Welcome to 2026’s Top 100 Bars In Europe!
The European Bar Guide is the only guide you’ll find that includes bars of any style. We rate venues simply on how well they do what they’re trying to do. Spectacle, atmosphere, social scene, intriguing customs, local culture and yes, the quality and choice of drinks.
Sometimes a bars deficiencies can be handsomely compensated for in other ways. Sometimes they’re good at everything! In this list you’ll find bars that are love/hate – we don’t sit on the fence!
But what are our favourites in Europe? It’s time to find out!
If you can’t see some of your favourites, either they aren’t in the pot of about 1600 bars that came into consideration for this list or we simply haven’t visited them yet to say either way. Please let us know which bars you’d include!
Before wading in, please bear in mind – this is mainly an exhibition of great pubs and bars, not a contest to be fought tooth-and-nail. 🙂
Style: Bodega / Traditional / Casual
Go for: Authentic local life, simple food and wines, working class culture in a city centre.
Set in a narrow side alley in the heart of Casco Viejo, Joserra is the type of business that could only be where it is, yet in this day and age seems an unlikely find.
One of the most straightforward, unpretentious and honest businesses you’re likely to find. A solidly working class bodega that focuses on affordable booze and freshly made sandwiches. A drink and a sandwich as of 2025 did not push above 5 euros.
It’s a one room boozer in traditional style, something of a saloon with rustic fittings and patterned tinted glass windows at the front.
You’ll find everyone here from workers in overalls grabbing a lunchtime snack to the occasional tourist who has found out about the place on social media. Service is typically Basque – straightforward and no-nonsense.
In 2024 they celebrated their centenary, over 100 years of providing something so simple that meets the needs of residents and visitors alike.
Original bodega rules permitted the owner to sell wine but not to be consumed with food like a tavern, and he was fined for trying. However, they allowed him to apply for a tavern license and as you’ll notice, the application was not refused.
Joserra was the owner’s son, and family ownership was retained by his son Imanol until the early 2000s after which it has been leased before being taken on by José Garcia, the husband of Imanol’s daughter. He is one part of a double act who serve customers throughout the day.
For its rare working class format in the heart of a popular area where such places are thinning out, it offers something you will not easily find elsewhere. In its true simplicity and honesty there is an authenticity, a defiance, a stubbornness that is endearing and somewhere where it is genuinely difficult to haul yourself away from without staying for a 2nd or 3rd drink.
Style: Craft Beer Bar / Boozer / Traditional Tavern
Go for: Quality beers, neighbourhood atmosphere, casual hangouts.
Taproom for Lambrate brewery, one of two serving the brewing operation based east of here by the Lambro river.
Small, compact and extremely pubby, Lambrate offers a strong range of its own beers, with a few guest taps, including a cask line. Their beers are unfiltered and unpasteurised which is possible due to the freshness of the output and the eagerness of locals and visitors to lap them up.
Those with historic preconceptions of Italian pubs and Italian beer have been jolted into the modern reality by a venue which has seen itself morph from cutting edge outlier to established fixture over the past decades as Italian brewing and beer loving accelerated after the turn of the Millennium.
Darkly lit and traditional with booths and high chairs around upturned barrels, with a classic dive -style bar area, it is a pub that wants to be a pub for its own sake, which is brilliant! How many taprooms have you been to with striplighting and zero imagination, content for the venue to be nothing but a roll of wallpaper? Well this place would be on our guide even if they had 1 beer on tap. The fact it is also a specialist beer outlet merely propels it into being one of the best in Europe.
Lambrate has another bar, ‘Golgi’ south of here, also worth a look for the drinks offer, less so for the venue itself.
Style: City Tavern / Historic Venue
Go for: Friendly welcome, late night fun, cultural heritage.
Among Estonia’s most famous pubs, this simple unchanged boozer has been preserved from its late 60s era fit stemming from the days of Soviet occupation. It is now heritage listed by the city authorities which bodes well for its future. The modernist interior of wood panels, mirrors and stools fixed around a U-shaped bar has a certain academic appeal, but it is the countless good times spent here that really cements its reputation.
One of the simplest places in the world to strike up a conversation with a stranger, the bar-top format encourages cross-chat, as do the occasionally gregarious patrons. A good range of people from youngsters to old grizzlies with a certain rosey-cheeked middle aged contingent enjoying the same basic drinks at budget prices.
Famous for its herring snacks and spicy concoction ‘Millimallikas’, liqueur, which should be avoided unless you’re feeling reckless.
Very few Baltic bars honestly feel like an institution, but this place feels more of an institution than many English pubs, which really underscores how special it is.
Style: Late Bar / Eccentric
Go for: A one-off interior, central drinks
No less than a cult venue at this point, a former antique shop owned Hansjörg Bürgin started in the 1970s, although the Schluggstube became a bar within 15 years. It has passed down within the family since then and offers a beacon of nightlife in a city centre that is not exactly studded with great bars.
The signage hints at the extravagance inside, but it is only when entering that you find out just how extravagant. Immersed in a cornucopia of taxidermy, mannequin limbs, flags, pinatas, mirrors, candelabras, and chandeliers plastered from wall to ceiling.
Beers are only perfunctory here but there are plenty of reasonable alternatives, so long as you have the money – it is not a cheap place to go. However, when the pace increases in the evening, the atmosphere really takes off. There is no doubt it is one of the best bars in Europe.
Style: Dive Bar / Historic Tavern
Go for: St. Pauli atmosphere, local heritage, late night fun
It is difficult to put into words just what a significant bar Zum Silbersack is for St. Pauli and for Hamburg – but we’re going to try.
Open since 1949, operated by the same landlady Erna Thomsen between then and her death in 2012, Zum Silbersack’s reputation evolved from a humble pub to a beacon, a fixture and an institution of St. Pauli.
The pub briefly closed during her death as none of her relatives were interested in running the pub.
To ensure its survival a joint venture and community group was established, who purchased the property and now lease the pub to Dominik Grossfeld, an employee of Erna’s who is keen – and has been faithful to his word – to leave the place, its format and its atmosphere without making meaningful changes unless where absolutely necessary.
Set just off the Reeperbahn on the street which coined the name of this bar, a colourful, striking and attractive facade greets you as you approach. Art Deco era neon lights and street art on the facade and adjoining wall beckon you in.
Inside, you’ll find an interesting space, open plan but with a series of niches. Wooden furnishings that are worn, smoothed by the many bodies that have sat or perched on them over the decades. Tables are candlelit, and provide a genteel nature to what you’d otherwise assume was a rough and ready Reeperbahn boozer. But that duality is at the key to its success.
At once exuberant, flamboyant and confident, yet also humble, down-to-earth and stripped back, Zum Silbersack has bottled lightning, gathered together so many elements both tangible and not that comprise great bars.
Each generation that passes through St Pauli bemoans the change to their area, the attitudes new generation, the introduction of corporatisation, property developer, gentrification, struggling to marry up the image of it in their heads with the reality that it has long been an area for sleaze, squalor and simultaneously fun, honesty and escape. This will continue to be the case now, as it will in 20 years and 40 years time.
Yes, the likes of BrewDog are pecking away at the corners of the district, but while bars like Silbersack remain, there will always be the kernel of the best of St Pauli, a beacon on the hill.
Watch out for a performance of Silbersack’s anthem “On The Reeperbahn at Half-Past Midnight” which is sung by locals as each night reaches its end. Hopefully it will be sung for decades to come.
Style: Bavarian Beer Hall / Historic
Go for: A cathedral to pub going, a cultural institution.
A venue with more than the average history. For time, Hitler’s piss palace (it was not the site of the Putsch but many speeches were delivered here) but despite the accompanying notoriety, there’s a reason it remains so popular to the present. High ceilings, and oversized everything – from tables, lanterns, even to giant pretzels, the scale of the place makes you feel in the midst of something grand. The spectacle is incredible.
State-financed, this is because it represents a cultural icon. Enjoy the traditional music and kind service, with only the occasional overspills of boisterousness and tourist deluge in the Schwemme taking the edge of what would otherwise be a 10/10 experience.
Style: Culture Centre
Go for: Live Music, a bar that becomes a cave and low-key common room style hangout.
Every now and then a bar comes along in a relatively obscure provincial town that more than punches above its weight. Kaleidoszkóp Ház is such a bar, and there is the nagging thought that if it opened in Budapest then within 5-6 years it may become too saturated with tourists. No such risk here!
We nearly didn’t make it here! Arriving from a severely delayed train from Bratislava to Štúrovo on the Slovakian border, we had barely enough time to cross the bridge over the Danube, check-in, then head straight back out to the bar before its closing.
We arrived mid-performance with a small crowd enjoying a fusion band covering everything from oboe, Tibetan singing bowls to Irish rap. It is a friendly place, the kind that goes beyond the norm to help you feel at ease. A younger crowd, though not exclusively, and a warren of rooms that takes in not only the cave but a covered courtyard with atrium and low key pub rooms.
The drinks offer is fairly basic but does the trick – that’s not really why you’re here. The special aspects are its unique layout and roster of cultural events performed in such a distinctive space. An essential visit while in town.
Style: Theme Pub / Casual
Go for: Everything trains, your first experience of a Copenhagen bodega, proximity to the station.
One of Europe’s famous drinking destinations, the Railroad Pub, located around the rear entrance of the main station is nothing less than a city institution as well as one of Europe’s finest station, or station-adjacent pubs.
The Railway theme bursts forth onto the street – this is no shrine to minimalism. Cute, twee, but cosy and very social, as an introduction to the Danish pub it represents one of the most vivid as well as a high watermark in general. Your eyes will dance across the room at the displays, from the wall of nik-naks to an operating train set, nothing is left to chance. Rich lounge reds decorate the room, each seating arrangement designed to maximise space.
There is a cheerful verve to the place at any time of day with customers enjoying the novelty. The beer selection is broad, rather than excellent, which leads on to the bar’s achilles heel – high pricing. Even a modest option like a bottle of Tuborg classic weighs in nearly double the price of nearby bars, and that continues across the board. As a cover charge to what is – almost – a sort of museum, there is an argument this is justified, but I would prefer to pay an upfront fee and enjoy fair prices than be squeezed in this way.
Style: Lounge Bar
Go for: Extraordinary décor and environment, large jugs of boozy orange.
Along with Casa Montana, Café de las Horas is a bar famous not only in Valencia but more widely over Spain and Europe.
Hugely distinctive, its baroque interior with lavish decoration and furnishings of rich blues + reds, with Moorish style star-studded ceiling is an eye catching ensemble that tells of a venue working much, more harder than average to provide something out of the ordinary. In Spanish society, where bars are largely regarded as an aluminium counter and some canteen furniture, especially.
While de las Horas takes inspiration from history, it is only a middle-aged venue, established more than thirty years ago, inspired by the idea of literary café bars, (which Valencia didn’t have an abundance of), making its reputation in the present rather than the past.
Famous for its pitchers of the citric and lethal Agua de Valencia, there is a broad versatile menu covering everything from breakfast needs to late night cocktails.
It opens at 10am and shuts at 1:30am, giving the place a sense of permanence and ubiquity. Yes, as years go by this place will be obvious, passé even to some, but unless Valencia expands its bar range to put it in the shade, you’ll be hearing more and more about it.
Style: Cocktail Bar / Hidden / Apartment Bar
Go for: Clandestine cocktails in an obscured location with an enjoyably down-to-earth crowd.
This one really does deserve the title ‘hidden’, with no obvious signs outside as to its location. In the end, you may find yourself following a group ahead of you into an apartment and hoping for the best. On the 2nd floor, there it is! Enter to find a long bar across the left of the room with two side rooms for further seating. The cocktail maker produces superb drinks from an imaginative menu of well-thought out twists on modern classics. The atmosphere is alive with local conversation in a clandestine but welcoming, intimate space. An unforgettable experience.
Style: Backstreet Boozer / Casual Hangout
Go for: Old-time atmosphere, games of pool, casual meetups.
‘Black Tulip’, a alluring name for a seductively superb pub, one that we feel instant nostalgia for whenever it’s mentioned. Not centrally located, you must consider a tram and a walk to the local district where this serves as its cultural centre. Located in a historic brick building from the turn of the 20th century, there is a hint of haunted house to the brick gothic facade. The glow of several rooms confirm there is more to the place than the bar room, surprisingly pool tables being among them. However, the bar room is truly superb with creams and browns hazily lit, with a heater pumping out in the colder months. The crowd is mixed, slanted towards under 30s but with a degree of mixing you don’t always find in Poland. The drinks selection is simple and familiar, lacking much acknowledgement of the developments of the last 20 years, however they are on offer at a great rate, fair and cheap. Once you’ve secured a table the woozy warm atmosphere sucks you in tight, and you’ll feel far away from your cares. What a bar.
Style: Underground Pub / Hidden Bar / Alternative / Live Music Venue
Go for: Ramshackle, clandestine boozing, live music.
If you’re ready to wander through a lorry park in the pitch black of night past a disused restaurant, then you may see a glimmer of light around the corner. You are not hallucinating. Enter to discover a ramshackle hut for true outsiders, young and old.
Style: Brewpub / Brauereigaststätte / Neighbourhood Pub
Go for: Local beers & local life in an absolute gem of a venue.
Nolte’s Inn, a family-run venture stretching back to 1906 incorporated a brewery on their premises in 1993, one of the first wave of post-reunification brewpubs.
Today, you’ll find one of the best examples of a hospitality business understanding what parts to preserve and what new to introduce.
Based in the former town of Hagen, now a district of Lüneburg, you’ll need to take a bus here unless you’re going direct from the train station (in which case it’s a manageable walk). It’s suburban and given the location, town and region, the last place you’d think to find a business of this nature.
Retaining an events hall (and bowling alley), a brewkit that is so well integrated it looks like it was always there, and a traditional pub, the setup feels more similar to something you’d find in Franconia – about the highest praise you could lavish on a German brewpub.
Some of you will be wondering by this point what the beer is like. Their Helles is unfiltered, zingy and peppery, with some of the North German influences evidence. Their Dunkel is brown going on reddish and full flavoured, both commendable. They also do a bottle range including some craft styles, stout etc. These are all certified Organic.
They also have a Brennerei, a distillery where they distil Schnapps among a few other treats.
As a pub-restaurant their food hits the mark, and they have won Slow Food awards, ensuring less microwaved stuff and instead home-cooked food where all ingredients are source and listed on their website.
A 1 hour tour of the brewery and beer tasting session can also be arranged in advance if you desire,
The hall hosts film festivals, music nights, quizzes and miscellaneous other events, providing constant reasons to come back. Just as you think they’ve exhausted amenities, they also offer rooms, it’s an Inn too.
Unfortunately, like most of the region they aren’t open on Sundays and Mondays, so keep that in mind.
That small blemish aside, the array of reasons to visit Nolte is frankly outstanding, while the simplest, and primary reason – a place to go for a beer with friends, is executed with panache.
Just by writing this up we’ve stored up a deep desire to return. This is a truly superb operation among the best in Europe.
Style: Central Café / Estaminet
Go for: Wide beer choice, distinctive interior and identity, good value drinks and meals.
Merely yards from the Mannekin Pis, by rights this should be yet another tourist trap. However, the operation maintains a scrupulously fair offering with good selection of Belgian bottles, hearty pub grub and an interior of eye-boggling weirdness. It is a classic for a reason.
Style: Upstairs Lounge Bar / Traditional
Go for: City centre energy, local life, drunken craic.
Although we are in a new era, The Hi-B remains known even in recent memory for its idiosyncratic former owner Brian O’Donnell, who applies his strictly “no phones, no pint, no please” policy (which is still plastered on the walls today, but not quite as rigorously enforced), and had a reputation for refusing service if he didn’t like the cut of your gib, or if a particular phrase caught his ire.
The pub became infamous, but equally loved by its adherents, regularly making the list of best bars in Cork.
Upon re-opening after Covid, the Hi-B has carried over some of the best aspects of that – its quirkyness and social focus – with a slightly more laid back hospitality and a few modern perks (card payment? stone the crows).
It’s a very informal place – don’t stand on ceremony if you’re here. Get to the bar and tell the bartender what you want. If you want a chat, then basically anyone you see is fair game.
Situated on the first floor of a grand old building, The Hi-B mosaic and grand old hallway is interest in itself, a relic of a different era, the 1920s, which shows in the rich red paint and the flair applied in its execution. The bar room itself is loungey, with low slung seating and a fireplace in the corner, other homely decorations and a fairly long sleek bar top you can sit around.
One of the main points of Hi-B to note is the need to get stuck in to the chat in this pub. Once you pass the threshold don’t expect to be pawing at the pages of a book quietly in a corner. People will ask after you, get a conversation going and expect a bit of engagement in return. If you’re a shrinking violet this place may not be for you.
A combination of its heritage flair, idiosyncratic setup and bloody-mindeness to see it through various eras makes it one of Cork’s absolute must-visit pubs.
Style: Basement Bar
Go for: Local beers, eccentric interior, warm welcome.
A former shop, crowdfunded into a bar, the brainchild of Delia and Tristan Brady-Jacobs, you can safely state there is nothing else quite like it in the city, or indeed for miles around.
Set in a shallow basement (think Czech style) you will be greeted with an interior that is an eclectic labour of love, one of those bars you can sit in for hours and find something new to look at. It’s colourful, it’s bright, it’s personalised, but it’s also homely, somewhere you’d want to stay a while.
A friendly greeting and farewell is always provided to those who visit the venue in the spirit with which it has been established. Unashamedly quirky with a personal touch that quite obviously sets it apart from more commercial operations.
What about the drinks? Well, a small bar focusing on local independent brewers. Beers are all keg rather than cask, but this works perfectly well for the operation and its intentions, while there are bases covered for alternatives. In such a quirky, colourful bunker conversation naturally flows, pinging from table to bar to table, each group sharing why they ended up here today, what they’re up to and where they’re heading next.
A community focused venue with musical and artistic leanings, so you can find gigs and events here at an all-round lovable and distinctive bar we hope will be around for many, many years, indeed generations to come.
Style: Late Bar / Club / Complex
Go for: Twin peaks fandom, atmospheric evening hangouts, pre-club drinks.
In a courtyard off Listopada is Warsaw’s most interesting cluster of nightlife, a mini-complex of bars and clubs where you can wander in and out almost in the manner of a ruin bar in Budapest. The atmosphere is fluid as a result, with outside and inside drinking not feeling segregated, which makes the interior of Chmury all the more impressive, with its lampshade strewn ceiling and Twin Peaks ephemera drawing you to spend more time in the bar even on warm evenings. The crowd is inevitably young with the bar-cum-club format, however some of the surrounding venues are family friendly earlier on. Distinctive with a good selection of drinks too including interesting craft beer cans – though not cheap and polish pub food (think Zapiekanki) an unexpected offering. There are many reasons to come here.
Style: Kiosk / Shot Bar
Go for: Partaking in a local tradition, socialising on the square.
Opened in 1840 and run by the same family for 5 generations, there is nevertheless an argument to be made that A Ginjinha is little more than a kiosk. However, a visit at busier times will dispel that notion. Little more than a hole in the wall, but every bit of a bar as any on our guide. 1 or 2 old guys staff the counter, decanting Ginjinha (or Ginja for short), serving them by the measure either ‘com‘ (with cherries) or ‘sem‘ without. Not specifying will usually result in you receiving the cherries which have been sat in the boozy soup both imparting flavour and soaking up the alcohol. Take your shot onto the street and mingle with the crowd. You may desire something to chase it down with – they do sell small beers and some other drinks alongside the main event. All about the ritual. Join in the fun, do as the locals do, enjoy the novelty. Here for a good time not a long time.
Style: Cocktail Bar / Hidden Bar / Compact
Go for: Extremely intimate tiny one-room bar with personal service.
Perennial award winner, Backdoor 43 belongs to a chain of bars set in the Navigli area offering cocktails in different environments. It directly adjoins Mag Café which are among their roster. As far as different environments go, Backdoor 43 is definitely a novelty.
Marketed as the smallest bar in the world, this is a small room accessible through a bell and a hatch. The only way in is to either be very lucky, or to reserve a spot on their website in advance. You pay a deposit which in turn secures your first drink – not cheap but pretty typical these days for a major city doing a concept bar like this.
Inside, you’re sharing space with only a few people at most, in a truly intimate environment where the bartender is as much a part of the show, offering the epitome of personalised service. Specialising in rums, you’re surrounded by cabinets in a tiny room with a high ceiling.
The bar is very much about the experience, about being able to say ‘I was there’. It took us long enough to finally join that group and even after many years it delivers on its promise.
Given the novelty factor, tiny space and pricing this is always likely to be a love or hate type venue, so bear that in mind.
Style: Zoiglstube / Brauereigaststätte
Go for: Zoigl and home brewing tradition, humble and honest country beer and cooking, local life.
Kaufbeuren’s beer scene is dominated by the big brand ABK who have managed some cut-through in other European countries, however the quality is far from the highest you can find in Bavaria. It’s always exciting to find a small, independent alternative, especially a passion project. Zoigl is perhaps one of the more unlikely.
Zoigl refers to a culture which exists solely in the Oberpfalz region in the far North East of Bavaria where ancient brewing rights bestowed on houses entitle families to brew and sell beer. This is done rotationally and the pubs are open once a month, creating a fantastic atmosphere and and enthusiasm. Simple kellerbier is served alongside basic snacks and a limited menu of warm food. Gernot Wildung has taken inspiration and exported the format, beer and culture to the Allgau!
You’ll find a beautiful pub with living room type style and a small bar. There’s a quaint but very homely atmosphere as the locals adopt and adapt to this new format.
His Zoigl is a beautiful amber Kellerbier with a depth and bitter finish, one you can put back several of in the company of people from the local town. While the conversation and socialising isn’t quite as mixed as true Zoigl, they have done their best to encourage it.
With only a few operations like this on Earth, there is a lightning in a bottle sense of specialness to visiting that elevates it beyond the typical German Wirtshaus or Gaststatte experience.
If you announce your arrival and perhaps stay for a few beers and food, Gernot is more than happy to show you his brewery over the road, where upstairs an additional pub room exists with a view of the market place. This was open before Covid but Gernot seems less willing these days to open it up.
Clearly essential when visiting or staying in Kaufbeuren, while if you have purchased a Deutschland ticket you have effectively already justified a trip from Munich to visit here.
Style: Art Café / Culture Centre / Late Bar
Go for: Art Nouveau / Late night fun / Cultural events.
Excellent funky/alternative café with unique interior décor in Art Nouveau style, the crocodile and dragonfly sculptures outside giving a flavour of the electicism to expect. Enter through a curtain to the venue itself, choose left or right depending on how you feel. A multipurpose venue with cinema, art space, café, late bar, dance space creating an all-round hangout that attracts locals because the city of Wrocław is, mercifully, still largely for locals.
Style: City Tavern / Historic Venue
Go for: Preserved interior, local beers, candlelit atmosphere.
A 200+ year old building, reconstructed in 1918 by Beamish & Crawford, The Oval is Cork’s most flamboyant pub. An oval ceiling as you look up from the entrance seems to inform the bar, seating and rooms that peel off around it. Both elegant and distinctive, with a sense of age to it.
On entry, candlelight even during the day gives it a moody feel. Particularly at the back towards the fire you could easily allow hours to pass as you get comfortable in one of the niches.
The place is very lively on Fridays and weekends though, events posters and an alternative music soundtrack pointing to this not just being a fusty old museum piece but a relevant venue, something underpinned by its range of Rising Sons Brewery beers.
Part of the suspiciously incomplete Cork Heritage Pubs trail, all of which are owned by the same operation, but that aside, they do a good job. This is a business that allows each venue to speak for itself, much to their credit. The Oval is an absolute must-see, but pick your moment carefully on weekends and evenings to be assured of a seat.
Style: Converted Shop / Traditional Tavern
Go for: Pre-match pints, buzzy gossip among the throng.
Despite appearances, Kay’s has only performed the function of a public house since 1976, the premises formerly the site of a wine and liquor merchants, its name inherited from the proprietor. A small, cosy venue which fills up to standing room only within an hour of opening on busy match days, but that is luxuriously cosy, clandestine and intimate at quieter times among fire light, old wood and rich red hues.
Attracting a range of ages, but there is an affluence on show due to its location in one of the wealthier parts of town, and that accents the vibe and atmosphere just a touch, without making it feel particularly discriminating.
Whether you’re sat opposite the bar by the barrels or in the reading room (snug) at the back, grab a newspaper or a dusty old book and settle in for the day, where you’ll be seduced by its timeless charm. Or, if you prefer things a little livelier, join the throng in the build up to a Scottish rugby game.
An essential visit on any Edinburgh trip. Kay’s has also joined the ranks of pubs featured in Rankin’s works.
Style: Coverted Guard House / Wine Bar / Bodega
Go for: A local institution, specialist wines and vermouths, joining the throng.
A historic local institution for Málaga that will appear in every guide book, for good reason, as you will not find a venue quite like it. Well-worn and characterful, this long room, a former police guard office with two entrances was converted and is effectively a tasting bar for various fortified wines poured from huge barrels along the wall. Bills are drawn up in chalk on a wooden counter and people gather around to drink and chat. While there is a tourist trade, in the off season this is very well balanced with local life too. The service has a tradition and rhythm with smart shirts and bell ring for each tipped waiter adding to the feeling of ritual ceremony. A couple of vermouths will set you back a few euros at most. A must visit.
Style: Antiquey bar / Evening Bar / Casual
Go for: Atmospheric interior and local life, fun and games, informal hangouts.
A low-profile 1990s survivor, The Crocodile’s Tail in Plzeň-3 may be easy to reach, but it is the wrong side of the tracks for anyone except locals and residents to think of visiting. Timewarp venue with some obscure beer options thrown in. A charming old drop-out for youngsters and the young at heart to forget their troubles and have fun.
Style: Late Bar / Neighbourhood Hangout / Cocktails
Go for: A one-off interior, neighbourhood vibes, cocktails.
The early 70s build of this fantastic bar explains its unusual fixtures, fittings and layout. It isn’t something that would be made these days, nor could its natural character be produced from scratch, at least not without considerable care and even more money. Located by attractive Amoreiras garden, the approach passing a spotlit fountain feels immediately appealing, further still when entering the bar.
One room only, but a well fitted, providing plenty of space to sit, whether you’re flying solo or in a big group. An innate natural ambience, accentuated by reds, golds and wood fittings provides a superb setting for socialising. Despite the special venue the character remains largely local and neighbourly with groups of friends, local couples and people who seem to know and love the place. Procopio benefits from being set enough out of the centre to deter the tourists partying in the Bairro Alto but still relevant and cosmopolitan enough to catch and welcome some side business.
A 5th generation family operation which remains in the Coelho family name, also connected to bars such as Pavilhao Chines and Foxtrot. Drinks are largely focused on mixers and cocktails, though there are some beers and ciders including a couple of craft options. It is simply an unmissable venue when in Lisbon.
Style: Upstairs Bar / Hostel Bar / Cocktail Bar / Art Space
Go for: Macabre art, boudoir lounging, affordable cocktails.
Upstairs in a side-alley building not far from Sibiu’s main square is the centrepiece of its nightlife, standing head and shoulders above the rest, not only due to the 1st floor location. A macabre boudoir with paintings ranging from classic, to grotesque to downright tasteless, and a core audience that appear to know this is by far the best place to be in the city. Limited draft drinks are compensated for by the bottle range and very good value cocktails, which while not exquisitely prepared, are at least functional and light on the wallet.
Great fun at night, going on until the early hours, you simply can’t look past this place while in town.
Style: Backstreet Pub / Beer Specialists / Traditional
Go for: World class beers and hearty pub grub in an intimate tavern of niches and lamps.
One of Italy’s forerunners of specialist beers, taking the initiative in the 1980s to expose and, over time educate and familiarise locals, Italians and visitors with the complexity, breadth, depth and charm of different beer styles from across the world. Spin on to the present day, the pub is a veritable fixture of Trieste’s social scene, not only vaunted for its high quality beer offerings but as a successful, friendly venue with a great atmosphere.
Peculiarly, its original owner moved on to professional athletics, but the baton was passed to Daniele Stepancich in 2010 who has been running the show since, up until this review was written.
Set in the hills of Cittavecchia overlooking the city centre, a web of off-centre streets and sharp turns seems to add to the impression as you enter a pubby space with low ceiling, niches with chunky tables and lamp-light, designed to be homely and tavern like, unfussy and casual.
The beer selection is indeed excellent, keeping up with the times in its offer of beers from North Eastern Italy and Slovenia, with the classic Belgians and Germans playing their role too. UK beer also gets a look in.
They offer food from a modest menu which is designed to supplement the beer rather than the other way around, and it doesn’t dominate. The welcome is good and it is one of the pubs abroad where I have truly felt the similarity to, for example, wandering in to a cosy old smugglers den type pub on the English coast. An absolute must.
Style: Brewpub / Brauereigaststätte / Country Inn
Go for: Franconian rural brewing and hospitality at its finest.
A c.1808 brewery with a sky-high reputation among Franconians and Franconian beer fanboys, this operation has remained within the same family since World War II. The Zehendners are visible at work – on busy evenings in the pub you can bump into several family members, whether it’s Grandma in the kitchen or master brewer Stefan greeting locals and visitors.
With a bus line from Bamberg passing by, getting here is relatively simple and doesn’t take overly long either. That is the simple part.
Returning becomes more complicated, and not primarily because of the bus timetable. Instead, as you sink into the wonderful surroundings and atmosphere of the pub, enjoying the beer, the food, the company and the environment that seems to have gathered harmoniously, it occurs to you that no, you don’t want leave on the next – and only– bus home at around 6pm.
There is a penalty to this lack of discipline, inevitably. Once the bus leaves, it’s a case of asking around to see if anyone would fancy sharing costs of a taxi. Not impossible given the volume of visitors it receives from the city. As usual, don’t be shy in these pubs if you need assistance, directness goes a long way around here.
Brauerei Zehendner’s pub in Mönschsambach is a traditional Franconian taproom with hanging lamp fixed over the bar (not dissimilar to the sort you get over snooker tables in old clubs) displaying their brand; behind it, a barrel dispensing their unbunged Lagerbier on gravity. In terms of the drinks offer, the star of the show.
The pub room has warm, non-intrusive lighting that produces a glow as evening unfurls- not unlike the one you will feel when you step out of here! The layout and furnishings of the interior are simple and unflashy, perhaps a little twee/quaint in the way rural Bavarian pubs can be, but nothing too sickly.
As a venue, the taproom plays a role in the appeal of the venue in the way many great pubs achieve without quite being able to place your finger on it – a harmony of place and purpose. When it fills with people the ambience, the sense of ease and feeling like you’re in the right place in the universe seems to transcend the rational.
Regulars sit adjacent to the taps playing cards or dice and chatting at their Stammtisch, the typical regulars table. Other locals occupy their time-worn spots. But you will find larger tables, so don’t be shy if it is busy. It is customary in the region to share tables communally, so you only need to ask.
Homemade pretzels and locally sourced ingredients for their simple pub food elevate the gastronomic experience, but it is important to emphasis this is a pub where the food plays second fiddle to the social element and to be honest, even the beer.
Ah yes, that beer. A wonderful lager awaits, simply named but beautifully created, though there’s a divide over whether the Lagerbier or their tap Export is better. You can easily tell who is drinking which by whether they have a steinkrug or a glass in their hand. Both beers have their qualities, as does their regular Weizenbier, while seasonally specials like Maibock, Weizenbock are notable. I was very fortunate to be offered a taste of the freshly bottled Maibock on my visit which was quite wonderful.
Although a relatively modest operation when you visit in person, this is a brewery with a decent distribution and profile. As such, their label displaying a guilty drunk monk with halo above his head, may be familiar to you already. These can be found across Europe including some surprising places.
Stefan is an enjoyer of various beer styles and if the opportunity presents (and if he likes you), he may share something from his collection.
We haven’t touched upon the Biergarten, also perfectly pleasant, or the stork nest on the roof, which despite some years of absences usually hosts stork families, just to add a further patina of rural Franconian charm. Less so if you’re woken up at 5am by their calls…
Looking forward, the family’s legacy looks to be on more secure footing, while it is interesting to speculate whether it will experience more widespread tourist custom in years to come or remain a village pub, a day trip venue for locals and kind of Holy Grail for Franconian brewery baggers who have been to the core Franconian venues in Bamberg, and are seeking something perhaps quintessential that can only be found in a village or country pub. It’s special.
Style: Neighbourhood Pub / Casual / Traditional
Go for: Friendly welcome, well-kept local cask ales, hearty good value food, cosy lounge socialising.
Rarely do pubs make such an endearing and lasting first impression, but that was the case on our first visit here.
A corner pub with diminutive frontage, enter to find an immediately appealing lounge space with traditional furnishings, heritage signage and artwork on the walls and a long bar leading to the kitchen door at the rear.
There is a lounge room opposite as part of the double facing bar. The welcome is friendly and the hospitality as good as if you had been visiting as a regular for years, a great tribute to the efforts and attitude of the staff.
A Free House, with a range of regional and local cask ales the highlight, while a creative kitchen knocks out dishes that you wouldn’t often find on restaurant menus in England, let alone pubs. These are designed to be hearty, often one-pot affairs, allowing you to get good portions at a fair price, with the options ever changing – vegetarians, vegans and those seeking gluten free options are all catered for, although as you’d expect, some dishes are ‘gone when they’re gone’.
Sat among comfortable seating, it’s clear the place has it, the genius loci that makes us keep exploring and keep loving pubs. There is plenty else to add – the community events, books, games, TV etc, but it is best to emphasise the welcome, the comfort, the good food and ales, the good value option and the knowledge that yes, pubs really can still be this good.
Style: Knajpa / Compact / Traditional
Go for: A patrician classic, a beer on the stand.
The sign behind the bar says, “When thirst bites your throat, have a beer from Bohouš.” This legendary moustachioed tapster is a fixture of what is a truly dying breed of pubs in Prague, a drop in Knajpa with a bar area that is crowded with people drinking na stojáka, standing and chatting rather than seating. This, a side-street location and their closed front door acts as its own filtering mechanism, putting off all but the more intrepid tourists.
Style: Culture Centre / Live Music Venue / Garden
Go for: Hungarian Folk Culture, impromptu music and dances.
We were lucky enough to spend one of the best nights out we’ve had in Europe here. It started off in a reasonable but undramatic way, seemingly winding down to last orders at 11pm. Then musicians started to arrive, and before long live music was played with a fiddle and double bass. This led to full on dancing as the evening wore on. Hungarian folk heritage celebrated here, with good value simple food and drink in a traditional kocsma setting. Quite unlike either the townier options or the scuzzy options elsewhere in Cluj. An instant hit. Ignore the reviews! Come here later on for the music.
Style: Hidden Bar / Cocktail Bar
Go for: A one -off experience, a novelty, shady basement cocktails.
A quasi-hidden bar whose doorbell is located on a mock-up shrine. We say quasi because the location has stopped being a secret quite some time ago. However, the novelty of tracking it down and being led into the basement lair for a – expensive – but boozy concoction remains a worthwhile one-off that will enhance your experience in Florence.
Style: Late Bar / Scuzz / Punk
Go for: Late night fun, pinball, last-ditch attempts to get laid.
By their own admission:
“We are really small, with us it is tight, hot and stuffy. We have no outdoor spaces and no WiFi. The toilets are ok. We open everyday at 8pm.“
Why then, would one seek out Heartbreak Hotel?
Set on the ‘Bermuda Triangle’, the lurid lighting of the bar glows street side, beckoning you in, possibly also giving you a hint of the bawdiness to be found inside.
Yes, it’s small, intimate and portal like. The outside world feels like it has vanished. In its place, a brooding red late bar with cinema stall, small stage, pinball machine and..well, a bar.
Opening at 8pm til late (sometimes crossing over until work hours the following morning), you won’t be arriving here for some post-prandial libation! Instead, more likely, you’ll be well-oiled and seeking to cap the evening off at somewhere with some soul and energy.
Heartbreak’s former owner Felix has passed operations over to his son, and although this has ruffled some feathers, most reviews report everything working as normal.
Impromptu encounters, music, and fun, there’s no way of knowing quite where a night at Heartbreak Hotel will take you, but whatever ordinary life has taken from you, Heartbreak Hotel can put it back, if just for an evening.
Style: Brown Café / Traditional Corner Bar / Beer Specialists
Go for: High quality beers, warm welcome, friendly environment.
One of the Netherlands classic brown café bars, a corner pub that makes everything that so many other bars struggle with feel so simple. Typical trad corner neighbourhood location with some preserved interior features with wooden cabinets and a cellar accessed underneath one of the very pub tables. Characterful and quirky without being off-putting in any way. Friendly service and customers that are both cosmopolitan, international and relaxed, unpretentious and welcoming. The beers are superb covering local breweries, contemporary craft and classic Belgian/Dutch favourites. There’s plenty to do whether you’re stroking the cat, chatting to the bar staff or playing board games. It’s simply a brilliant social pub that should be on the corner of every street.
Style: Central Pub / Historic Venue / Art Space
Go for: The epicentre of social activity in Dublin’s Southside. Music, craic, toasties.
Exceptional atmosphere in what is a Southside institution. Unvarnished and characterful while in the middle of a hip district. Remnants of its old partitions, local artwork on the wall and a row of half filled Guinness glasses at the bar. Known for its toasties during the day. Very popular so turn up early or be patient for a seat.
Style: Café Bar / Whimsical / One-Off
Go for: One of the more fantastical pub interiors in Europe, Breton beers and ciders.
Since 1820 the bar otherwise known as the comically lengthy “Le Café du Coin d’en Bas de la Rue du Bout de la Ville d’en Face du Port – La Java” has been operating in the centre of St Malo. A veritable institution, this place exudes charm and character, a reminder of the great lengths and labours of love that make great bars. 3000+ dolls line the walls alongside jaunty carnival ephemera, added to by a mechanical accordion, chain swing seats and a confession box acting as the door to the toilets. The man of the house is a notorious ‘character’ who will not stand for rude photographers or disrespect, but will be no trouble to any civil or polite customers. The wares have plenty of Breton flair too with local beers and twists to popular cold and hot drinks referencing the local agriculture (Blé, black wheat) and Celtic customs. Truly above the norm, and a must visit when in Brittany.
Style: Jazz Bar
Go for: Live gigs at a loose and less restrained Old Town venue.
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.
Style: Late Bar / Casual
Go for: Late night drinks and food, atmosphere.
You walk towards a grim looking entrance, punters kicking about outside with fags, and already get the sense you’re onto a winner. How so? Well, maybe that’s a study all by itself worth having.
Inside you find a true cult pub and dive bar with dark red walls, brooding lighting and recovered old wireless radios stacked high along the walls. It gets better still, as they offer a modest range of independent brewed beer from small breweries such as Beskydský, and decent selection of alternatives from the back bar too. You can feel the warm and bonhomie radiating from the customers. Such a dive bar is far too dog-eared to appeal to everyone, but this is a sterling example of what it is. That’s why it’s up here. Pure atmosphere.
Style: Traditional Pub / Live Music Venue
Go for: Local beers, folk music, a lived-in cosy pub you can make friends in easily.
Meaning “That’s it”, in reference to next door’s funeral parlour, Sin é, dating from 1889 is among Cork’s institutions. Their connection with Irish folk and the live music scene in the city has survived the sways of trends and fashion, remaining a firm fixture 7 nights a week.
To visit on a busy music night is to experience a concentrated shot of culture, that comes as naturally to the musicians and loyal patrons as extending your arm, but will definitely make an impact as an outsider.
It’s important to also state that it’s just as much a social meeting place, and outside of performances Sin é functions as a pub well, more than capably.
Owned by the Rising Sons Brewery who have established the ‘Cork Heritage Pubs’ tour, you’ll find some beers not normally seen on the taps at Irish pubs, with the usual classics too.
The interior is a bunker decorated from head to toe in its decades of memories. Sitting down even on a quiet lunchtime is to become immersed in the pub and its role in the city, making it truly special.
Sin é has two floors, and the first floor is quite different to ground level. Still characterful, but lighter and almost like being in a different place. It had been used as a barbers.
Fame and history mean this one has a bigger reputation and is more sought after – something its pricing seems to have noted too. A bonafide classic.
Style: Central Bar / Craft Beer Bar / Sampler / Modern
Go for: Pour-your-own beers, specialist Polish craft, pizzas, a flavour of the modern scene in the most effective environment.
Setting a high bar for standards on our guide, and insisting on criteria that doesn’t stop simply at the number of drinks on tap has led to a few accusations we here at EBG don’t care about modern bars.
Unfortunately (and we don’t think this isn’t even controversial) the problem with so many craft venues is that everything after their beer selection appears to be an afterthought.
This place, in the attractive and lively city of Gliwice in Katowice’s conurbation is a dazzling example of how that doesn’t need to be the case.
A frankly brilliant bar which has an unusual concept, while also taking care to ensure the small details are looked after too.
IBU references the units of bitterness in beer – yes, it’s a craft beer bar. However, here the beers are tapped by yourself from a big copper module, the centrepiece of the bar as you walk in. Collect a card at the bar and explore the options to your hearts content. They have even taken care to provide a shelf with a variety of clean glasses to compliment each style you explore.
These beers are mainly from independently owned smaller Polish brewers and really cover a good range of styles. The gimmick works well, as the taps also act as a focal point for socialising. It isn’t the only place in Poland to do this but it is very easily the best.
It doesn’t end there though, with the bar carefully lit with a pleasant atmosphere day or night, further space for live events in the large side room, a fully kitted out kitchen, helpful staff and a sense that nothing is being taken for granted.
IBU opened in 2019 and on our visit it still felt vibrant, there was no sense of churn or ‘just another day’.
The ambition of the place is what really grabs you, each element combining to enhance your experience. It’s fun, it’s practical but it’s also atmospheric and has a clear cultural contribution. So yes, if modern bars go to this effort, we’ll give them the high praise they deserve!
Style: Brewery / Beer Hall / Traditional / Complex
Go for: An enormous beer hall, communal drinking, beer garden drinking.
One of the most famous beer halls in the world, a trip to Salzburg without a trip to this cavern, cathedral, and shrine to beer and socialising is to somewhat miss the point.
The scale of the place, even by the standards of lustily sized beer halls like Fruh, Augustiner and Hofbrauhaus is something to behold, and on a busy evening you could easily be convinced the entire city’s residents have decamped here.
On arrival, fetch your 0.5l or 1l stoneware mug from the shelves, and rinse it in the fountain by the cash-desk. This ensures it is clean and cool enough. Then pay for your beer, and you’ll receive a voucher, which you hand over with your stein at the beer counter, and the stein is returned to you, full and foaming. Then take your place among the many rooms which flank a long food court where canteen dishes help soak up the booze.
Beer is served direct from the wooden barrel and designed to be smooth and highly attenuated – that is to say, drinkable.
Highly unusually, food can be brought in. Thus people have always brought wooden cutting boards for the food, cutlery, napkins, bacon, cheese and pickles in picnic baskets.
This is a complex with a close connection to the Benedictine order of monks who converted the venue from an army barracks in the 19th century. 5,000 square metres floor space is considered the largest establishment of its kind in Austria. A grand total of 2,400 seats in divided into five large halls, three smaller rooms and the splendid beer garden with its magnificent chestnut trees – a welcome source off shade for guests during the summer.
Speaking of halls: in 2017, a new hall was added to the heritage-protected Augustiner Bräustübl: the Abt-Nicolaus-Saal. If it looks familiar, you are not dreaming: it is in fact the historic marble hall of Salzburg’s main railway station, which was actually moved from there to Mülln.
The Bräustübl has an average of over 600,000 visitors a year, and is also home to over 240 Stammtische [tables for regulars].
What is dangerous about the place is that your entire trip to Salzburg could be consumed coming here again and again.
It is an interesting juxtaposition, the huge Schwemme and gregarious atmosphere against the refined, high arts on display in Salzburg centre, and shows that there are earthier delights to Austrian life. Simply unmissable.
Style: Hospoda / Late Bar
Go for: Food, terrace drinking, quirky interior, games and reliable late night drinks.
There have been recent writings about the death of the Herna Bar, a 24 hour operation which was commonplace in Czech cities but now barely exists, even in Prague. U Sadu is not a Herna Bar, but it is one of the most reliable late pubs you’ll find. fittingly located in Žižkov, a district which used to be studded with them. With an eye-popping pub room on the ground floor stuffed with eclectic décor from floor to ceiling, a perma-open kitchen, wide beer range, ice cream, the ability to pay in Bitcoin (citation needed, the stickers have been there for years at least), a terrace by the trees, and even its own urinal merchandise, this is a pub that does its best to provide for people and go beyond the norm while doing so. Whether it’s your cup of tea or not, you have to respect that.
Style: Courtyard Bar / Late Bar
Go for: Historic architecture, courtyard boozing, late night fun.
Set directly opposite fashionable Boulingrin market, the stylish nouveau exterior Le Clos has inherited is a standout in Reims. Le Clos has placed itself at the heart of cultural activities in the city.
The layout is not dissimilar to a ruin bar, indeed as you walk through a wide entranceway into a courtyard your first thought (if you’ve visited Budapest’s ruin bar) is just that. This is one of the closest operations outside Hungary to that scene.
At first it may seem an outdoor venue only – there’s a bar, terrace, petanque court and some games machines, but there’s a sizeable enough interior bar to your right which itself is well worth exploring. A boudoir of reds and golds with interesting patterned ceiling, whose bar is far more extensive than the limited outdoor options.
The atmosphere is simply superb on weekend evenings and events with a crowd of people without it being choked and cramped. Stylish but casual enough that it can welcome a range of people.
With live music, stand-up comedy, a pétanque court, and games machines (tucked out of sight, but they are there), it’s a genuine complex, among only a few hundred bars in Europe that can genuinely argue not only that they are one of the best bars in their city, but that they have in themselves improved a city and its appeal.
Style: Late Bar / Theatre
Go for: Cosy, intimate socialising, impromptu performances, smoking.
A superb venue est. 1976 hosting music and live events in its tiny 35 square metre one room setup. A Rauch/Muzikkneipe par excellence, with a genius loci you can feel regardless of whether it’s a performance night or not.
The social setup naturally invites cross-chat and conversation, while the atmosphere in the room is the height of conviviality, warmth, friendliness and cosiness.
This isn’t one of those scuzzy places however, the surroundings are almost closer to a Spanish tapas bar than a Berlin punk dive, and that explains why there’s a good spread and cross-section of people here. For those who can’t abide or tolerate smoke, it may be too much to handle, for everyone else, this is evidence without a doubt one of the finest bars in Europe.
Style: Backstreet Boozer / Historic Inn / Traditional
Go for: North Eastern hospitality, preserved features, cosy social space.
On a cold or damp day (not uncommon in Durham), walking in from the main entrance of The Victoria will throw you straight into the heart of the action and the warmth of the room rushes to bid you welcome.
The Victoria hosts cheerful, very chatty locals who will seize any opportunity to engage in a bit of banter, ask you how you’re doing and what you’re up to, and altogether give the sense that they never really leave the pub, other than on some onerous errand or other. It’s a down-to-earth community greeting that may take aback those used to more a reserved, private experience. There is no forced jollity however, don’t worry about that. On a weekday evening or Saturday afternoon especially don’t be surprised to encounter a bar area thronged with people.
The longstanding publican Michael Webster will give you a straightforward and honest North East greeting and absolutely has your interests at heart. On a busy day you may be offered a seat in the back – unusually this can be accessed via the bar hatch, but also via a couple of sets of doors at the back of the bar.
Pubs of this sort were conceived with an understanding of the concept of genius loci, a harmonious use of space to create a genial special atmosphere. The local architect Joseph Oswald who designed the hotel prior to its construction in 1899 appears to have fundamentally grasped what layout would produce a special venue. Since then, what changes there have been to its appearance have been kept to a minimum. This is now protected by Grade II listed status.
The layout, fixtures and fittings have been well preserved, including some genuine curios such as their vintage coin till, and the service bells fixed in the frames of the bench seats. Some of you may have seen in traditional pubs and know they are nearly always found to be out of action. Well, they have rigged up a new call bell and it’ll be nae botha (within reason) if you use it to attract the attention of the bar staff. Victoriana at its finest.
However distinctive the venue may be, a pub its nothing without the atmosphere created by its patrons. While the décor in the Victoria is rightly prized for its distinctive and well-preserved quality – almost a museum in fact – the customers, along with the enthusiasm and commitment of the staff (an impression which is imparted by everything they do) give the place a vibrancy that others pubs don’t match, for all the wax and varnish they may apply. In my opinion these folks are as integral a part of the pub’s character as the marble fireplace, quirky side rooms or any eccentric array of chintzy royal memorabilia.
For many years The Victoria has offered as its permanent ale ‘Big Lamp Bitter’, a full-flavoured and now rather old fashioned brown bitter of a sort which fits in with the experience of visiting The Victoria very well. You will find other local ales on rotation, for prices which are a little higher than most in the area, not that this deters the locals.
On the Saturday we visited, their kitchen had put on a spread of what can only be described as Durham tapas, traditional North Eastern grub mixed in with the kind of tuck you’d expect to fill the Famous Five’s hampers. You’ll be warmly invited to help yourself and get stuck in. They don’t much stand on ceremony around this area, and all the better for it in my view. Outside of tapas days, food may limited to toasties. Factoring in the hospitality here, their prices become far fairer.
The venue still operates as a hotel and you may see visitors hustled through the back with their suitcases and up the stairs to the guest rooms. In the morning they will enjoy a full English breakfast rustled up by local legend Maureen, reportedly well worth a try.
We spent most of our time in the small lounge at the back of the bar, a beautiful and cosy room with dark red detailed wallpaper, coal fires and hosting domino games. In the warmth and intimacy, you can kiss goodbye to the dreak and the damp of the outside and settle in for the evening. It’s the kind of comfort and enjoyment that’s been regrettably overlooked when attempts to modernise pubs have been made.
One of the great aspects of Victoriana (if we put aside some of the horrendous inequalities and hardships for working people) was the real concept of craft. That mass production was not incompatible with creating something special. That a venue ordinary people could visit could be lavish and a treat to visit rather than looking cookie-cutter and off-the-shelf, and on a human level, as Dr Johnson famously put it:
“As soon as I enter the door of a tavern, I experience oblivion of care, and a freedom from solicitude. when I am seated, I find the master courteous, and the servants obsequious to my call; anxious to know and ready to supply my wants. The more good things you call for, the more welcome you are. Alcohol exhilarates my spirits, and prompts me to free conversation and an interchange of discourse with those whom I most love : I dogmatise and am contradicted, and in this conflict of opinion and sentiments I find delight. There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a capital tavern or inn.”
This is borne out by the fact so many of these historic venues have endured any number of fashion trends, changes of property ownership and economic disasters. Not nearly enough of them, to be sure, but there is something intrinsically appealling that keeps people coming back. And these people, as in all good pubs, belong to different walks of life.
A lot of pub owners and managers could learn a lot by spending a day seated and observant in a place like this.
Style: Backstreet Boozer / Neighbourhood Pub / Traditional
Go for: The cosiest pub, local life in situ, roaring fires, dog-friendly space.
An absolutely fantastic neighbourhood pub matching any comparable traditional pub in England. On a row of terraces close to the dramatic Wainhouse Tower, this stone pub is accessible from both sides, including, oddly, a walk through what appears to be someone’s back yard. Inside, a multi-roomed pub that has preserved its layout of niches and tastefully retained a traditional, cosy social space that feels warm and welcoming. This is supplemented by a cross section of local support of different ages and interests at the heart of its community. Regional ales both traditional and modern on cask and in cans at good prices, a games room at the back and working fires complete what is a frankly outstanding set of plus points. Oh, if you like dogs, you’ll find plenty at the bar. The odd name relates to a mineral water company who used to operate here. If you are anywhere near Halifax and fancy a pint, go here.
Style: Hospoda / Neighbourhood Pub / Traditional
Go for: Pilsner Urquell, finger food and (if you dare), enormous pork joint, delivered at a neighbourhood pub
One of the most famous pubs outside of Prague, if not across the world then definitely in the country. Their tapsters have won awards, the pork joint is for sharing and a real cannonball of food. Their popularity has given the place that sheen of confidence. The staff swagger around the place, their smiles and banter setting the tone for what is truly a superb pub. A small venue, it can be oversubscribed unless you time your visit carefully. However, there’s usually some leaning room at the bar and its neighbourhood location in Veveří district limits the number of tourists, meaning this is still a locals pub.
Style: Out of town Road House with cocktails.
Go for: An unusual yet delightful experience that catches you unawares.
Opening in 1984, Freudenpark has ascended to cult status in the subsequent decades.
Set out in the Nordstadt, this venue is as close to the airport as it is to the city centre. Without many other options nearby, visiting here is a bit of a singular experience. However, it’s easy to reach, a simple 10 minute bus ride.
The suburban location means more space, something Freudenpark uses to great effect. Large signage and an elaborate garden out front with pétanque court, stage, water features and barbecue is a flavour of what’s to come.
Inside, you’ll find a vast space, high ceiling and wood fittings. Impressive, distinctive and eye-catching, rarely found in Germany. Tastefully curated with a mixture of retro artwork and brand signs, and as you survey the scene, you’re still wondering what exactly is this. A late bar, a local pub, a cocktail lounge, a road house? The answer is, a little bit of all of that. One thing this is not, is a Gaststatte, or any kind of food-led Wirtshaus. This is where to go for an evening drink.
The service at the bar has that sort of cocktail bar pretense, with the staff very much masters of the back bar, however, the approach and atmosphere is more casual still. Behind the bar they offer a few good beers as well as the wide selection of drinks. Huppendorfer Vollbier tastes as good on tap here as virtually anywhere.
With darts and table football, this is an impressively versatile venue that due to its location pulls in a diverse audience, all without losing any identity or distinctive touches. It is, in essence, a superb creation. Forget how far out it looks on a map – hop on a bus and go to Nuremberg’s finest bar.
Style: Brauereigaststätte / Compact / Traditional
Go for: One of the most obscurantist and truly local experiences you could possibly wish for.
Martin and Rainer Heckel took over their late father’s operation. “Old Man Heckel” and his one and only Vollbier had attained cult status in the region both for the quality, price point and relative scarcity of the beer, but equally remarkably, their little small town pub. It is a checklist of extremes and one offs.
Firstly, one of the smallest guestrooms in the country, then, opening hours that look like they were arranged by throwing some darts at prospective times pinned to a wall. Then, you’ll find they don’t serve food here – extremely unusual for Franconia, although do allow you to bring food in to eat, providing cutlery and placemats on request.
Then there’s the pricing – could this be the cheapest half litre beer in Germany? Zoigl in Oberpfalz used to be around the same price as Heckel but has since risen, making this place arguably the strongest contender. Then there’s the beer. That is to say one beer, nothing else. While Pomona Island struggle to think of the next comedy reference for naming this week’s IPA, Heckel have been happy churning out the one vollbier and doing it well.
We then must consider Waischenfeld itself, nestled in the heart of Franconian Switzerland – unreachable via public transport save for some of the more circuitous routes and even then trundling through once or twice a day at not too convenient times. It’s hard to get in or out without the aid of a car. We hiked from Aufsess during the day, across lush spring countryside and rolling hills, and left the following morning on the one bus to Gossweinstein (barely making the one and only onward connection). Logistically, this is a tough land to explore.
All of this has created a degree of mystique around the pub, certainly one we felt when originally hearing about it.
Walking towards Waischenfeld after a day’s hike across the region from Heiligenstadt was a genuinely suspenseful moment.
Would it be as good as we hoped? Would there even be room? Would our terrible German help navigate the etiquette and conversation? Would it even be open? Brauerei Heckel’s remote location and combination of the above created a sense that this was our ‘white whale’. We can now share our experience.
Heckel fulfils nearly all expectations, being as quirky and intense an experience as anticipated, while also being richly enjoyable.
The pub isn’t one for shrinking violets, you are sat cheek by jowl to locals – nothing hostile, but certainly intimidating for an outsider. Unless you time your visit right, expect the pub to be packed out with only a few seats available.
The pub room is a 1970s relic with those telltale crown glass patterned windows again, dark wood panelling and a sense of unlit gloom, almost as if it refuses to even doff its cap to the pretty riverside town outside it. When the light is switched on in the evenings it feels almost like a ceremony, as though they were rationing the electricity.
The pub front is an echo of the buttoned up nature of Franconians, it is hardly a Munich Wirtshaus beckoning you inside. It looks more like you’ll knock on the door to be told they haven’t brewed a beer since 1992 due to some horrible family calamity.
So, it is a relief to find not only energy, life but vibrancy as you enter the pub. Card games are noisily played, laughter and banter flies across the room, and glass after glass of Heckel beer is consumed. At such a low price, why not? The beer provides an initial crisp hoppy bite, whacking you in the mouth, before that then blends with a robust, full bodied sweetness. What results is not what you’d call harmony nor balance, but, in their place: magic, devilment. They know what they’re doing. At 5.5% this is dangerous stuff and before too long you can get lost counting how far in you’ve gone.
The best moments are cultural exchanges, and so if you’re chatting to locals or visitors, a strange experience is one everyone can bond over, and this is truly a strange experience.
What makes it all the more interesting is that Martin and Rainer are reserved characters, rather than the life and soul of the party. They are respectful and give to the community and to outsiders, there’s a sense they expect that to be reciprocated by good manners and respect. It’s important to acknowledge their work as part of visiting the place and to give them the kudos they deserve.
On almost every aspect this qualifies as a love or hate pub, but there’s so much to enjoy for those who really want to dig in to it. When we assessed it we considered, as always, whether we’d be happy coming here for the rest of our lives. It was easy: absolutely yes.
Style: Central Tavern / Courtyard / Live Music Venue
Go for: Central drinking, terrace lounging, live music, Belgian beer in Germany!
Although it shouldn’t, it comes as a surprise to me, as much as a relief to have located a cosy, non-corporate pub slap-bang in the middle of a European city centre.
However, Belgium and Netherlands make a habit of it, and these nations just so happen to be Aachen’s closest neighbours.
This German border city and the Low Countries (either of which can be reached in an hour walk from Aachen centre) share a host of cultural cues, with the city itself having initial importance as a Roman spa town before the cult of Imperial Rome spawned Charlemagne and the crowning of 31 Holy Roman Emperors in the subsequent centuries. Aachen also enjoyed a position as a major trading point between nations, goods and wares shipped from the North Sea ports, which may help explain the cultural overlap.
Don’t be under the impression Aachen is any less German for it – believe me, Aachen is a firm fixture of Nord-Rhein Westphalia, and this mixture today results in interesting blends of buildings as you walk around town. Its town hall and surrounding Gothic buildings in the Altstadt could as easily appear as far away as Ghent or Nijmegen without raising any suspicion, but similarly, the remnants of the city wall and the post-war reconstruction are as German as it comes. The cultural centre of Aachen isn’t a large ensemble of buildings when compared to some places, but they are nonetheless impressive and occupy a bigger portion of the city than Cologne or Dusseldorf’s old towns, for example. Aachen is easy to get to from virtually anywhere nearby, and its attractions justify you spending a night here.
Domkeller is situated in the heart of town in an attractive brick townhouse on the small Hof square (you know you’re somewhere central when Hof appears). The scene is made all the more picturesque by a ruined arch halfway along and the distinctive houses that line the square, all fitted with huge grid windows of the kind you normally expect to see on Burgher houses.
The risk is that Domkeller could so easily be one of those common tourist traps and a let-down given its advantageous situation. Instead, you will find the opposite is true.
Domkeller is neither based at the cathedral, or in fact a cellar venue (that ceased to be true in the 1980s, apparently, due to safety regulations), however its proximity and age, dating back at least until the 1950s justifies a name of such significance.
This pub enjoys a handsome trade of local people both young and old who are happy to sit and socialise among the odd tourist (such as myself) or group of businessmen that are passing through.
It’s a place that invites interactions with other people; that magic chemistry where strangers who would otherwise be ignoring each other feel they can cross the divide. That alone would be a good reason to include Domkeller on our guide. Aside of that – the antifascist sign near the entrance is proof that many of these elements go hand-in-hand.
Be assured, the appeal doesn’t stop there. As you walk in through a corner door you will find a cosy room with bar area to your right and communal bench seating with fixed small tables. To your left is some chunkier furniture and further benches. Beyond the bar area is the second part of the room, which again is based around bench seating by the walls and has the effect that most of the time you are spent in an enclosed space where you are looking at and interacting with what’s inside rather than what’s outside.
Domkeller accepts orders at the bar but keeps table service operating and prefers that – it is quick, attentive and polite without being too formal. You’ll be needing a drink of course, and here is where Domkeller comes into its own.
The choices of beer are certainly quality over quantity, but even this selection is encyclopaedic when compared to most German venues. Here at Domkeller, several bases are covered. They have various styles of German beer on tap covering Kolsch, Altbier, Landbier, Pils and Hefeweissbier – most of which are from medium-sized, not corporate breweries – and a suite of Belgian bottles which are mostly the familiar Trappist and Abbey ales, but nonetheless hugely welcome in a nation that is not fond of selling beer brewed by anyone except themselves. Believe me, travel east from Domkeller, stop in each pub you find and it will be a long time before you see as many Belgium beers again.
The atmosphere is also quite fitting for drinking whisky, something which the management appear to have recognised a long time ago – take a look at the drinks menu for a few interesting options.
Prices are along the typical level for this part of the world – perhaps cheaper than Maastricht up the road, a little cheaper than Cologne too, though perhaps a little more expensive than Liege and the rest of Wallonia, which is after all a poorer region of Belgium than Flanders. For a city centre venue, it’s fair value.
Domkeller’s website claims their Weinstube (the upper floor, accessed via a central staircase by the end of the bar) is converted into a small concert hall every Monday night, which I can imagine drumming up even more atmosphere in this place. These start at 8PM, and the pub won’t accept new entrants after 7.30PM.
The upper floor is a lighter shade than the downstairs with a surprisingly high ceiling, though still decorated in a simple, traditional style. There is a gently sloping roof at one side of the room which adds a bit of character. I would rather be downstairs, but would certainly accept a seat upstairs if that was what remained.
Domkeller have a relaxed attitude towards bringing food into eat, which is a refreshing change and shows the sort of pragmatism that people who know pubs recognise but accountants do not. Clearly any food is going to make a person thirsty for more of their fine beers – who loses?
Have I mentioned the opening hours yet? Bloody brilliant! How many cities have I been to that practically shut up shop by midnight? A lot. Too many. Expect Domkeller to serve your needs well into the early hours of the morning, in fair weather or foul, throughout the week. This, along with the friendly company and Belgian ales explained why I found it very difficult to leave and go to bed!
Speaking of weather, the place throws itself open as the weather improves, with outside seating on the square. This is of course a pleasant place to sit back and enjoy the sun, but the true character of the place is indoors in my opinion, a wonderful refuge from the bitter winter weather – the core creation should be at the core of the appeal.
Across Europe, places like Domkeller, based so close to the centre of the city, have ceased to be cult venues long ago and sold out to middle aged tourists to become a generic café.
It’s great to see that the real character of Aachen endures and therefore we say, ‘long live Domkeller’.
Style: Late Bar / Catholic Kitsch / Cocktails
Go for: Incense infused late night Catholic madness and drinks.
Seville’s outstanding bar, not only a work of art in itself but a singular labour of love quite unlike even the iconography strewn bars you’ll find in Andalusia. A beautiful tiled archway with the Garlochi sign is a hint of things to come, with steps leading to a shrine and door to a small bar. Decorated from floor to ceiling in sinister Catholic kitsch, there is no shortage of anything to look at, but that’s only part of the fun with constant incense burning, an excitable crowd and well stocked bar for cocktails, mixers and a few beers including local craft. It’s the kind of place where you feel you’ve won once you’re in. An icon of European bar going.
Style: City Tavern / Historic / Compact / Traditional
Go for: Intimate, social and oh-so-very North boozing in a preserved Grade II-listed building.
A different era of history exhibited here in one of the smaller pubs in the country. Two snug rooms and a tiny old side hatch in a corridor constitute the entire pub which originates in the late 18th century but whose 1904 Edwardian restoration has been kept intact ever since, earning it a Grade II* heritage listing. The red hues and worn-in surroundings in such a tiny place create an intense cosiness and intimacy that is difficult to truly convey, you must experience it. It can be tricky at times to get a seat in either room and you have to accept that may involve sharing tables. However, rather than seeing that as a negative, enjoy the fact you will very often enter into conversation with your fellow patrons. Cask ales are the focus here, with accompanying pie + peas the extent of the food options. Quality whiskies too. You can happily let whole evenings pass in here. I become wistful even as I type. One of the best pubs in England.
Voted Pub of the Year by Real Ale campaign group CAMRA.
Style: Bodega / Cellar / Traditional / Eclectic
Go for: A true one-off – which for London is saying something.
Historic port wine bar established in 1890 and family-owned. Set close to a tube station, you can hear and feel the rumble of trains pass by. A cosy candlelit interior with cracked aged paintings and news clippings, like an old bodega, with the ‘cells’ at the back, a long vaulted cellar where it is permanently shaded and clandestine. Deliberately preserved ‘as our customers like it’ with wine port and sherries only, including some from the wooden barrel. We recommend visiting outside of peak periods on weekends and meal times. One of London’s finest.
Style: Dutch Brown Café / Traditional / Compact
Go for: Characterful, minimalist boozing in an unspoilt, marvellous brown café.
Brown cafés warrant the name because of their shared characteristics, but the term is best served as a general guide to indicate a few of their recurring themes rather prescribing a precise template. Exploration of these pubs across Belgium and Netherlands will reveal a surprising diversity in décor and atmosphere.
Some emerged from a jazz/blues tradition and are decorated accordingly, even hosting live acts as a revival or preservation of that. There are some upscale brown cafes which take their cues from the roaring twenties: high society, art nouveau and all that. There are English/French style taverns which blend vaulted beams and thick wood with the bric-a-brac décor and beer ephemera you’d expect in a brown café. There there are working class venues with a simple format: rickety furniture, dusty floors, yellowed walls and good booze.
It seems though, whichever angle the owner deigns to take, the fundamental basics of what constitute a great pub are inherent in the DNA of a brown café which put them at a distinct advantage. Whether it’s the fantastic Belgian beer, their aforementioned styling choices, their character and atmosphere that evolves over the course of a day and remains as appealing whether you’re sat there on your own or among a tangle of people, you have to go pretty far to mess this concept up.
The not too distinctive name De Pilsener Club goes by another far better name ‘De Engelse Reet’, or ‘English Arse’. This place is one of Amsterdam’s core historic brown cafes dating back to 1893, and this place is content to be down-to-earth and working class.
There is a no-bullshit attitude to the entire arrangement: it’s brown alright, from the walls to the tables and chairs, and the floor has that aged spit-and-sawdust type look to it that probably has been cleaned daily but has been around so long it has received stains and wear that won’t rub out. Characterful, basically. A notable quirk is that there is no bar at all, all drinks are prepared in a backroom and then brought out.
Drinking is done across a set of communal tables along a small rectangular room with a fairly high ceiling, so you get a cosy surrounding but a woozy sense of space if you look up. The lighting and ambience gives that sense that it could be virtually any time of day and feel the same.
Drinking pilsener isn’t even half of the point of being here. The purpose of your visit is to drink some high quality, and invariably strong Belgian and specialist Dutch ale in these surroundings. Trappiste, abbey, lambics, micro-brewery stuff. These are proudly displayed above the head of the bar. Alternatively (or potentially in addition to) you can try their decent enough range of jenevers or order a cocktail (I’m not sure why you would feel the need to do the latter in a place such as this, but alcohol is a strange master at times).
There is a nice range of clientele in the place that give it a nice community feel. Old men sipping their beer over a newspaper, groups of youngster sharing conversation, couples diving in from the bad weather (in our case), business folk holding-forth over the worn-through tables. It is the kind of place which manages to be inclusive without turning itself into a safety first bland chain pub, and maintains what it wants to be without discriminating in the ageist and stylist fashion many craft beer pubs do. Of course, being in central Amsterdam will help, but natural advantages still count.
As the evening progresses and the alcohol takes effect, the browns and off-whites of the room form a rather comforting hue, and the hubbub of conversation adds to that great calming melange where you really wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. And that’s great because it stays open until 2am.
In most towns and cities this place would be the best pub by a country mile. Up against seriously stiff competition in Amsterdam, De Pilsener Club eschews all gimmickery, sell-out concessions, and, if you excuse the waiter’s rather formal attire, modernisation of any kind, and does a good trade being what it is, a thoroughly likable, characterful place for a drink and a good time. Google reviews are almost uniformly positive about the place and after a visit it’s easy to see why. Mark my words, their words and place it firmly on your hitlist.
Style: Courtyard Bar / Informal
Go for:Unexpected courtyard alleyway socialising in spring and summer.
The anticipation of visiting somewhere with a good reputation can be exciting but also loaded with expectations, sets of pitfalls that can make the eventual experience not live up to them. This is no reason to not get excited, it’s just a fact of life.
What you can’t bottle are surprises, events and chance discoveries outside of any planning or research that fit the bill and transform your evening.
Discovering this place in the picturesque town of Varaždin in Northern Croatia was one of those moments. Earlier in the evening we had been wandering around an open air folk festival ‘Špancirfest’, which again we had known little about in advance. The centre was buzzing with stalls, street theatre and music, which alone gave a pleasant lift to our stay there. After doing the circuit of the town and around the castle we double backed onto ourselves hoping to find a bar in the vicinity to drop into. Most of these were busy but we stayed for a couple. On our way home I noticed a courtyard on our left and feeling curious ventured further in.
This venue is mainly open air, a terrace for cycling enthusiasts to congregate and drink a coffee. Varazdin was also hosting a protest against city plans to ban cyclists from the pedestrianised old town.
This place was essentially their plotting spot, and they were selling t-shirts and other merchandise in support of their cause. It was not apparent whether there was a bar or anywhere to get drinks, but we were approached by a gentleman who seemed to be co-ordinating some of the get together, and had a couple of cans thrust in our general direction.
The atmosphere was terrific as you could probably expect, a combination of the local buzz from the evening and really stylish design, upturned umbrellas, old cycles pinned to the walls and antique furniture in the courtyard. It’s the kind of place you would want to hang out in the summer pretty much anywhere.
Style: Antique Bar / Courtyard
Go for: Old-timer Jewish Quarter drinks in an atmospheric antique interior and lively courtyard.
One of the frightening number of atmospheric Kazimierz bars, you can choose either the beautiful beer garden opposite, or the cosy surroundings of the pub itself, decorated in faithful fashion, with antiques, hundreds of black + white portraits of old inhabitants of the district and various ephemera from times past. Candlelit in the evenings, and open until 1AM, it forms part of the network and further proof of a successful template, one that leaves visitors with an impression of Kraków that imprints for life. Improve the drinks offer and you’d never leave.
Style: Historic Beer Hall / Pub Restaurant
Go for: Spectacular interior, music and dance, Pilsner Urquell in sublime form
19th century beer hall of very rare quality in Eastern Europe.
For spectacle, it’s among all of Europe’s finest. Neo-gothic interior, cathedral-like, drawing your eye towards stained glass at the rear of the room, in front of it, below standinga large bar, altar-like.
Cloistered ceilings, portals and balconies with frescoes of historic scenes. It is both fanciful and extremely elegant, taking in Art Nouveau influences of the era.
While an eatery, you’ll find it fairly relaxed & communal. Once seated you can continue drinks after a meal too. Their House beer origins are opaque but all signs suggest it is brewed by Ursus. It’s harmless but uninteresting. Thankfully they offer Pilsner Urquell on draft in superb, basically Czech level condition.
Originally opened as a brewery in 1879, nationalised in 1949, restored extensively in 1986 and returned to family ownership in 1999, subject to further renovation works. It is a survivor, to be sure.
Along with typical hearty Romanian dishes, you’ll find evening folk dances in the cellar and classical musicians performing throughout the week.
Service varies a little from the listless youths to more old school patrician hospitality from the experienced staff.
The only downside is the pricing to quality ratio, though standards are good and there isn’t huge disparity – you are somewhat paying for the environment here.
Soaking up the surroundings and environment it seems baffling, almost impossible to believe this was purpose-built or that it has survived.
Sure, a venue of this sort is going to attract mass tourism, and with that there are some hazards. But only the most pig-headed modernist stylists, penny-pinching misers or narrow minded of contrarians could deny that this place is a gemstone, a cultural icon that almost makes Bucharest worth visiting for alone.
Style: Late Bar / Casual / Alternative
Go for: Clandestine, off-the-map drinks, brooding atmosphere and….food?!
Traubova backstreet hosts two of the best bars not just in Brno or Czechia but arguably all of Europe. Both don’t exactly scream at you from the outside. It’s a gloomy street, a very unlikely setting for it. A sturdy, very old door leads into this low-lit, immensely atmospheric parlour for hushed conversation. There’s a small thrift store in the entrance and you’d never expect it to have a fully-functioning kitchen too, but it does. This place is really is for end of the night lounging, its charming gloom and blur taking things to a glorious close.
Style: Late Bar / Casual / Gay Friendly
Go for: True old school bodega atmosphere, impromptu piano, a smoky environment, innuendo from the waiting staff.
A ‘roaring twenties’ jazz bar, now a centenarian known locally as “The Establishment”, age has only added a further rheumy patina of sleaze, memories and character that make nights out at Intime today every bit as colourful.
A renowned gay bar, these days the crowd is mixed, usually but not exclusively young, and liberal. Waiters are notoriously gratuitous in their welcome and banter, and a bit of wise-cracking works both ways, you’ll be glad to know. Aside of table service (though you can go to the bar), the place is the height of informality.
Sunday jazz performances take place on a grand piano which takes an almost comical amount of floor space considering the available room. Inhaling from the cloud of cigarette smoke hanging across the room is unavoidable, but this bar is about tonight, not the day after.
This is hardly the only performance here – nights can seem to spontaneously give way to singalongs or events that appear to have no fanfare or trailer. Professional singers appear to emerge from within crowds of friends, and amateurs are often welcome to accompany them. It is this sense of dynamism that sets apart an already hugely atmospheric place to another level.
And drinks – well, they exist but can anyone really recall what they were drinking here? A well stocked back bar serves for cocktails and mixers, and the usual Carlsberg / Tuborg taps and bottles do the rest.
Don’t look at InTime on a map and think it looks to far from central Copenhagen. It’s a doddle to reach.
If you think you are perhaps a little reserved, inhibited, there may be other places to consider, but if you want to make new friends, or have a laugh with existing ones, this is one of the destinations in Copenhagen, Denmark, Europe.
Style: Late Bar / Casual / Alternative
Go for: Clandestine, off-the-map drinks, brooding atmosphere, casual hangout.
This basement bar is truly a cult classic for Brno, around for donkey’s years and no-one can remember it ever being anything other than a scuzzy drop-out joint, but in the best possible way. A former laundry, the signage and original doorways remain in place, for a while it still offered to carry out laundry services while you waited for a beer. Why you would do that in such a smoky room is anyone’s guess, but this is Czechia. The yellow walls are a true throwback to the smoking joints of pre-ban days and a young crowd of anyone from bohemians to borderline vagrants makes a beeline for this place. There is much to love, from the steam heater kicking out warm into the main room, the fuzzy surroundings, haze of smoke and terrific beer on offer. Yes, there’s a side-pull Lukr tap installed from which is poured the likes of Beskydský ležák. Luxury. Come home reeking but having had a cracking night out.
Style: Brunt Værtshus / Brown Café / Traditional
Go for: Calm afternoons, candlelight and smoke, late night fun.
Dating from 1917, the bar claims to still be fit with original décor from that era. You’d struggle to argue otherwise as you enter a space of rich reds, lamplights, old paintings and old wood, with its faded splendour lending the place an atmosphere that falls somewhere in between prim literary café and sleazy dive without ever really being either.
Bo-Bi Bar is located opposite Gyldendal’s publishing house with its impressive angular facade comprising the view out on to the street. It is almost part of the bar itself. As a consequence, Bo-bi has traditionally been visited by writers and famous/evocative enough to be used as the location for Christian Braad Thomsen’s 1998 film The Blue Monk.
An environment that belongs to the sound of slow jazz, the mood is so horizontal during the afternoon that sometimes minutes pass between thoughts as you are lulled into a slumber, with the gentle ambience noise of rustling newspapers, adjusting of seats and glasses lifted and replaced.
This is only half the story, as Bo-bi ups the tempo in the evening, and the crowd graduates to a younger one.
Although classed as a Danish ‘brown pub’, Bo-bi feels more distinctive, less of an out and out boozer than most that fall into that category. It is a lost in time café bar with a close to matchless atmosphere.
Drinks are basic and in bottles, though there are some independently brewed options outside the usual Carslberg/Tuborg stranglehold. For snacks, a boiled egg may be brought forth.
Smoking is permitted, they greatly prefer cash payment and use of mobile phones for anything beyond reading is frowned upon.
A clear standout destination that cannot be missed in Copenhagen or indeed in Europe, where it belongs in the pantheon with the very best.
Style: City Tavern / Sports Bar
Go for: Central buzz, festival and match day atmosphere, local colour
Named after owner Jacques Gardet’s nickname Ramina, this Basque rugby bar is a true standout in South West France. He was a former rugby player himself for the local team Avirron Bayonnais.
Both a central meeting place and hub of activity in the town and a true curio, highly personalised with memorabilia from floor to ceiling.
A single room pub, long and narrow with lounge area and TV at the end. This is partitioned by a hatch jokingly labelled “Remparts” where you may have to duck under if you need the toilet during your stay (which is, typically for this part of France, a hole in the floor).
There’s a long fish tank positioned under the bar, while all around you photos of great memories in the bar and souvenirs/gifts are pinned to walls and ceilings.
The bar is open late on Fridays and Saturdays, but during match days you can taste a bit of the magic, likewise during the busy festival calendar.
The bar is destined to live out its existence as a love or hate place but we absolutely loved it and would return in a heartbeat.
Style: Theme Pub / Backstreet Boozer / Traditional
Go for: Darts, cask ales in continental Europe, late night drinks.
One of Finland’s oldest pubs, formed in 1969, when licensing was coming in to combat alcohol abuse problems. The British pub was a format often used and the idea that this would provide a civilised space for social drinking that tempered excess proved to be effective. These days it is among the oldest continually running pub operations in Finland.
You’d never spot this from the outside with its unprepossessing glass frontage offering barely any hint of what’s inside. As you enter however, you will be transported into an almost unchanged simulacra of a British pub from the early 1970s, all brown hues, carved wood, brewing signage and mirrors, with darts, pool and a piano. The Anglophilia extends to occasional supply of fresh cask ales and British ales on keg too. But don’t take this as being a themed pub – far from it.
The length of time this has been open has endowed it with a particular character of its own, the events it has hosted, the stories it can tell push this far beyond the realm of some tacky theme establishment. The natural ambience whether late afternoon, or in the bustle of a winter evening is extraordinary. If it was located in London itself there is no doubt it could be classed among the very best traditional pubs in the city. As for Finland, it is certainly belongs the rarified air of the upper echelons.
The darts and pool particularly give the place an easy casual nature which disarms the sometimes staid nature of Finnish pub going (excluding karaoke bars), the drinks are perhaps last-gen but more than good enough, they will serve you well. It isn’t especially cheap but you will have to suck it up on this occasion to experience one of the finest pubs in Europe.
Style: Piano Bar / Personal / Bunker
Go for: A friendly welcome, cocktails, ice cream, live Jazz and a personal study.
One of Europe’s great Jazz Bars, this also dips into golden age ephemera as a decoration, along with a collection of books and nik-naks lining the walls. Bunker-like layout without windows adds to the intimacy of the experience, along with the booze which is largely centred around sweet-edged cocktails. A male duo arrange the service in a personable manner. Once seated, the experience is woozy good fun surrounded by things to look at and music to soak up. Live performances. A real highlight of a city largely known for completely different things.
Style: Village Pub / Brewery Pub / Traditional
Go for: Their own ales, evening live music, games, fireplaces and flagstone floors.
Rub your eyes and then rub them again, these pubs still do exist. Set up a steep slope, your reward if setting off from the low road is a superb unspoilt social local Yorkshire pub that’s all part of a brewpub operation. You’ll find a large range of local ales, a step-back-in-time stone Inn with flagstone floor, old fireplace and low-slung exposed beams across several cosy rooms with bench seating. Good when quiet, exceptionally good when busy, with plenty on offer to keep it that way. Along with the local ales you’ll find musical instruments and music nights, a pizza oven later in the week, community events, and outdoor seating. It’s good value too for the ales. The sort of pub you dream about finding. The owners feel it is a bit of a love-or-hate place, but in our view that sells it extremely short. Learn to love it because you’ll be sorry when it’s gone. One of the best pubs in England.
Style: Hospoda / Neighbourhood Pub / Traditional
Go for: Organic beers, multitap selection, local life, occasional music
Named after the writer Zdenek Kuděj, the closest and perhaps long-suffering friend of Jaroslav Hašek, this basement bar on the periphery of Olomouc old town executes the subtleties and intangible elements that enhance an otherwise familiar, traditional pub experience with substance – great beers that are always cared for and well-poured, good classic Czech pub snacks, and a naturally social space as pubby as they come. Were it not so damn popular, it would be near faultless. Clone it!
Style: Craft Beer Bar / Pub / Traditional
Go for: Cutting edge Polish craft beer in a cosy, intimate and social environment.
Some pubs give a clue to their quality just by the sounds you can hear from outside the door. The hubbub of lively conversation, laughter and friendly voices are an encouraging invitation to join in.
It isn’t immediately apparent what to expect, until you approach the door when the sounds from inside start to reach you. Walking inside swiftly confirms those sounds of encouragement were well founded, revealing a homely down to earth venue akin to an English pub in style and feel. There is a real fire near the bar, the walls are plastered in old beer labels and bar mats, and there are lots of comfortable dark wooden furniture, bookshelves and board games, and a small TV mounted near the ceiling, a slight concession to sports fans perhaps? Yes, but also as likely, for the staff to watch TV during quiet times. As with all great pubs it feels like your temporary home for the afternoon/evening.
Don’t worry about any excess of tourists, Poznan itself is not overly touristy outside of the Rynek in high season, while the venue is just far enough outside the old town, in a secluded spot to be low key to passing trade. The reason Piwna Stopa is busy and popular is all down to word of mouth –that word of mouth exists because this pub is really damn good.
The reasons already stated would be enough on their own to class it as a venue of real merit, but pleasingly enough, there are other aspects which all contribute to its special feel. The staff are friendly, enthusiastic and helpful. Indeed one staff member noticed we had returned the following day despite being two of a hundred people and they were very welcoming and pleased to meet our English selves.
With a name like ‘Beer Foot’ you wouldn’t be mistaken to think this was another pub wedded to Poland’s growing craft beer scene. Beers are listed clearly enough on the blackboard by the bar, and were on frequent rotation.
In addition to the beer they also do some basic food, usually grills in summer or one-pot type cooking, the smells of which waft through the room and looked heart enough to help line your stomach for the drinking ahead. The prices in here are fair considering the higher strength and overheads associated with craft brewing. The Pub actively market themselves and put on events, clearly trying to foster a community spirit, which on the evidence at my disposal has been very successful.
Just think how many mediocre pubs there are that miss the tricks Piwna Stopa seems to know intrinsically and maintain. It’s constantly frustrating that because the bar is low (excuse the pub) people refuse to aim high.
This place clearly had ambitions to run a pub worthy of shouting about and I’m pleased to say their ambitions have been realised. It is a classic example of how to open and run a good pub, and if I lived in Poznan I would be found drinking in here several times a week. The only shame is I don’t, so I must leave this pleasure for your own exploration and that of the locals.
Style: Rural Pub / Sweet Shop / Traditional / Compact
Go for: A one-off experience in an obscure location.
One of England’s one-off’s, a surviving country Inn still running a sweet shop as well as a pub. Three little rooms each accessible from individual doorways, this charming and unique family-run cottage serves local ales, very basic butties, pork pies, snacks, sweets and occasionally locally made produce like juices. Inside the pub it is very cosy and intimate, a social space that’s exciting, out of time and an instant conversation starter. Gathering around their fireplace is supreme in the winter months. As the proprietor says himself, on average 3 times a day he’ll hear someone say the words ‘ Never change’. Three cheers to that!
Style: Rural Pub / Brewery / Tavern / Traditional
Go for: Cask ale in Ireland, cosy firelit tavern, views of the Kerry coastline.
A true standout, both for the fact it is an independent small-batch brewery in Ireland, more so that it is based near the middle of nowhere, more still that it has a pub that on its own would be worth visiting even if it only served macro-brew beer. A family operation and labour of love, the beers are true standouts, by far and a way above the norm available in the country, while the pub itself is the epitome of homeliness, with wood strip ceiling giving it a cosy Gasthof feel, offering a large fireplace that, when going emits a pleasant intoxicating incense. One of the true wonders of the beer world. Unfortunately it closes early evening (though it’s unfortunate it ever closes!)
Style: Antique Café Bar / Late Bar / Bohemian
Go for: Late night drinks in a special woozy atmosphere.
Being a standout bar in Kazimierz is going some, but Eszeweria (Esh-evver-eee-aah) goes even further, by nailing the district’s established style – antiquey furnishings and crumbling edifices – as well.
Throw in a summer garden (albeit a very busy one), and there’s enough here to make you fall in love with Kazimierz all on its own.
Eszeweria opens very late as well. If it’s dark they will seemingly keep on serving. I couldn’t imagine visiting the bar any other time than very late in the evening, as walking in past the rows of couples dripping sweet nothings by murky candle light, and groups of young folk plotting in the nooks and crannies of the bar is never better than at some unholy late time of night. Every visit seems to end with the bar being at least as busy as when you entered, it seems like it will never really close.
Unfortunately the pub only offers slightly last-gen beer offerings on draft, with the Zywiec range on tap but that weakness aside, there’s very little else to mark the bar down for. The range of rooms and seating allow groups to have the kind of evening they want. There are intimate tables for two, communal pub type seating, sofas and of course the garden space. Every city needs a go-to place for a late drink and this is definitely one of the greatest at that task.
Style: Boozer / Preserved Interior / Casual
Go for: Throwback boozer, jukebox choices, old fashioned drinks, friendly vibes
The legend of the Laurieston has grown over the years to the extent it can be considered a genuine destination pub. Certainly its exterior and interior are time warps, worth a look as curios alone. The harsh 1960s flat roof exterior and the ‘murder pub’ connotations those have earned over the decades makes you double take in its bracing hideousness. Perhaps the fact it’s Glasgow, with a reputation for tough boozers (admittedly much outdated) adds an extra sense of threat. This could not be dispelled anymore firmly by walking inside.
Warm, cosy, social and friendly, every spot in the pub looks worth sitting in, from the upholstered corners in the bar, to the cushioned lounge, to the bar stools around a stylish horseshoe shaped bar, that can be viewed through at either side.
Formica tables screwed into the floor, matching curtains, reinforced glass and a pie heater add further to the sense of throwback, but the customers – those you can see, hear and sense around you lend it a vibrancy and relevance to match and beat any of the most cutting edge destinations in Scotland – this is no museum but a living, breathing democratic social space.
Majestic.
Style: Jazz Bar / Kneipe / Beer Garden
Go for: Live Jazz & Blues, courtyard lounging, characterful interior, solid pub grub.
We travel far and wide in the hope of discovering pubs and bars like this one that don’t just settle for mediocrity but want to be a piece of living art, a cosy home for locals, an interesting place for visitors and a dazzling contribution to pub culture.
With a characterful interior, frequent live jazz + blues performances and a striking exterior and garden, they are no less than an iconic Berlin institution.
Style: Antique Bar / Late Bar
Go for: Atmospheric late drinks in a candlelit shabby chic boudoir.
The Jewish Quarter in Krakow, Kazimierz has one of the most densely concentrated and highest quality offerings of quirky, alternative and atmospheric pubs and bars in the whole of Europe. The choice for a pub crawl is bountiful and very difficult to cover every bar of merit in one trip.
Alchemia is the beating heart of Kazimierz, based directly on Plac Nowy. On a warm summer night there are seemingly no real joins between the limits of the bar and the zapiekanki stalls on the square itself, with groups congregating, milling about, enjoying a drink and the buzz of the social scene, sometimes even with street music as the often well marked boundaries pub going are ripped up in favour of an almost Latin American/bohemian feel.
It isn’t all about the al fresco socialising though, that is merely a happy consequence of its popularity and position. The pub itself is superb, and the intimate atmosphere in certain nooks and crannies is almost a contradiction from the vibrancy on the street.
You couldn’t visit a more archetypal antiquey/vintage style place. Tables and chairs are set to candle light while vintage furniture is spread across the rooms. The rabbit hole feel is continued even further by having to climb through a wardrobe into the back room.
The colours are red, velvet and the woozy glow of candlelight. The bar is usually busy enough that most seats are taken but not so busy that you can’t swoop on a vacant table a few minutes later, and spend an hour or two luxuriating in the faded cracked grandeur and the collective feel that seems to permeate through the venue that this is the place to be.
The bar serves Pilsner Urquell, tank Tyskie for a reasonable price at happy hour and the range of Ksiasece beers which are a step up from the normal range of Polish lager, especially the wheat beer, but at the time of writing the Polish craft beer scene hasn’t yet arrived. There are plenty of places nearby for that in any event.
Alchemia may be somewhat of an institution, and I expect some locals may feel it is passe, but there is no denying its intrinsic quality and the essential journey you must make to Alchemia upon your visit to Kraków.
Style: Boazn / Late Bar
Go for: An eccentric and macabre evening with Auntie Viki.
For the mystique, its macabre unique experience this is a true one off and outstanding bar in Europe, to the point where such concerns as drink or food are irrelevant. The owner, Auntie Viki welcomes you into a small drink bar around the size of a Munich Boazn that is stuffed with her life’s possessions, along with her dog and cat that bumble about.
She is elderly and worthy of time and care, a local living legend as reviews will attest to. Cans of beer or palinka are the regular offer with a stock of spirits at the back of the bar. It even seems impossible to know where to sit, but you should be guided to the seat. Inside an old TV set plays, gowns and dresses are hungup in the back, and you wonder how the hell life took you to this place. This is going to be a very strongly love or hate venue for those reading, but we loved it and wish there were more places like it. Go while it’s still open.
Style: High street ale house / Jazz Bar
Go for: Live Jazz in a highly personalised environment – occasional tapas nights.
Certainly close to being the finest pub in England, this jazz bar combines amazing décor, with jazz antiques and memorabilia perfectly complimenting a beautifully ageing wood fit bunker-like pub with bench seating and carpets. Live performances feature almost daily, with tips + raffle surcharge to pay for those. Occasional tapas nights add further to the unusual mixture.
Along with the likes of Yorckschlosschen, Papa Joe’s and Bohemia Jazz Café, England has a Jazz Bar worthy of renown anywhere in Europe. Visit at once.
N.B: Bring hard cash as they don’t accept cards.
Style: Museum / Courtyard Bar
Go for: Ethnic nik-naks, contemporary courtyard bar, ruin bar aesthetic.
One of the Balkans best bars, Komiteti is a labour of love, and work of art that transmogrifies Albanian folk heritage into a ruin bar type setting with atmospheric courtyard and rooms to wander through. Worth a visit for the environment alone, but there are plenty of amenities and events to enjoy along with it. One to come back to again and again, and close to being a single reason to visit Tirana in and of itself, high praise given this is hardly an uneventful or uninteresting city.
Style: Mountain Refuge
Go for: The experience of drinking draft beer carried to 2250m above sea level by volunteers. Atmospheric social evening atmosphere.
When is a pub not a pub? When there’s no electricity or plumbing? When you can’t get there without clambering up chains and ladders? You’d think so, but you’d be wrong.
Chata Pod Rysmi stretches the whole concept to breaking point, yet its offerings resemble an Inn so near as damn it, that who would quibble? It bloody well is one.
2250 metres above sea level, inaccessible by car and 2 hour’s hard climb up from the fringe of civilisation at Popradske Pleso, Chata Pod Rysmi is the highest mountain refuge in Europe. Through sheer commitment, sacrifice and bloody-mindedness, a hut which most people would expect to offer – at most- a basic place to escape bad weather, provides cooked meals, beds and beer on tap.
Open from 15th June until 31st October (due to being impassable at other times of year), the hut primarily provides a safe haven – and, if necessary – lodgings to those wishing to climb and pass the summit of Rysy, the peak of the High Tatras and border between Slovakia and Poland.
The idea to build a mountain hut came up at the end of the 19th century, but it was only in 1933 that the first Chata Pod Rysmi was realised. Lasting an impressive 20 years before sustaining severe avalanche damage in the mid-1950s, it was rebuilt and then extended in 1977. In modern times, a further avalanche in 2000 virtually destroyed the hut. Since 2013, following a lot of unnecessarily wrangling the venue has been fully reconstructed with a new design.
The fixtures are impressive and solidly built – and they have to be. The weather at this altitude is unpredictable and at times severe; it is situated at a point where humans are not designed to be.
Arriving via Slovakia: The walk from Popradske Pleso to Chata Pod Rysmi is beautiful and dramatic, with pine forests and mountain waterfalls giving way to jagged granite peaks, via an otherworldly tarn, before a short series of chains and ladders gains you access to the final climb, a rocky hard slog to the hut.
Weather permitting, it is up to you whether you want to scale the summit on arrival or sleep over and save that for the morning.
Arriving via Poland: A very steep slog from the easily accessed lake Morskie Oko, albeit up a well marked and well travelled route up sets of chains and ladders. Pack cautiously, move cautiously and attempt this in clear summer weather.
By all accounts, the interior of the new Chata Pod Rysmi has preserved the original atmosphere. Upon arrival you will note a few jokes, such as the ‘bus stop’ located outside, and inside some nooses handily labelled “2 places for vegetarians”. Hilarious… depending on your sense of humour.
The hut’s tenant Viktor Beránek has been taking care of the hut for 42 years and is a living legend. Not only for the length but nature of the commitment he has made – in his prime carrying 100kg of stores up to the hut on his back. Yes, this is not a hut that benefits from airdrops: all the day-to-day supplies are provided by porters, sherpas if you like. Each day they supply on average 60kg worth of supplies. On your hike you may see drop off points, where the porters have left gas canisters midway up for their colleagues nearer the top to collect.
You can imagine, given the variable weather and tough terrain that this is requires an almost missionary level commitment. While your first beer (on our arrival it was Litovel Maestro) arrives, trust me when I say it slips down with as much guilt as pleasure when thinking about the poor sods lugging the kegs up the mountain! But after a while you have to get used to it, you have paid for it after all.
If you feel too guilty to partake, then make contact with the Poprad Lake Mountain Hotel who will be delighted to offer you a range of packages to take to the hut (weighing you down further on your ascent) which you can exchange for a free tea or soup at the hut by way of thanks. This way you can personally experience a fraction of the sacrifices they make every year.
They also have contracted their own label beer, courtesy of Pivovar Nymburk in Czechia, which you can buy in cans at the hut itself, testament to its iconic status in the region.
The food here is simple – warming and hot – and definitely Slovakian. Cabbage, dumplings, soup, goulash. Prices are as fair as you can expect given the supplies have been delivered on foot up a mountain. When you are up here, nearly everything they offer feels somewhat of a charity, even when you are paying for it.
Once you are fed and watered, there may be an occasion where nature calls, and here, the fun really starts. Clamber 150 metres along a rocky slope to visit Chata Pod Rysmi’s ‘Panorama Toilet’!
This outhouse boasts a full perspex window on the valley below, as you are seated on the throne. Anyone feeling constipated will soon find their digestive passage easing. During the night, this trip can be annoying as it is outright dangerous in bad weather to be visiting the toilet, and yet they are fairly strict about ensuring the gentlemen staying over don’t simply relieve themselves nearby. There are rodents around, you see…
The experience of visiting a clifftop outhouse at 2 am with a weather system drawing in up the valley is certainly ‘one to tell the grandkids’.
So, onto the “pub itself”, you will note the communal area looks to all intents and purposes like a Slovakian country pub. Communal wooden tables, rustic and simple decoration, and a bar area. Whether you’re drinking spirits or beer, you take your seats in the same way you would a pub, drink in the same way you would a pub, and chat in the same way you would a pub. It’s a pub. A pub with an enormous green ceramic heater, for good measure.
As the light fades, the staff bring out oil lamps, where the atmosphere increases even further. Lit by lamp and the occasional glint of moonlight, sit and enjoy your warm food and your beer in good company, a one off unique experience yet one that feels like a familiar throwback to simpler times, especially as there is no music unless someone picks up the guitar or sits at the piano which has also, extraordinarily made its way up here. There is no electricity (for the guests at least), no wifi, no phone signal.
If you get up in the middle of the night to answer the call of nature (requiring, for safety and good health that you get fully clothed and booted each time) you can see the staff jovially drinking and chatting among themselves in their breakout area, something which reminded me that after all, pubs are about socialising and human contact. With the usual trappings of modernity out of action it puts you in touch with the simple pleasures – with a side helping of bracing outdoor toilet usage for good measure.
You can’t find somewhere like this place just anywhere, it goes down as not only one of my best pub experiences but best life experiences.
Style: Museum / Garden / Retro Bar
Go for: A museum to communist childhood, a lost in time garden, late night fun.
In Timișoara, a venue has appeared which is entirely unlike anything you would expect to find in the West.
While the rest of Romania is hardly a hotbed of bars setting Europe alight, in a strange way, the cheaper rents, creative freedom and lack of corporate control make it much more likely that such a place may come into existence versus an expensive, tightly corporate trend-following city like you’d get in the UK.
There is a twisted irony that Timișoara, birthplace of the Romanian revolution against communism would now host as one of its most popular attractions, Scârț, a bar and museum nostalgically smothered in its relics and ephemera and making money from them.
The name itself, “Scârț” translates to ‘Squeak’. Apparently there are extra layers of meaning to that (I haven’t managed to find out just what. Other suggestions seem to think it means Creaky door). Loc Lejer is more direct: ‘A chill place’. It was opened by a group of actors who were looking for a way to sustain themselves and their work.
The bar itself is located in a large old house in a quiet neighbourhood south of the city centre. It is not all that far away on foot, perhaps 15 minutes, also only a hundred metres away from a locally famous restaurant Casa Bunicii.
While the walk to Scârț may feel unsettling, entering the bar, even for the first time, feels almost like going to see an old friend, so quickly does its loungey interior put you at ease.
Despite a Museum attraction on the premises, you won’t find too many huge signs nearby advertising its location. However, as long as you stick to the address and follow your nose, you’ll be OK.
Like a lot of cities in the region, backstreet Timișoara during the evenings is dark. I mean really, really dark. With little signage or street lights to guide you, the strongest indicator of the bar is the rumbling of conversation around the back of the building. Enter through the front gate and you will see a number of large artworks fixed to the fence in the driveway. Carry on through and you’ll find a small garden terrace, and a set of steps leading up to the bar itself.
On entering, you will find the bar directly to your right. You will have quickly noticed the place is very nicely decorated, with an array of communist-era nostalgia among one or two new artworks, with a few tables directly opposite the bar top to sit around.
There is a wide choice of drinks – alcohol certainly does not dominate, although there is plenty of that should you wish. If you are simply looking for tea, that can be served in pints and I read that they make their own elderberry drinks. We also read that you can buy certain old time snacks like Pufuleti, Eugenia and Danut, carried over from the 70s and 80s, which is thoughtful.
Once served, you can explore two backrooms, where the décor hits you from all angles, with any number of interesting and varied pieces of communist kitsch to cast your eyes on. The furnishing is eclectic, but thoughtful, with some chunky tables to sit around, some bench seats and some soft furnishings to laze around on.
They have also provided board games, books and musical instruments, great touches from a bar which has dedicated itself to becoming a social hub.
We visited Scârț several times during our visit, at different times of day too, and there always seemed to be people milling about and treating the place as a second home (in a positive way). The garden in particular seems to be an area for convalescence, almost.
Remember we mentioned a museum? Well here is where the experience becomes even more colourful. If you have already been identified as a tourist the staff at the bar will likely invite you to go down and see the museum at a time of your choosing.
You will experience more intense version of what can be found in the bar. The name is “The Communist Consumers’ Museum”, effectively a collection of childhood items, relative luxuries and day-to-day objects which inspire nostalgia for the era set out in the style of a small apartment.
I must admit, its basement location makes it feel more nuclear bunker-like than was probably intended, but they have put a lot of care into arranging the items in a homely way. The exhibition is also interactive to a point. You are free to play with stamps, blackboards, musical instruments, old radios and really get hands on with the items in front of you (providing you show respect, of course!)
At the end point you will find some piggy banks – the museum is free but donations are welcome (and well deserved).
Once you have exhausted yourself in their historical air raid shelter of nik-naks and nostalgia, it’s back up to the bar to take a seat and socialise.
The crowd hanging out at Scârț are down-to-earth. This isn’t a pretentious see-and-be-seen destination. There are no bouncers, no under-dressed teenagers and no one is trying to be someone they aren’t. It’s a place to be yourself, at ease with others. Which is why we like it – a lot. This is also the recurring reason why thousands of people have rated it so highly on Google and TripAdvisor.
As if this wasn’t enough, the bar also has a theatrical connection, founded by members of the local Auăleu theatre group, who you can find more about during your visit.
Scârț does what nearly all the best bars in Europe achieve: it pits itself at the heart of a community, gives people multiple reasons to visit and exudes an identity that inspires loyalty.
What other bars find so difficult, this one seems to find easy. Where other venues have settled for less, this one has gone expressively explosive. As the website itself states – nothing has been left to chance. (Also, they haven’t removed the bath from the restroom, even more underlining that this really was someone’s house back in the day!)
Their sign-off is bold and confident: “you have got to be new, surprising, magical, young, warm, precise, inviting and everything else that Scârţ proves to be every single time.” We couldn’t agree more.
This mission statement is what all should have in mind when they create a bar. Sadly very few do, but at least we have places like this one to remind us what things could be like, and a website like ours to tell you where they exist!
Is it really that difficult?
Style: Kneipe / Retro / Central Tavern
Go for: A museum to communist childhood, a lost in time garden, late night fun.
A bolt from the blue. This place stands out not only among its Erfurt contemporaries but in Germany as a whole. The time and effort to assemble the fixtures, fittings and décor, and the skill in producing one of the most cosy, brooding and atmospheric pubs you’re likely to visit anywhere, is striking. This isn’t all about the décor either, by far. Along with a couple of unusual tap options, the bottle range is extensive, covering Franconia, Belgium, and craft options and a kitchen serving up typical pub food and a few regional specialities. There’s a very nice beer garden out of the back too which is buzzing on warm evenings. This is no ‘pub-restaurant’, it’s a place for socialising. Sublime, almost worth visiting Erfurt alone to experience.
Style: Cocktail Bar / Curio / Museum
Go for: Cocktails and billiards among an eccentric hoard of artwork and models.
Ah, the experience of stepping into the Chinese Pavilion for the first time, like wandering into an old fashioned collection, then discovering a grand bar with further rooms to the side and rear. Don’t leave here without having a good look around, even if the stiff service makes you feel like you should be pinned in your seat, it’s definitely not the case. Such a collection is not easily copied or repeated, neither is it integrated into a bar with such ease. It is simply one of the standout venues in Europe to attempt something like this. WWII memorabilia, belle epoque cocktail menus, grotesque giant busts, model train sets, large oil paintings, billiard tables and much more besides provide an experience that is as distracting as it is intense, more still when their old fashioned cocktails slip down. A must-do experience in Lisbon, in Portugal, in Europe…in the world!
Style: Brown Café / Late Bar
Go for: Cobwebs, candlelight, jazz records and cocktails in the dinkiest bar going.
Arrive on time to get a seat. Tiny and hugely characterful bar, one of the ultimate brown cafés, but one with an evening flair. Jazz music, a barrel chested old master in command, cobwebs and candlelight. Buzzing and excitable, at its best you’ll feel like you’re in the greatest bar on Earth. That good.
Style: Historic Tavern / Traditional
Go for: A nationally famous classic traditional pub, old-school vibes, a fair price for a beer so near the castle.
Between the 1990s and early 00s The Black Ox acquired a reputation among foreign visitors for being tolerant at best. Every year there would be a flood of complaints that the servers were intemperate, scowling and sometimes snarling at newcomers who broke one of the unspoken rules and etiquette that marks out the local from the foreigner. We’ve been on the wrong side of that a couple of times ourselves! As an outsider, it was a place to arrive armed with a toolkit. What many visitors didn’t realise is the pub is leased for a peppercorn rent and the money they make goes to help fund a nearby children’s hospital. The pub manager also made a wise decision to keep the pub operation as it is, declaring his grand plan was to change nothing! Behind the gruffness their heart is in the right place.
These days, they continue their good work, while turning to face the inevitability of an international audience a little more. That isn’t to say you’ll suddenly be fawned over or they will switch between 6 different languages, but there’s an English menu and you’ll possibly be treated like a human being. Remember some polite phrases and bear in mind that business is business here.
Their position in Hradčany, Prague’s castle district is such that they’ve been the nearest thing to an honest pub and a fairly priced pint near the castle not just for years but decades. As such, there’s a collegiate feel to the mixed, multi-national crowd that assemble in the pub. Some quieter times of year locals can take their pub back, other times they accept their lot blending in with the other nationalities. In our opinion it adds a layer of lustre to this pub, whereas conversely other Prague pubs are ruined by the wave of tourism.
A cro-magnon outfit, the pub is a symphony of stained glass, huge beams, Medieval sigils, chunky blackened tables and black-attired staff bringing Kozel and Pilsner Urquell back and forth. The dark Kozel has always felt especially fitting to drink here. Whimsical touches like the red lights in the Ox, or the toilets painted like the ceiling of a Mosque are aspects we are yet to discover the backstory too.
Like all classic Prague pubs everyone has their preferred roster of tapster and server here, and some have done long-term duty in this pub. Their presence when you return, be it every few months, or every few years, is reassuring.
There’s something so simple, so satisfying and fulfilling to spending time here and providing we have at least 24 hours free in Prague we never fail to visit.
Style: Village Pub / Historic Tavern / Traditional
Go for: The cosiest fire-lit spaces, traditional country grub, excellent ales.
The ‘Moon Under Water’ idyll really does exist and it is here in the Amber Valley in Derbyshire. An atmosphere of warmth and contentment through its rhythm and ritual, warm natural fittings, social setup which naturally encourages conversation between strangers and neighbouring groups. A stone cottage set off from a country lane, quiet and in a scene that is almost farcically quintessentially English from the manicured village scenes right down to the cars blocking the view. Inside you’ll find exposed beams from low ceilings, a small bar room with bar facing a large fireplace and bench seating around the sides. To the rear of the bar is a tiny snug with an excellent fireplace and settles. Down the corridor is a larger pub room with a further fire that is in itself a very nice place to sit. An extension has been made to the rear of the building for further overflow which is tastefully done and in keeping with the overall pub. All 3 fires are roaring in the colder months even on quieter Mondays. The place is dry, warm and cosy. But there’s more to it still. Customer-focused food, not corporate profiteering, meaning you can get portions to suit your needs. Several main dishes are served as small portions, there are pub snacks like pies and rolls and they deal with any gradient of hunger. The food isn’t dominant as you typically find in rural pubs these days. Tables aren’t set, there is no background clutter of cutlery or catering smell. They aren’t religious about final orders at 2.30pm (even though it is best not to take the mickey). It keeps going. The ales for a rural pub are impressive. Typical classics complimented by several local and regional cask ales, craft keg with one or two raising an eyebrow – not craft beer bar standard but would shame many city pubs. Prices are all fair given the location and fame for the place. After all this it seems a pointless addendum to mention Dick Turpin, and the association of the highwayman to this place, but if you want to find out more, they’ll tell you. It is far from essential to enjoy a pub of this quality. One of the best in England. Visit at once.
Style: Beer Hall / Gaststätte / Historic Tavern / Traditional
Go for: Rare, arcane beer served on gravity from the wooden barrel in the best German beer hall in the world.
What else do you need to know?
Style: Kneipe / Singing Bar / Eccentric
Go for: Rare, arcane beer served on gravity from the wooden barrel in the best German beer hall in the world.
For Papa Joe’s Jazzlokal, a separate business and location in Cologne, see below.
A formative experience for an uninitiated traveller to Germany. The traditional of socialising and even group singing alongside strangers is much more common in Germany, and during the height of the evening, the singalongs in Papa Joe’s constitute a proto-form of kareoke, except instead of one person singing, most of the pub joins in.
To make matters weirder, the songs are ‘performed’ hourly by a mechanical marionette by the bar, the range of tunes being a remorseless cast list of traditional German favourites with the typical organ, harpsichord and accordion ensemble. You’ll be gawping at first, through the sheer eccentricity of a setup that by now locals know like the back of their hand.
Sitting among the crowd, even if you aren’t joining in the singing (there is no obligation to) is to take in a heady experience of local life, a sample of German national expression even, if you want to take it further. The venue itself adds to all of this; is traditional in style but theatrical in shape with raised seating around the perimeter of the ‘pit’ area in front of the bar, and a corner stage to boot. With the bar’s history, it isn’t surprising the place is adorned with jazz instruments hanging from the beams and snippets of musical ephemera plastered to the walls. There’s plenty to look at.
Drinks are best procured from the bar area as table service can be a little slow at peak times. The local beer Gaffel Kolsch is on tap and delicious, at a standard price for the city centre, and while that ought to do you just fine, there are some decent other options these days too (if you fancy a hefeweizen for example).
The traditional seating and cosy interior is about the only aspect of the experience I can think of that was akin to English pub going. Everything else was rather quaint, quirky and shameless in its kitsch ‘old-time’ quality. Expect to see a huddle of young folk bombastically belting out the standards by the bar, while the middle aged folk sit further back, rocking their heads and crooning along.
If it’s not the mechanical instruments it’s live jazz music, bawdy poetry recitals and all other sorts of 1920s-era throwbacks to keep everyone entertained. Concerts are free and it’s always busy. Unsurprisingly, given its location in the heart of Cologne (you could run there from the front door of the Dom in a minute flat) Papa Joe’s has become an institution, creating an atmosphere you can’t just bottle or duplicate at will.
If you’re a little anxious about forced jollity I can certainly understand a degree of reticence, but you have to be there to understand. Even if you’re still wary, you’ll be pleased to note there is some respite in-between the shows, and you can hang out perfectly as you would elsewhere, just in a lovely and lively pub.
After visiting in 2007 I kept a grainy video on my phone of our time there, and over the next few years, generally spent penniless and occasionally depressed, I would occasionally pop that video on and remind myself of the good times spent in here to cheer me up. That phone and video has now gone, but the memory lives on strongly. Since then I returned in 2018 and 2019 to find that, thankfully, hardly anything had changed.
It’s an essential place to drop by in Cologne, particularly as some of the Brauhauses can tend to melt into one after a while. Papa Joe’s it offers something utterly different, strange, and yet pitted in the local tradition. Throw down a far jars of Gaffel Kolsch, gawp at the spectacle in front of you, and hey, even join in if you dare. After the festivities head around the corner to a kebab shop for a Turkisch pizza (making care to consume it before the alcohol wears off). Welcome to Cologne! In fact – welcome to Germany! This is the kind of pub you can justify a plane ticket for all on its own.
Style: Brown Café / Historic Tavern / Traditional
Go for: A beer in one of the oldest continually running businesses in the world, cosy surrounds, boules in the garden.
Every town deserves at least one historic place in which nothing ever seems to change. Being able to link aspects of our own lives to the past (as futile as that endeavour may seem at times) helps to provide our own existence with a sense of place and purpose, in the knowledge that we have retained and respected at least some things of value along the way, and by frequenting these places we contribute to their survival.
Café Vlissinghe takes this idea and extends it beyond all usual historical parameters, and the news gets better still – it’s a pub! Even in Brugge, a place not short of preserved architecture and institutions, it can reasonably claim to be one of the most evocative links to their past, the business traceable for centuries and thankfully keen to preserve the format for centuries to come. Once you have a good thing you don’t easily let that go.
The earliest record of the pub dates back to 1515, extraordinary in and of itself and it claims to have been running continuously from then until the present. This earns Vlissinghe a place on the list of oldest companies in the world. The look of the place may be redolent of a late Medieval inn, however it appears some of the appearance was lovingly and coherently retrofitted in the mid-1800s (an era steeped in fascination and nostalgia for all things Medieval), with the installation of contemporaneous artworks and paintings and furniture that are consistent with the period. It’s all very brown, black, tarred, burnt caramel and crusty textures. Precisely the sort of thing you want with an old pub.
Vlissinghe is located mercifully outside of the main tourist drag, down a typical Brugge alley: cobbled street, whitewashed walls, ancient brickwork, and a bicycle propped up outside that’s so old you wonder whether it’s become an ornament (until a man in a flat cap emerges from the door, tucks his newspaper under his coat and rides off on it). It must be no more than 50 metres long, but the amble down the lane, with the pub entrance coming closer with your every stride has become somewhat of a ritual for me, just long enough to build a sense of anticipation for what’s to come…
Vlissinghe’s gothic lettering is painted above the entrance, so dive straight in and turn left and head down a long corridor entrance with a series of side rooms. This may lead you to believe it is a large venue, but the pub itself is really just a central room, up a couple of steps at the end. You will note it is appointed with large, sturdy, venerable furniture, cushioned with studded leather upholstery, warped floorboards that creak underfoot, faded oil paintings hung on the wall which you have to swivel to and fro between the sheen of the lighting to properly discern, and an impressive and unusual centrepiece: a cast iron steam heater kicking out warmth into the room, most welcome on those days when the cold is piercing and the wind is rushing down the North Sea through the canals and arteries off Zeebrugge.
Style: Irish Pub / Brewery / Traditional
Go for: A local beer, wall of whiskies, a preserved traditional pub with snugs, good cheer and song.
A true classic, Dick Mack’s would already be the best pub in town for its preserved décor and genius loci, that’s before you get into its evening singalongs, snugs and on site brewery (established 2017) that provides relief from the incessant multinational hegemony that is the Irish beer scene.
Wonderful craic from bar staff and quirks to be found everywhere from the snugs facing each other opposite two sides of the bar with hatches for service, to the habadashery shop counter and original shelving. A wall of whiskies to choose from. This is a wonderful place and one of the best pubs you’re ever likely to go to. “Where’s the church? – Opposite Dick Mack’s. Where’s Dick Mack’s? Opposite the church”.
Style: Cocktail Bar / Historic
Go for: A cocktail in the birthplace of the Bloody Mary, the Sidecar and others, classic Manhattan Dive Bar surrounds with Parisian refinement.
Birthplace of the Bloody Mary, Blue Lagoon and Sidecar cocktails, Harry’s New York Bar, circa 1911 is more than an ex-pat hangout, it has become as much as fixture of Paris as the Louvre and Notre Dame.
The first iteration of New York Bar was dismantled and shipped from Manhattan piece by piece. Today they claim it as Europe’s oldest cocktail bar.
After the eponymous Harry MacElhone took over the place, its fixtures and fittings have been well preserved.
Out on the street, the Neon signage of Harry’s is unmistakable, the small and unassuming Reu Daunou not offering too many visual distractions. It suits the bar to not be right on the main drag, and on entry, particularly on a bitter winter’s night, a sense of calm, comfort and ease hits you immediately.
Inside, the sound is of natural conversation and service, social, convivial and welcoming.
The mahogany fit bar and its splendid etched mirror fittings are on the left as you enter, with smart waiting staff going to and fro, with a wood panelled interior reaching past the bar to a lounge room at the back. These are decorated with old fashioned American sporting club emblems and fraternities. The famous ‘I.B.F’, international bar flies cartoon is etched on to the mirror of the back bar. This references a society Harry created for special guests, replete with a secret handshake.
It would be pointless to reel off the list of celebrity names that are typically associated with frequenting the bars of Europe, instead be content that if you’ve heard of them, they’ve been here.
There’s more – downstairs you’ll find a second bar ‘The Ivories’, a plush, clandestine space where live Jazz is performed in the evenings. On the very piano you see, George Gershwin wrote ‘An American In Paris’.
Although predominantly a cocktail bar, there are a range of drinks including 350 whiskies, cocktail of the week and some seasonal specials and one-offs are introduced.
It does not come cheap, but you weren’t expecting that in a famous bar in central Paris, I suppose.
A quirk which ties the bar to the US is their poll of customers at each general election, which with only a few exceptions has correctly tracked the Presidential election results.
On your visit you will find a typical selection of ex-pats and an international audience which is to be expected in its location near the Place Vendome.
As with the likes of London and Prague, Parisians can be overly dismissive and passé about some of their finest bars on account of their international exposure and tourist crowds, but Harry’s Bar was already Paris a institution even 60 years ago. It isn’t its fault.
Admirable longevity, tasty cocktails and, peculiarly Manhattan-esque dive bar surroundings and evening piano downstairs make it a true, downright classic that remains one of the best in Europe.
Style: Neighbourhood Pub / Traditional
Go for: The best Guinness in Dublin, Stews and one of the best preserved simple interiors in the city.
Set by Glasnevin cemetery, The Gravediggers aka John Kavanagh’s (and vice versa) is a masterpiece of historical, weathered beauty, absorbing the decades past, acquiring a patina across various shades of sepia and browns within a space that is both intimate, private and yet social with it. Spending time here is like stepping into a painting, the wash of colour and calm on a quiet afternoon as beguiling as its buzzy evening rhythms. Interesting throwback features like wooden screens and partitions, leaning posts are preserved in their careworn state. Known, rightly so, for pouring a superb pint, although that is a never-ending debate! Adored by the locals who know they live near one of the best pubs in Europe. You are invited to take part in this vivid and beguiling story.
Style: Late Bar / Theme Pub / Exotic
Go for: Courtyard socialising, macabre interior and artwork, a local institution.
Le Pot au Lait is located on Soeurs de Hasque in the heart of Liège. Number 9 is a magnificent house from the 19th century built over an ancient convent which held, from the end of the 15th century, sisters from another convent from Hasselt, a Flemish city, being often called “Haske” in Liege, “The Sisters from Haske” gave their name to the street. Here is how the bar was founded:
“In 1973 a group of students created a place that until then had never existed in Liège where they could organise films, concerts, debates, theme days, free of any official politics. They found what they were looking for at No 9 Soeurs de Hasque Street and it opened as “Trou Perrette”.
In 1979, it became obvious that a second bar was needed next to the “Trou Perrette”. So we needed a name and after a brain storming session came up with “Pot au Lait” in reference to a fable from a french poet, Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) called “The Dairywoman and the Pot of milk”.
In 1981, the Trou Perrette closed its doors for the last time. But now you know why the Pot-au-Lait became the Pot-au-Lait“
These days, Le Pot Au Lait continues its historic function, being the beating heart of nightlife and social affairs in Liège. It would be untrue to say that this is a student venue either, more a youthful rite of passage that stays with you afterwards, one of those rare things, a pub you keep returning to over and over long after the early years.
Set off the main street, you will enter through a narrow courtyard, already spying the decorations festooned left and right. Some people will be hanging out on the terrace. The place gives off good vibes straight away.
Then, enter through to what at first appears to be a greenhouse, with uneven flooring. The ethos is akin to Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, with a commitment to uneven surfaces, and heterodox approach. To call it distinctive is underselling it. Cartoon gorillas, carnival scenes, macabre taxidermy, graffiti, tall plants and more that would take too long to describe. Le Pot Au Lait is the funfair that got lost one day and decided to lay down roots.
Like some of the best bars in Europe: the place has an immediate draw that comes from sensing that everyone is having a great time, the excitement of being in the place to be.
It’s pretty cool too that Le Pot Au Lait is located somewhere like Liége. No, not somewhere fashionable for the nightlife Hamberg or Copenhagen, but this working class city in Wallonia.
Anyway, it’s time for a drink, don’t you think? You’re very well served here with several tap options and a suite of bottles covering a reasonably broad range of Belgium’s better beers. Perhaps they could serve a few more specialist options for the sniffier customers, but there is something here for most beer drinkers. Being popular with a younger crowd, there is also a reasonable selection of alternatives. You’d think this might be one of the more expensive venues too, but some choices appear genuinely cheap, and will certainly come across that way after a few days in the much more expensive end of Belgium.
Once served, plonk yourself anywhere among the communal niches surrounding the bar, the atrium (good for people watching), the mezzanine level or any little hidey-hole that suits your needs. Go for a wander around, because this is an art gallery as well as a bar.
Le Pot Au Lait has maintained a commitment to culture and the arts, so while we’d be perfectly happy if they just served drinks, it deserves extra commendation for hosting live events and being a communal meeting spot. Long opening hours mean this is a versatile venue that suits a quiet afternoon hangout or raucous late night drinks, each enjoyable in their own right.
We give bars a 10/10 rating when they are reasons in and of themselves to visit a place, and Le Pot Au Lait certainly justifies that.
Style: Traditional Pivnice
Go for: A true institution, the epitome of a traditional Czech boozer.
Although U Hrocha (The Hippo) feels like it has been there since time immemorial, it was only converted into a pub in the year 1994. Already, only a short time after the Velvet Revolution, the sought-after district of Malá Strana was quickly changing, with many old pubs pushed out. Swimming against the tide, U Hrocha set up with the aim of being a classic Pivnice.
They could hardly have chosen a more naturally characterful venue for this, with the building set on a slope, itself informing the design of the interior. Enter a lobby with the main bar room to the left and spare room to the right. In the main room, a small, simple setup of a bar, 5 communal tables and some leaning posts near the window. You can sense within seconds time washing over you, the laughter and intense conversation, the toasts, the merriment and the welcome, all applied, layer by layer to the patina covering this place.
The tempo of all such pubs is maintained by the tapster. They have an iconic crew but most will have seen Vence, who we christened ‘Wolfman’ on account of his long hair and grey stubble doing his work with an almost meditative calmness over the decades. The pull of the beer tap, the flick of the wrists, within seconds a beer is ready and placed on the table for the server to collect. The server doesn’t need to go far here.
U Hrocha is pointedly fairly priced and they take no lavish cuts from their earnings. Tables can be reserved, so an early appearance is the surest way of getting a seat without one, but over the course of the day individual spots may open up. Expect disappointment from time to time, as is the way, but there can be other times of year and particularly in colder weather, where a strange calm and quiet comes over the district, and the pub becomes almost serene. Only twice in dozens of visits have we ever experienced that.
We searched for a venue that appears to encapsulate the very essence of Czech pubgoing. While it is patrician, it is also intimate. While it is traditional it is also distinctive. They are proud to display a certain way of doing things to a nation seemingly determined to head in another direction. That is to be championed.
Style: Absinth Bar / Dance Hall / Historic Tavern
Go for: Following in the footsteps, dance moves and liver failure of the greats.
Being a cult venue, Marsella isn’t exactly a secret. Any basic search will reveal lurid tales from this bar’s often sordid 200-year history, but just because Barna residents know all about it doesn’t make the experience passé for a newcomer. Every first visit is by definition a novel one and besides, there are good reasons why it has become an institution, as I will now reveal:
You’ll need to walk to the Raval district just a short walk west of La Rambla. This has been a notoriously edgy red-light district in the past, but is more tame in the present day. The only thing I would watch out for is being corned by any groups down any narrow lanes – they will know the rat runs better than you (being rats and all).
After a short walk the faded and stained net curtains and geriatric frontage of Marsella comes into view, set directly off the street. You might need to do a double-take to confirm which of the various panels is the door – and don’t yank the door off its hinges! The fixtures look so delicate and aged that any mistreatment might cause the whole edifice to crumble.
This theme continues once you’re inside. You’ll find a single-room marble bar with a wide open space at the front doubling as old-time dance-floor and bar area. Though they do occasionally organise events, there probably won’t be any dancing going on and you’ll see most people gathered along the seating areas to the left as you enter.
Take a moment to inspect the cracked plaster everywhere, the decrepit wood panelling and former grandeur, which brings to mind a Havana cocktail bar. There are shelves and bookcases along the far wall with bottles that look untouched for several decades, if not longer.
Among many items of interest are Franco-era signs prohibiting singing, spitting, loitering and amassing in large groups (fun not being one of the hallmarks of living in Catalonia during his dictatorship). It was known at the time that the establishment was a hangout of dissidents and revolutionaries.
As with most Spanish bars, you can expect to find it open until the late hours. If Google is correct, opening at 6pm would make Marsella is somewhat of an early riser. 10pm is not uncommon time for some bars to open in Spain, and given I have read varying reports about its opening hours I would recommend you try this place later on in the evening to give you the best chance.
Marsella is well-known for its Absinthe, a rarity in the city until the last few decades. You may find some brave souls partaking in the rather studied ritual as you scan the room.
There is certainly a time and place for Absinthe – and where better than here? However, even with that factored in, a more astute decision in my view would be to order one of their enormous boozy cocktails that are made with panache but presented plainly and simply, or a Vermut de la Casa.
The atmosphere is powerful, particular once the booze gets to work. I’d recommend plonking yourself on a table where you can see the bar area on your left and the seating area on your right, as this gives you the full panorama. There is a hell of a lot to look at in the bar, but take a moment to ease back in your chair and appreciate the general scene itself, where at points you will feel as if you’re fading into the history of the place. Perhaps it’s the glow of the lights against the walnut-coloured wooden panels, or that undefinable ‘vibe’ that makes it an unforgettable destination, but the short of it is, they’ve created something simply by doing nothing. Since 1820 they’ve opened their doors and just let it gradually age (and in some senses rot) around them. Is the place ever cleaned? Glasses, seats, floor and table-tops, perhaps. The rest? Don’t bet on it.
You can read the anecdotes about Hemingway, Picasso, Dali if you like, but I preferred to sit there and considering the wider churn of people that must have frequented the place over time, mostly to enjoy the absinth and heady surroundings.
I read here that Marsella was previously threatened with closure due to the wishes of the building owner to change its use, until the city itself stepped into save it, purchasing the building itself to insure against it. This article (in Spanish) confirms it.
“The bar Marseille, whose future was uncertain during the last two years due to disagreements between Lamiel and the former owners of the premises, has just become the property of the City Council, which has bought the building on Sant Ramon Street, 1, Sant Pau corner. for 1,093,000 euros.”
Extraordinary. How many bars could you possibly say that about?
So many new bars try to be all things to all people, with the end result being a bland beige mush no-one will ever remember – let alone try and save from closure. By contrast, this bar knows itself, isn’t afraid to be loved or hated and is never going to change until the building itself collapses into rubble on top of it. Until that day comes, Viva el Marsella! – Places like this don’t come along every day.
Style: Belgian Café / Beer Specialists
Go for: Some of the best beers in the world in the cosiest intimate space.
The alchemy of what constitutes a good pub is worthy of considerable study, and partly why this site was created. The Little Bruges Bear is an excellent place to begin.
While there are so very many hundreds of bars and pubs across Europe missing essential ingredients, scrambling in the dark in their search to attract patrons (despite having a reliable formula almost laid out for them) this pub serves to illustrate how simple the task is.
t’Brugs Beertje is a cosy communal venue with the dimensions and confines of a snug brown café/pub decorated with wood panelled walls and adorned well selected and stylish bar ephemera. There is a choice of simple wooden seating or slightly more comfortable bench seating if you’re lucky enough to swoop in and claim it. Ask to peruse their enormous menu of Belgian beer, presented in the form of an almanac that takes a good 20 minutes to look through properly and consider a selection of typical Belgian snack options (gouda, biscuits, meat platters, croque monsieur etc) to go with. Just thinking about this while writing is salivating.
Hanging above the bar is a gleaming selection of the various beer glasses each tailored to their specific beer, every single flavour journey mapped out by their brewers right down to the way the beer sits in a glass, tempered to the point of maximising every single potential for an improvement of the experience, telling of a country utterly obsessed with the art of brewing and the pleasure of drinking. There will be a beer for you in this pub, or I’m afraid there is no beer for you.
Service is efficient and attentive, while the prices are 20-30 cents higher than other nearby places, but not punishingly so. This can be offset by choosing a rare beer you’re unlikely to get anywhere else (my suggestion would be to try an Oud Bruin/Flemish Red style, which apart from Rodenbach are less commonly exported to the UK, while curiously, the style hasn’t yet caught on as a craft brewing style despite the proliferation of red ales and sours). They often put limited edition brews and rare barrels on keg too.
The enormous popularity of the place has unfortunately driven locals away apart from a few quiet months in the New Year before Easter. Normally it would earn a mark down for that, as it’s important for a pub to have an original community element, but the place must be given a free pass. The ideal would be for it to contain a healthy mixture of both locals and a few tourists, and at certain times of the day (or year) you do find residents visit the pub too. In peak season the world has taken over. In lieu of unvarnished local life, the shining qualities of this pub, that seem to epitomise everything good about traditional beer drinking in Belgium, compensate handsomely.
The pub opens at 4pm and some times of year by 4.30 nearly every seat is taken. After that it’s a case of waiting politely at the door and taking your chance to swoop to a seat. Once seated, it’s unlikely you’ll see a reason to leave any time soon. It’s a rare example of a place where I would actually wait to be seated rather than moving on.
The main room has a terrific atmosphere, watching folk come and go, but if that’s not available, the backroom has a lovely down-to-earth feel, like a rambler’s pub full of strangers thrown together in the tangle of a boozy evening. Only the matter of being on holiday, in Bruges of all places could distract a visitor from staying there all night, returning at opening time the next day and doing the same. It is the best pub in Bruges and there’s no doubt that this is pub going at its very best.
Style: Late Bar / Jazz Bar
Go for: Daily Jazz and Blues concerts, a bar with a stage and a mechanical cocktail machine.
One of the ultimate jazz bars on the globe! Friendly, gregarious and brilliant from the stage like seating, daily concerts tallied on a scoreboard at the front of the bar. Cocktail machine, roman ruins under the entrance, and mechanical puppets flobbing away behind the bar. Fun and restorative, pure unadulterated enjoyment. Unrefined and quintessentially German in that way. Impossible not to be swept up in the action.
Editors Note: Please do not confuse this with Papa Joes Biersalon, their sister bar up the road. There are two!
Style: Lounge Bar / Exotic
Go for: Exotic, colonial inspired lounge for woozy, smokey fun.
When you’re far away from home in an exotic land such as Bosnia, you don’t hanker after sterile bars pumping out Eurodance, stuffed with plastic and metallic furniture and similarly plastic patrons. Unfortunately the pub scene in Sarajevo is has plenty of such options as a young crowd grasp unsuccessfully at a vague simulacra of what they believe Westerners are doing.
Time then, to rush headlong into the historical character of Sarajevo, or seek out anything remotely alternative. Such a place exists, and boy, what a place it is.
Zlatna Ribica (Gold Fish) is a place of luxury and eccentricity, stuffed with antiques and features that could keep your eyes occupied for hours. The sheer volume of it exceeds even the bar’s internal surroundings and even spills out onto the street, with one of their eccentric gadgets and bits of furniture occupying the street front. Yes, you will find some gold fish, bowls stacked over piles of books, ornate antique lampshades and waxed sideboards and rails studded with crenulations and detailing. The bar may be ornamental but it is also extremely quirky, with objects positioned where they shouldn’t be, and the oddest objects rearing their heads. Don’t be alarmed by the portable black and white TV in the toilets resting on a toilet roll showing lions mating in the Savannah.
You can recline in a truly unusual and richly atmospheric pub, which feels like being in a mad professor’s study, sipping cocktails or local beers, knowing you’re in one of the best pubs in the world.
We’re delighted to say that despite some turbulent years and period of closure lately, the bar is still going.
Style: Late Bar / Bunker / Eccentric
Go for: Chansons in a candle-lit rabbit-hole of old records, books and portraiture.
There are so many extraordinarily good bars in Brussels that you could spend many visits revisiting them and exhausting them. A lot of these bars are visible, centrally located and on the tourist trail, and with only a few exceptions serves gorgeous Belgian ales.
It took me 4 visits before I found the bar Goupil Le Fol, but one visit was enough to propel it to the top of the charts and the many occasions I’ve visited since has kept it right up there.
A quick map reference confirms Goupil Le Fol is situated very close to the Grand Platz, just not on one of the major tourist thoroughfares. The bar does not look extravagant from the outside, without a big patio or ostentatious signage, only giving a little hint of what’s to come.
Opening the door instantly feels like the entering of a bunker or tunnel, a long windowless and low-ceilinged, and studded with adornments on any bare surface.
The bar is right next to the door, often causing a bit of a crush. You’ll find a modest but reasonably well-chosen range of good bottled Belgian beers, but the main event is their fruity wines, spiked with Cassis and Cognac Armande. Be adventurous, because if you can’t push the boat out here you never will.
You then begin the walk along the passage, deeper and deeper into the bowels of the bar, past an original Wurlitzer jukebox spinning Chansons and rooms festooned with much jazz and 1950s memorabilia. Carrying on further until finding upholstered bench seating in a very cosy, slightly wider room. There are entire books nailed to the wall and vinyl records on the ceiling. This is where we sit.
The crowd are a typically Belgian blend of cultures, all of which sit together in an extraordinarily atmospheric environment. The booze is working its magic and the coloured lights in the bar are glimmering off the records and any other surface with shine on it. There is much to look at and talk about in true comfort, exchanging glances across the other side of the room, everyone happy and resolved they have made the right choice of venue for the evening.
Goupil Le Fol stays open until 2am daily.
Style: Brown Café / Historic Tavern / Traditional
Go for: Time capsule brown café with a cosmopolitan crowd and upgraded drinks selection.
Brussels centre is so heaving with tourists that it can be difficult to find the little nooks and crannies locals know about and still flock to. There is always a lively internationalism about Brussels nevertheless, but it is still vital the city expresses its own traditions at the same time, otherwise why invite people there? You don’t have to venture too far out of the old town until a few of these pubs and bars start to appear.
La Fleur en Papier Dore combines several crucial constituents that make a great pub. The style and décor goes for a vintage aesthetic, the wall covered in antiquey framed artwork, leaning towards medievalism and floral romanticism overall. Not always comfortable bed fellows and yet it is all tied together cohesively, and it feels permanent rather than thrown together on a whim over a weekend.
The place is one man’s labour of love, Gérard van Bruaene who curated a pub so magnificent it was the meeting place for Magritte and the surrealist set. After his death the place slowly became threadless and eventually ended in bankruptcy in 2006.
After a few attempts to revive the pub, Covid struck and there were serious concerns it would ever re-open. Mercifully, the guys that run Brasserie Verschueren and Brasserie De La Senne stepped in and revived the place!
Plonk yourself down on one of the bench seats, get warm and cosy and enjoy the atmospheric surroundings. The pub is at once decorous and fussy while at the same time really down-to-earth. If you look at anything below hip height, it’s simple tables, an old tiled floor and plenty of wood. It has a very homely living room area, precisely the sort that always scores highly with me. Once the front door closes the place is contained, the front windows frosted and stained glass so while it lets plenty of light in, you feel detached from the world outside. If you weren’t on holiday and simply needed a place to slowly recline and dissolve into, you could hardly make a better choice than this pub.
Local events including music are now arranged and performed in the back room.
As referenced above, this is not as touristy a place, although it does receive a few keen travellers such as myself, and there appears to be a couple of hostels nearby so the crowd is a healthy mixture of both locals and people enjoying it for their first time.
Due to the new association with Verschueren, the beers have been revamped, a genuinely excellent selection at perfectly reasonable prices, elevating the place to a near mythical level.
Style: Museum Bar / Eccentric / Macabre
Go for: A departure into another world entirely.
One of Europe’s best bars, a labour of love, something totally macabre, off-the-wall and out-there in concept, a life experience as well as a place for a drink. The ‘butler’ with his Brylcreemed hair invites you to explore a mansion of gothic art, antiques and ephemera which eventually leads to a downstairs bar and garden courtyard. That isn’t even the half of it. Mad antics and superb cocktails along with social conversation with the other guests in a private setting limited to only 20 people at any one time. Limited opening hours also, so plan in advance! Simply unmissable.
The Winner
There have been multiple international attempts at the ‘ruin bar’ since Szimpla opened in 2002, some which have been successful, others less so. All feel as though they are standing on the shoulders of Szimpla: the original and best.
A first visit is rather like entering a portal into another dimension, such is the jump-shift in atmosphere and style versus the norm. Large enough to be classed as a club but with an atmosphere that is far more relaxed and versatile than that, Szimpla opens at midday, after which you can enjoy a hazy, hungover vibe during the afternoon with people relaxing among the ruined, squatter type surroundings which have been decorated, scrawled on, abused, with layers upon layers of ephemera building up to a hyper-real extent.
Szimpla’s true ‘ruin’ style is so heavily ‘user-generated’ (please excuse our use of that awful phrase) it doesn’t feel conceited, corporate or about ‘social climbing’. It is an organic work of art to such an extent that being inside the venue is itself entering into and becoming part of the ensemble.
There is a large atrium area, peaceful and verdant in the day overlooked by an iconic chimney stack, which adds to the ruin aesthetic of the complex. It towers above, one of the most dramatic and chance additions to an already impressive ensemble. At night, the sight of it looks almost unreal.
Upstairs you will find a balcony with central atrium packed with tall tropical plants that is somewhat like wandering into the lair of a mad botanist. ‘Kert’ means garden, and it would be disappointing to visit without some greenery to enjoy.
Szimpla’s Sunday farmer’s market has become an institution with dozens of local traders selling their wares amidst the sounds of local bands who are invited to perform folk music and add to the atmosphere. There are often films and art pieces shown, frequent band performances in the evening and dozens of rooms to explore. On hot days (of which there are many in Budapest) customers are kept cool with sprays of mist.
Sit in a converted car, smoke shisha, move upstairs to the craft beer bar and hang out among the vintage furniture and enjoy the view below. Someone might even walk around selling carrots for you to eat. Poke around to explore the limits of the venue – the front balcony on the top floor, the wrought iron gate preventing you from making any further progress, the multiple side rooms, nooks and crannies. Due to the size, its myriad amenities never feels crammed in or spilling over each other. You can wander around, dipping in and out of the attractions at your leisure. It never fails to entertain.
Each visit is ever so slightly different as the place transforms so much at different times of day and conditions, morphing into a new experience. The great feeling it manages to put across is a sense of detachment from the outside world, this strange oasis where many of the rules and worries no longer apply. The late closing time of 4am fits in perfectly the bohemian lifestyle and body clock of the backpackers and travellers who drop by. You’ll be pleased to know it’s free to enter, indeed part of the appeal is the laissez-faire nature of it all.
The range of drinks were always reasonably good by Pest standards, with some unusual choices thrown in. This has expanded too recently, not least since the introduction of tankovna Pilsner Urquell (yes, you can get a Mliko or Šnyt pour if you wish!) and a craft beer bar on the first floor – predictable and inevitable, but not such a bad thing in a country where small scale brewers struggle to get their wares into venues, to the benefit of Hungary’s many dreadful Euro Lagers.
Any downsides?
Szimpla’s prices are certainly climbing lately, while the security in the evenings is more robust than we remember.
A few features from the early days can no longer be found (RIP red spiral staircase) but time is a remorseless mistress.
There is the growing view Szimpla no longer attracts many locals, and the last few visits of ours cement that Szimplas main customers are now the huge numbers of English speakers, backpackers and city-break tourists. It is not such a great thing that locals are edged out of here, but the novelty value is most powerful for those who visit rarely, or once. What they have created is immune from becoming passé to all except local residents.
Once inside, there’s a universally friendly feel the place exudes which seems to rub off on all who enter, creating a place with a genuine buzz and excitement. The sights, sounds and smells of wandering through the entrance never fails to wow on a first occasion, and welcomes you home like an old friend each time after that.
Szimpla is the cornerstone of a great night out in Budapest, and the most significant bar of the 21st century. Doctoral theses have been written about it.
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