EBG Rating: 7.5/10

Choice/Quality of Drinks:
❤️❤️
Humble selection of beer and brown liquor – cheap and cheerful is the order of the day

Style/Décor:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
As you approach, spot the curtain shielding the bar room from the outside world, a barrel with Valdemar emblazoned on fixed above the front door, where crown pattern glass is inset. This type of glass is about the surest sign as you’ll find of an old boozer in Europe. It’s actually a rather beautiful old pub. The curved hanging lamps are so typical of Danish bodegas, the tinted glass of leaded windows in the back room is a showstopper worthy of any pub. Other notable features are a series of toy vans fixed to the ceiling beams and the serving hatch to the back room.

Atmosphere/Character:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
The pub has bags of character – whether it’s the kind you personally like or not does not change that fact. A real throwback. Humble, with local life and gossip, working class without being trashy.

Amenities/Events:
❤️❤️❤️
Smoking permitted, snacks, newspapers, morning opening

Value For Money:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Among the cheaper places for a beer in Denmark let alone Helsingør. Further discounts if bottles are purchased in bulks of 10, so ideal for groups.

Description:
The frequency of the Øresundslinjen Ferry across the Sound provides a connection between Helsingør and Helsingbord, Denmark and Sweden that despite the lack of land crossing actually feels more umbilical than the Øresund bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö. The two countries interchange and interact in a way that feels every day, while still retaining their essential differences. One of these is undoubtedly pubs.

While Helsingborg is around three times the size, it can barely muster 4 pubs and bars of any variety worth going to. Pub culture has long been an issue in Sweden due to the temperance movement annihilating pubs in the late 19th and early 20th century. It has never truly recovered, partly due to a legal requirement that all venues serving alcohol also serve warm food. By contrast, on the Danish side they preserved their old fashioned pubs partly through a quirk where wineries were allowed to sell tastings to the public. The French, Spanish and Italians, horrified by losing the Scandinavian market to moral puritans flooded the Danish market, creating pubs still known today as the Bodega, a Spanish word.

In these bodegas, boozing and smoking persists unabated, offering a glimpse of working class culture and a side of Denmark not marketed to the rest of Europe.

Yes, pub culture is alive in Denmark, even in a medium sized town like Helsingør. This town is Elsinore from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a pretty place with the famous castle built on a promontory. The duty free booze on the ferry, a pretty old town and a handsome selection of attractions ensures tourism and a sense of vibrancy to the place.

We arrived on a pleasant Spring day in gleaming sunshine, the ferry gliding serenely across the sound. After the obligatory castle visit it was time for some pubs.

Set yards off the main market square, Valdemar is a redoubt, bolthole, drinking den, boozer, Pajzl, Sunkhak, or any other of the hundreds of terms and euphemisms you would care to throw at it.

As you approach, spot the curtain shielding the bar room from the outside world, a barrel with Valdemar emblazoned on fixed above the front door, where crown pattern glass is inset. This type of glass is about the surest sign as you’ll find of an old boozer in Europe. Take a deep breath (your last of fresh air) and enter.

As you enter the room, expect a few second glances, but despite peripheral aspects some might find intimidating, it is not a hostile pub socially, the regulars are simply clocking a new face. Service is straightforward and willing, as is the humble selection of beer – cheap and cheerful is the order of the day, with Tuborg Classic for relative pennies – among the cheapest you’ll find in Denmark.

It’s actually a rather beautiful old pub. The curved hanging lamps are so typical of Danish bodegas, the tinted glass of leaded windows in the back room is a showstopper worthy of any pub. Small touches like toy vans fixed to the ceiling beams, the serving hatch to the back room, and the smoke-encrusted curtains very much keeping the outside out imbue this boozer with a ton of character.

Regulars chat, newspapers are rustled and yes, smoke lingers in the environment.

They recently conceded to accept card payments which will be convenient for occasional visitors.

Valdemar is an utter throwback and piece of social history that anyone even vaguely interested in old boozers should take the opportunity to visit.

Inevitably a pub like this will be love or hate, so be judicious.

(Added May 2025)