EBG Rating: 8/10

Choice/Quality of Drinks:
❤️❤️❤️
Basic St Pauli wares as can be predicted.

Style/Décor:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
A battered little old boozer with a bar to the left of the entrance and small seating area, compact, opposite the bar. Highly personalised with retro lighting.

Atmosphere/Character:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
An intense sense of years past, a feeling of companionship and welcome even to an outside. An intimate bar that in its sheer unpretentiousness blasts away the years and places you among the people.

Amenities/Events:
❤️❤️❤️
Snacks, smoking permitted, jukebox

Value For Money:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
One of the better value destination in St Pauli

Description:
An original Raucherkneipe set yards from the Reeperbahn may be your preferred choice to dip your toe into the action in St Pauli if you don’t fancy the Russian roulette edginess of Zum Goldenen Handschuh or Erlebniskeller one block down. Instead, you’ll find friendly service, bargain basement prices (for bargain basement wares, admittedly).

But Old Sailor has no such lofty pretension, in fact it is trying to remain what it perceives it always has been. A simple, cosy, homely little pub to have a beer, a smoke and a chat. On that front it succeeds with flying colours.

The atmosphere in here is typically jovial, the place warm and welcoming. It’s still a venue for locals, but they’re used to outsiders as well.

It feels almost silly going over the top about something so humble, but it really blasts away the years and places you among the people. An essential stop off in St Pauli but especially near the Reeperbahn.

Lastly, don’t be concerned by the label Gaststätte, this is not a restaurant, and tends to be used in Hamburg to denote a boozer.