13 Unique and Offbeat Pubs Around the World

Special Bars

Often it's hard to tell if you are in the Flying Ferret or the Whistling Weasel, as pub owners often get their decor out of the same catalogue.

However, there's no mistaking the interior of the Odditorium (now known as the Odd, a name that gives a hint to its ambience) in Asheville, North Carolina, or HR Giger Bar in Gruyères, Switzerland, which has an alien theme for a very good reason.

Let's go on a little trip through some of the world's strangest watering holes.

Strange Bars in Asia

Let's start our pub crawl in the Asia.

1. Vampire Cafe, Tokyo, Japan

Do you want to sit on a coffin while swilling a glass of sake? Of course, you do. The place for this is the Vampire Cafe in Tokyo. To enhance the macabre atmosphere the paint scheme is black and red, the lighting dim, and blood-stained objects are scattered around. The staff, of course, are dressed like vampires. The only sensible drink to order would be a Bloody Mary, but the place offers other cocktails such as the Dracula, which combines tonic and blue curacao.

2. Clinic Bar, Singapore

You don't like being served by vampires, you say. Well, how about nurses and doctors? Not real ones of course, just pretend medical professionals. You'll find these in Singapore's Clinic Bar where patrons can rest their weary limbs on hospital beds and wheelchairs instead of couches and chairs. Given the location, the beverage of choice is going to be a Singapore Sling, which can be consumed from an IV-drip bag.

3. Modern Toilet Restaurant, Taiwan

We can stretch the limit a little here to include the Modern Toilet Restaurant in Taiwan; it's more of an eatery than a drinkery and its fixtures and fittings are all bathroom-themed. Customers sit on fake toilets and eat their food out of toilet-shaped bowls. Dishes available include—brace yourself—“diarrhea with dried droppings,” and “bloody poop.” How sophisticated. In 2018, one customer mistook a pretend toilet for a real one and the place had to be closed for the clean-up.

Europe's Weird Taverns

4. Absolut Ice Bar, Stockholm, Sweden

The Absolut Ice Bar in Stockholm, Sweden is the place to chill out. (Sorry about that. Not really). The ambient temperature in this bistro, which is built of blocks of ice, is -5°C (23°F). Sit on ice furniture, admire ice sculptures, and sip from glasses made of ice. The hosts offer a somewhat superfluous tip for those planning a visit—“dress warmly.”

5. Dirty Dick's, London, UK

Dirty Dick's is, as its name implies, a filthy pub in London. It takes its name from an 18th-century man who lived at the location and who declined to clean his property or himself. The tavern that took over the building kept the original decor of cobwebs, dust, cat and rat cadavers, and all the other accumulated detritus of non-existent housekeeping. In the 1980s, the health and safety killjoys ordered the place cleaned up but it retains some of its earlier character.

6. HR Giger Bar, Gruyères, Switzerland

Why not hire a science fiction horror film designer to create your boozer? Well, why not? That was the thinking of the owners of the HR Giger Bar who gave the interior design to Hans Ruedi Giger of the movie Alien fame. This confection is to be found in Gruyères, Switzerland, and is described as “a skeletal, cavernous structure covered by arches of vertebrae that crisscross the ceiling of an ancient castle (therichest.com).”

7. Oepfelchammer, Zurich, Switzerland

And, while we are in Switzerland, let's drop in to the Oepfelchammer in Zurich for a glass of wine. But, there's a snag. This hostelry has been serving drinks since 1801 and its libations are restricted to grape juice, water, and wine. With the wine comes a unique twist called the balkenprobe. The challenge is to clamber up to a rafter in the bar and to hang therefrom upside down. A glass of wine is presented and the customer has to drink it all without spilling a drop.

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America's Offbeat Saloons

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8. Odd, Asheville, North Carolina

We'll start off in Asheville, North Carolina, and mosey up to the bar of the Odd. As its name implies, it's stuffed with oddities. Luke Fater at Atlas Obscura gives us a partial inventory: “Taxidermied foxes, bats, and raccoons, jarred snakes, and the skeletons and skulls of unidentified animals gaze down at patrons. There’s a Lost Boys poster signed by Tim Capello, disembodied dolls’ heads, and a jar of dirt allegedly from the home of John Wayne Gacy. Rounding things out is a beautifully spherical, 17th-century bezoar of unknown provenance.” (That's a hardened hairball from a cow's stomach.)

9. Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room & Ping Pong Emporium, Atlanta, Georgia

Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room & Ping Pong Emporium in Atlanta, Georgia has a name that alone qualifies it for inclusion in this little frivolity. But wait, there's more. This is where the devoutly secular can wet their whistles in the Bible Belt. The walls are covered with not-so-religious art, customers can sing karaoke to a church organ accompaniment, a photobooth has been fashioned out of a confessional, and, of course, there are ping-pong tables.

10. The Old Absinthe House, New Orleans, Louisiana

There must be a haunted saloon somewhere in the United States; there is, or are. We have to be selective, so here is The Old Absinthe House in New Orleans. It boasts not just a ghost but the ghost of a pirate, Jean Lafitte. The dive is the home of the Absinthe Frappé that combines the green liquor, anisette, syrup, and club soda. Absinthe has the reputation of causing hallucinations but it's said this has no connection to reports of spectral pirates flitting through the taproom after a few frappés. Let's end this thing with a jolly verse from the 1904 Broadway musical It Happened in Nordland:

“At the first cool sip on your fevered lip

You determine to live through the day

Life’s again worthwhile as with a dawning smile

You imbibe your Absinthe Frappé!”

11. Churchill Arms, London, UK

The Churchill Arms in Kensington, London has been serving ale since at least 1750. It is claimed that Winston Churchill's ancestors raised a glass or two there and the pub is decorated with memorabilia of the former British prime minister. It serves Thai food—of course it does. However, its outstanding feature is the extravagant containers of flowers that adorn the exterior during the summer.

12. The Big Baobab Tree Pub, Modjadjiskloof, South Africa

The Big Baobab Tree Pub used to serve just 15 customers at a time in the hollow trunk of a baobab tree in Modjadjiskloof, South Africa, Overflow patrons were accommodated outside the spreading limbs of the massive, 1,700-year-old tree. Sadly, in April 2017, the tree succumbed to its age and came crashing down.

13. No Scum Allowed Saloon, White Oaks, New Mexico

White Oaks, New Mexico, became a ghost town when the gold ran out, but the No Scum Allowed Saloon hangs on determinedly. It used to operate on an honour system: The pub's website says “Patrons would fetch the key from under a rock, get a drink, leave their money, and lock up.” Nowadays, there is staff to serve drinks and take your money at the pub that's only open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Sources

• “29 Dive Bars, Saloons, and Taverns Where the Vibe Is Unbeatable.” Diana Hubbell, Atlas Obscura, August 22, 2023.
• “Clinic Bar, Singapore.” orangesmile.com, undated.
• “Top 10 Craziest Bars in the World.” Sammy Said, therichest.com, June 16, 2013.
• “Absolut Ice Bar: An Unforgettable Experience in Stockholm, Sweden.” swedenelegant.com, Ariel Brooks, November 30, 2023.
• “The London Pub that Wasn't Cleaned for 200 Years with Dead Cats and Dogs Left on the Floor.” Erica Buist, mylondon.news, June 13, 2022.
• “The Odd.” Luke Fater, Atlas Obscura, April 8, 2022.
• “Atlanta’s Controversial Church-Themed Bar.” Sumitra, odditycentral.com, September 8, 2014.
• “Jean Lafitte’s Old Absinthe House: A Legendary New Orleans Bar.” unusualplaces.org, undated.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2024 Rupert Taylor