EBG Rating: 9/10

Choice/Quality of Drinks:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Their standard beer is the 10.7° light lager from Únětický pivovar and this is poured with precision in the identical fashion, a Hladinka with three fingers worth of foam which slowly rises and settles to the line on your Tubinger glass. Infrequently specials are on tap too, such as the Easter beer on my visit. Typical Czech spirits available.

Style/Décor:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
The Vastergatan chain has a lighter feel to its sister pub, with large windows and a small terrace out front. Inside a compact 1 room Knajpa-style pub with taproom at the entrance and seating around the walls of the pub. Wood fit wainscoting styled bespoke to give a worn-in effect. Authentic Czech bar tap with sink for glasses and side-pull Lukr taps. A central font carries a chain branding for the brewery a la Czech pubs.

Atmosphere/Character:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
An uncanny, wholly convincing recreation of the very cream of Czech pubs. The neighbourly atmosphere, ability to start conversations with locals, the social emphasis above all else. You can have a quiet beer, an in-depth conversation and fun with friends in the same place, ergo: A Pub.

Amenities/Events:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Food, snacks, outdoor seating.

Value For Money:
❤️❤️❤️
Considering the quality of wares prices are fair and compete with what is available elsewhere in the city.

Description:
Brainchild of Benny Mårtensson and Martin Axén, both the city centre and Friisgatan chains of Pivo are astonishing.

Inspired by the smaller, classic Knajpa style Pivnices of Prague like Jelínkova plzeňská pivnice, U Hrocha, U Černého vola, both the look and importantly the feel of these iconic social spaces has been recreated from a standing start.

Nothing has been left to chance. Authentic Czech taps and bars with sink for glasses, Lukr side-pull taps and little touches like the brewery’s wares hung over the font on a chain tell of a commitment that goes beyond merely a homage or a theme bar.

The wood fittings are bespoke from a carpenter tasked to not only give the pub an appearance alike a Czech Pivnice but one that has been open for decades, carefully distressed to give the appearance of natural wear and character.

The tapsters are wear classic Výčepní aprons without it feeling like a conspicuous affectation.

Around the pub there are small nods of the head towards the sources of their inspiration.

The Vastergatan chain has a lighter feel to its sister pub, with its large windows making it more alike somewhere like U Vodičků and U Václava from the great Tradiční výčep chain in Brno (which are themselves homages). However, the interior, its appearance and its rhythms remain stoutly Czech in the best possible sense.

And the Pivo? Well, it just gets better. Their standard beer is the 10.7° light lager from Únětický pivovar and this is poured with precision in the identical fashion, a Hladinka with three fingers worth of foam which slowly rises and settles to the line on your Tubinger glass. With this much commitment to authenticity, quality is obviously not lacking. You are drinking beer close to if not as good as if you were in Prague, or indeed Unetice itself.

The pricing for a half litre is pitched fairly – put it this way, you can pay a lot more for a lot worse around Sweden!

Swedish alcohol laws dictate that cooked food must be served alongside booze, but that doesn’t feel out of place in a Czech Hospoda. What is important is the emphasis. At these casual pubs food is a necessary stop gap – it can still be well made and tasty, but the purpose of these pubs is as casual social meeting places. Where strangers become friends over a few beers.

It goes without saying that Swedish pub culture could always use a few more places like it, but Pivo is so effective that I would actually turn that statement around on Czechia of all places. If you put either chain of Pivo anywhere in Czechia, they would be among the best pubs of their kind. You can’t pay a bigger compliment than that.

(Added April 2026)