EBG Rating: 8.6/10

Choice/Quality of Drinks:
❤️❤️❤️
A stripped back and rather basic, mainstream selection of beers and wines. There are decent back bar options and some cocktails to explore.

Style/Décor:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
A beautiful, charming, idiosyncratic and distinctive Jazz venue with walls and ceilings adorned with traces of its pawnshop heritage – more a homage than actual relics – and Jazz/Blues memories. Colourful lighting dances off the items. The decoration fills what could otherwise be rather bare performance space. The back bar is slightly distressed carved wood with light paint.

Atmosphere/Character:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Simply one of the most atmospheric bars in Sweden, without any doubt. Fun at a good tempo set by live music and a buzzy crowd. Casual, vibrant and fluid – the atmosphere can even be enjoyed during the afternoons.

Amenities/Events:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Live music, food, snacks, ticketed events

Value For Money:
❤️❤️
Overall reasonably high, especially for food.

Description:
Stampen was a former pawnshop with 17th century cellar, and until 1880 had been the premises of the French Reform Church. The name “Stampen” is derived from the stamps clients would receive per regular maintenance payments, for items they had deposited at the pawn shop as collateral.

Converted into a jazz pub in 1968 antique items – stuffed animals and instruments – hang from the ceiling of Stampen, in tribute to its former function.

This Jazz bar offers live performances most days: traditional jazz, modern blues, or soul r&b acts. Or as we simply put it: American roots music! Some events are paid, others are easy-come-easy go such as Saturday’s Blues Jam between 2-7pm. Check their website for the daily programs.

Due to Sweden’s licensing laws, food has to be served in every bar, which for venues like this has always felt ill-fitting. Thankfully, there is no obligation to partake.

Mid-performance, the venue absolutely shines, a standout in a city centre with quite a few visually striking bars and atmospheric ones at that.

You’ll find it a looser, more casual venue that most Swedish bars which is all to the good, and Stampen earns its place in the pantheon of Europe’s finest Jazz bars.

(Added April 2026)