Let’s imagine you’ve been to Granero and left at, say 5am. You have two options now. The first option is grabbing some food such as a kebab from Reyes Católicos for example, or churros from some cafeteria nearby. The second option is heading home or to the house of whomever you hooked up with if it looks like the night is not over for you two. If this was your plan, that of hooking up with someone, then all you need is to figure out whose house is closest and play an ‘all-in’ by heading there hoping for the best of outcomes.

How would you rank the bar from 1 to 10 and why?

Granero gets a 9 from me. It isn’t perfect because its small size is what it is, and because on weekends it is overcrowded and dancing becomes a feat (in fact, you don’t get to dance until at least 5:30am). However, Granero is like a jolly card, it’s always a safe bet, it has good music and is frequented by a very diverse crowd each night. Granero will always be in my top 10 discos in the city.

Conclusion?

It’s modern, recently refurbished; it’s pumping every day, so Granero will never let you down. There’ll be many smiles throughout the night and as time goes by, people will get more and more into the good vibes. You will meet people and enjoy watching the ‘crazy ones’ who climb onto the bar. Highlighting the downsides of Granero wouldn’t have much sense. Granero=level up.

I'm not gonna say a lot of things about this place. For me it's the best place to go on a Wednesday night. They have an Erasmus party and the staff there is really friendly. Beers is 1-2 euros each and you don't pay the entrance.

The DJ is really good and really friendly and he can put whatever song you want. They have events like pyjama party, retro party, 80s party and more. They organize party for your country too. Italian fiesta-Mexican Fiesta etc. Try it and you will not regret it!