No Bagpipes

"I wanted to get out of Brick By Brick [because of problems with] one of the partners," says former Brick co-owner Chris Heaney. "He wouldn't let us buy him out, plus we always had to keep the place packed, the overhead was so high.... There were a lot of bands we had to book whose music I wasn't particularly into."

For the past four years, Heaney has run Kadan in Kensington. He says crowds are growing for "Bring Your Own Music Mondays" (launched in January), when patrons provide tunes for the DJ to spin.

"Mostly, people bring what they like, though bands can also bring their own stuff to play. We haven't had to start screening ahead of time yet, but hopefully nobody brings bagpipe music or something objectionable."

On Tuesdays, Heaney's bar holds a Guitar Hero competition, utilizing Sony's PlayStation 2 game.

"We have the special guitar with buttons on the neck that makes different sounds depending on what you do and how you hold it, and you compete to certain tunes. We get around 35 players.... People who already play it at home usually win, and I know a few people have gone out and bought the game after seeing or playing it here."

Heaney says he hasn't looked into licensing permission from Sony.

"Hopefully, they'll consider what we do free publicity for the game and not come after us for it."