The Sportsman Sports Bar

The Sportsman is the bar Bangkok sends every traveller to when the question is simply where to watch the match. Tucked behind Sukhumvit Soi 13 near Nana, it claims the title of the city's largest sports bar, and the numbers back the claim.

This is a two story room with 28 TVs and 8 HD projectors, set across eight viewing areas that can run more than 30 fixtures at once. BK Magazine has long listed it among the staple expat sports venues in the Nana corridor. Whatever the kickoff time, in whatever sport, The Sportsman is showing it somewhere on a screen.

The room

Find it by walking 100 metres down Sukhumvit Soi 11 from Nana BTS, then cutting through the alley beside Bawarchi to Soi 13. The space rewards the walk with pool tables, dartboards and a shuffleboard table that keep the place busy between games. Private booths carry their own small screen, so a group can lock in one match while the main floor follows another.

What to order

The kitchen runs from 8am to 1am, and the Sunday roast is the order regulars defend hardest. Lunchtime fajitas and a full English are the other reliable plays, paired with cold draught lager from the long bar. Stick to the British pub staples over the wider Thai and Indian menu, which reviewers rate as solid rather than special.

The food menu is deliberately broad, spanning Thai, Indian, European and pizza so a mixed group can settle in for a full session without leaving. Draught beer and buckets do the drinking, and the pricing sits in normal Sukhumvit territory rather than the markups of the nearby hotel bars. Tripadvisor reviewers praise the staff for going out of their way, while flagging that food for very large groups can arrive uneven.

The crowd and what regulars say

The mix is heavily expat, with traveller groups, long stay residents and the occasional stag party filling the booths on match nights. The booth screens are the detail regulars rate most, since a table can pick its own game while the main floor follows the headline fixture. BK Magazine has carried The Sportsman as a Nana area staple for years, which tells you the room has outlasted most of its rivals on the strip.

The shuffleboard and pool tables matter more than they sound. They give the venue a second life between fixtures, so groups stay rather than drift to the next bar, and the place keeps a pulse even on a quiet weekday. That stickiness is part of why The Sportsman holds the largest sports bar reputation in a corridor that turns over venues fast.

Who it is for

The Sportsman suits the fan who refuses to miss a game in any timezone, the stag group that wants pool and pints in one room, and the solo traveller after company on a big night. It is a working sports bar, not a quiet date night room. For that, the Bangkok sports bar guide and the city's cocktail lists point elsewhere.

Best time to go

Doors open at 7am, which means Premier League mornings and overnight American fixtures are covered before most of Sukhumvit wakes. Sunday afternoons run on the roast and the rugby. Our editors keep the best sports bars in Bangkok guide updated through each season for the full fixture map.

Build a night around it. A short ride away, The Penalty Spot in Bangkok keeps the football faithful close to Soi 4, while Buddy's Bar and Grill in Bangkok and The Local in Bangkok round out the lower Sukhumvit drinking strip.