European Bar Guide

02/06/2026

Some of the best bars we've visited for the first time in 2026!

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲:

• Caru cu Bere, Bucharest 🇷🇴
• Duke of York, Belfast
• Green Devils, Prague 🇨🇿
• Taberna Rincon Del Cofrade, Granada 🇪🇦

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Franconian Kellerbier, daily barrel tappings at Zum Franziskaner, Stockholm 🇸🇪
• Arquebuse cocktails at Bon Secours, Lyon 🇨🇵
• Mead at La Table Ronde, Troyes 🇨🇵
• Mystery vintage wine, blind tasted at Caveau de Saulx, Dijon 🇨🇵

𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀:

• The Admiral Lord Rodney, Colne 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
• La Galerie, Geneva 🇨🇭
• Ölhallen 7:an, Gothenburg 🇸🇪
• La Brujidera, Granada 🇪🇦

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 (𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮):

• Bar El Pesoar, Granada 🇪🇦
• Café Valdemar, Helsingør 🇩🇰
• Craven Brew Co, Cross Hills 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
• Beat Bar Umanist, Bucharest 🇷🇴

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗿𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲𝘀:

• Peppar, Stockholm 🇸🇪
• The Circ, Burnley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
• Green Devils, Prague 🇨🇿
• Dog & Partridge, Sowood 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (97 year old Landlord)

Let's see what the rest of the year holds!

01/06/2026

Belfast, then. A difficult post, this one.

Normally my updates on great bars aim to be celebratory, informative, useful. They will try to in future too. But from a visitor's perspective, in this city, every day feels like you're insidiously invited to take sides, to paint yourself into a corner.

That isn't to denigrate the great work so many from the communities have done to help quell tensions. I'll come to that.

Our guide is not intended to be a political platform, and this is why it's a tough one on this occasion. It'd be easy to come out with some Bono/Lennon stuff to do the trick, as tourists do on the Peace Wall, but I wish to express my view in a more nuanced way. If I can, you can be the judge.

As a British person, my feeling about nationality is not based on land, race, religion, empire or monarchy but a gentle overlap of layers, deep-rooted but multi-polar traditions that we have inherited from various peoples who have visited and settled over our existence and that continues to evolve. It therefore follows that I view others nationalities in the same way. It is why I'll remain a Federalist, while rejecting empire. If I was born in the Balkans I believe I feel the same.

It is naturally difficult to agree full-bloodedly that this island or any other landmass has some single ancestral or racial birthright. However, I also find a lot of the extreme right wing colonial nationalism in the Protestant neighbourhoods completely appalling, the most awful interpretation of a national identity that they claim I belong to.

Belfast still has its redoubts for these people. If you leave the centre the more overtly sectarian pubs spring up.

Among these laden, overbearing clouds we need a passage to the light, and pubs such as The Sunflower, (the tournesol, after all) show a way forward.

A simple trio: Irish craft keg, cask ale, European keg lager sends a stronger message than it would in a pub almost anywhere else in Europe.

The Sunflower wears its bruises, the caged exterior speaking of the Troubles but looks always forward. Allegiance is only a problem here if you make it one. This means a home for everyone (teetotallers are well catered for!).

The pub has many useful purposes and superior aspects but its zenith, the very best iterations have always been a refuge for everyone, a meeting place where all experiences can be exchanged.

The Sunflower is a celebration of the undeniable and unvanquishable traditions of the island of Ireland, and a successful integration of 'outsider' aspects without losing its identity. While it is no Unionist pub I feel like I have explored and more carefully examined my own identity as a Brit by visiting. As I watch two staff struggling to reposition a huuuge Beamish etched mirror frame, I'm unshaken that this place remains an absolute must-visit in the city for those of all traditions who are seeking company, reconciliation, peace, joy and love.

01/06/2026

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/30/bar-restaurant-licence-challenges-destroying-soho-reputation

Interesting article about the Soho Society, local residents who have control over an aspect of London that has long had an international reputation, a district that shapes global experiences of the city.

Soho Society, funded by Westminster council, is ferociously opposing all new proposals, venue owners say

31/05/2026

The Duke of York, Belfast 🍻 1st visit.

For sheer spectacle, a must.

Calm afternoons, heaving evenings.

200 year old pub rebuilt after bizarre terrorist attack in 1972. Bombers had been targeting the high court but ran up the pub alleyway after being caught at a checkpoint.

Colourful alleyway which is lit at night, and inside you'll find a narrow pub with Willie Jack's collection of Ulster distillery + brewery ephemera lining every inch of the walls 🍻👍

28/05/2026

The famous beer specialists Ma che siete venuti a fà, Roma 🇮🇹 turn 25 this weekend.

They're celebrating with a special brew from Brasserie Cantillon 🍻

27/05/2026

So, here's where we've visited in 2026 so far and where we'll be heading this summer:

January: Dijon, Troyes, Paris 🇫🇷, Verona, Padova, Mantova 🇭🇺
February: Lyon 🇫🇷 Geneva 🇨🇭 Málaga, Granada 🇪🇦
March: Ulm, Memmingen, Lindau 🇩🇪 Feldkirch, Bregenz 🇦🇹 Schaan 🇱🇮, Vienna 🇦🇹 Brno, Prague, Olomouc, Ostrava 🇨🇿
April: Riga 🇱🇻 Kaunas 🇱🇹 Copenhagen, Helsingør 🇩🇰 Stockholm, Malmö, Lund, Helsingborg, Halmstad, Gothenburg 🇸🇪

Coming up!

𝗠𝗮𝘆 Belfast
𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 Poznán, Kalisz, Wroclaw, Prague, Litoměřice, Teplice, Ústí, Děčín
𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 London + TBC
𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges, Ypres, Ghent

24/05/2026

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bsrpsy/episodes/guide

Village pubs across the regions of the UK play a part in this BBC programme.

All episodes of Pubs, Ponds and Power: The Story of the Village

24/05/2026

The Victoria Family & Commercial Hotel, Leeds 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

After a long period of closure during the Covid era, the announcement of acquisition by Kirkstall & Whitelocks as a joint venture produced excitement.

However, delays to opening and an apparent vow of silence over the reasons why caused suspicion then eventually apathy as the prospect of reopening grew more distant. Eventually, whatever skeletons were lurking in the closet have been remedied and the pub reopened with fanfare in December 2025.

The involvement of Kirkstall Brewery was always likely to be a good match. The owner Steve Holt owns a treasure trove of breweriana with which he decorates his pubs, fitting hand in glove into the Victorian stylings of this 1865 Hotel, the bespoke layout with high ceilings, brass fittings, etched glass, mahogany booths opposite the bar, lobbies and dining rooms lending itself perfectly to the lush stylings – rich warm hues and retro signage.

The pub is well-staffed to cope with high volumes, and the two side rooms are dealt with via table service, not normally a favourite of mine but it works pretty well here. The sight of cheerful staff mowing back and forth with drinks and plates among these splendid surroundings really does allow you to briefly take the vapours of the high era it is evoking. It encourages you to linger further. Let’s stay for food, let’s have another drink.

While new Leeds openings usually lean towards hybrid “is it a cafe, is it a bar, is it just a chilled out space to spin hot wax and have a bloody mary?” venues, there was always a risk that this kind of indulgent, expensive nostalgia may not meet the moment, or at least interest a younger audience sufficiently.

Early days, but the Leeds public young and old appears to have taken the venue to its hearts, not just as a place to go for a drink but as a kind of magnificent civic amenity. We are not used to being treated like this.

While Leeds does have some impressive pub interiors (hello Garden Gate, hello Cardigan Arms, hello Whitelocks) the scale here differs, more akin to the palatial city taverns of Liverpool.

Perhaps that distinction will eventually be the secret to an enduring success.

For drinks, cask ales from Kirkstall Brewery, Five Points, Harveys. There hasn't been much rotation of guest ales yet but they are still finding their feet .

Highly recommended 👍🍻

22/05/2026

In Leeds, United Kingdom the most striking pub interior feature isn't the Burmantofts tiled bar at the Garden Gate, or the ancient Georgian interior and Luncheon Bar fittings of Whitelocks, while the Cardigan Arms and Victoria Hotels high era splendour can't match it either.

Instead, it's in a pub created from nothing by Thornbridge Brewery several years ago just before Covid. The Banker's Cat.

A former bank with the vault door still installed in the basement (a striking feature in itself), the venue was a Ladbrokes betting shop before being turned into a recreation of a city tavern from the turn of the 20th century.

The standout is its stained glass window, an indulgent feature that is so unlike the approach taken to newly fit pubs and bars in this decade that use the straight lines of modernity as a fig leaf to disguise the austerity underneath.

A thriving bar with fabulous cask ale selection, it's a shame the best seating, the booths, are around the other side of the pub, out of eyeshot of this great artwork.