Pub Lovers

4 min read

After a hard day delegating，shaking hands，surfing Taobao，and exchanging business cards，who wouldn’t welcome a night on the tiles？Well，if you find yourself in Hangzhou around sundown，then fear not，as the city is pretty much over-spilling with great spots to chill.

To kick things off，you could do worse than heading to Wade’s Bar&Grill，a spacious third-floor sports bar that instantly became a citywide favorite when it opened its doors at the backend of last year.Wade’s titular head-honcho is a veteran of the city’s bar’n’grill scene，and this is a fine place to line your stomach in preparation for the rigors of the night ahead.A considerable upgrade on his former bar/restaurant’s winning formula in every way，Wade’s serves up hearty Western food such as pizza，pasta，burgers，fa jitas-plus some Asian dishes-that never fail to hit the spot in a setting that is as comfortable as it is inviting.Large wooden tables and comfortable couches fill the large，high-ceiling room that is flanked by huge windows overlooking the busy shopping street of Wulin Road below.Complete with an excellent pool table，a ventilation system that somehow manages to keep both smokers and non-smokers happy，great staff，tasty food，and a large，well-stocked bar，Wade’s is the kind of place where you want to hunker down in and spend the night.

If you’d rather keep the night moving，a short taxi ride to Nanshan Road’s Eudora Station would be a good next stop.The rooftop terrace，great cocktails，and generous happy hour have all conspired to make this pub a firm Hangzhou expat favorite.

Situated on Nanshan Road，with the twinkling banks of the famed West Lake to its rear，Eudora usually hosts live music on weekend nights，when the atmosphere can get carnival-esque.And，FYI，its Sunday brunch buffet is something of a Hangzhou institution.

Eudora’s open-for-all-to-see kitchen also knocks out some fine grub too，so if you’re still hungry you can fill your boots or just maybe grab a snack for the whole table to feast on as you put the world to rights and quaff generously mixed cocktails.

If that’s not really your cup of（green）tea，then perhaps you can take a cab to Shuguang Road，also known as Bar Street，where you will find a pack of lively bars and rustic pubs that won’t disappoint.To start things off，head to 7 Club，one of the city’s hippest and most well-hidden night spots.So cool it doesn’t even haveasign，this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it subterranean hive of scum and villainy（and great beer and music，naturally）is small but blessed with a loyal crowd and atmosphere that’s among the city’s best.After you’ve had your fill there，you can take a quick walk to Cicada Bar for a couple more before hitting Mint Lounge&Cocktails，which is located in the Tea Boutique Hotel complex，for some of the best cocktails the city can offer.Dimly lit and sparsely furnished，Mint Lounge is the polar opposite to some of Hangzhou’s more rambunctious bars.It’s quiet and uncrowded and is concerned squarely with the quality of its drinks and offering its patrons a relaxing atmosphere.

In contrast，the inexplicably named You Too Bar has its sights set on a different style of clientele entirely.Featuring loud，live music from rocking local bands on weekends and rarely less than packed on any given night，You Too Bar is a firm local favorite and a good place to liven things up after the relative peace and quiet of Mint Lounge.

Further along Shuguang Road，which gets increasingly bucolic as it winds its way to West Lake’s northwestern shores，there is a trio of tried-and-tested bars that ought to serve as a good conclusion to this leg of your epic Hangzhou bar crawl.Full of cozy nooks，bizarre trinkets，curious bric-a-brac and comfortable sofas，Sky 1944 Bar is a charming little watering hole that more often than not hosts some kind of live music performance，especially on the weekends.The thick Shuguang Road flora that sways and lilts beyond Sky 1944’s windows gives patrons a pleasingly isolated sensation as they chug back their pints of draft Tiger beer.A short walk from there，you will see two bars that have seen more action than a Michael Bay movie starring Jason Statham.0ld Captain Lounge Bar and Traveller Bar are not only ideally positioned fairly close to one another，but they are fine ale houses to boot.Serving as the backdrop to countless long and woozy nights in the city，Old Captain Lounge Bar and Traveller Bar are good places to get some serious，late-night drinking done.Not ready to call it a night just yet？Well，fear not as，this being a night out in Hangzhou，you can always rely on a trip to a nearby nightclub.