Morten Andersen is wary of a sports bar inside a shopping centre, on the grounds that footfall is not the same as atmosphere. Apollo Sports Bar wins him over on the basics: the screens carry the leagues that matter, and the location is as central as Helsinki gets.
The bar sits in the Forum shopping centre at Mannerheimintie 16, in the heart of the city a short walk from the central railway station. Its own team describes it as a modern sports bar built for catching the action in comfort, with a kitchen aimed squarely at sports fans (Apollo official site). The fit-out is a large, bright lounge rather than a dark cave, which suits the daytime trade the central location pulls in.
The screens are the reason to choose it. Apollo carries live action from the top leagues, including the Premier League, La Liga and the NHL, with the channels to back that up: Viasat Sport, MTV3 Sport, YLE and Ruutu+ all feature on the listing (Apollo sports schedule). For an English football or North American hockey night in central Helsinki, that coverage puts it ahead of the generalist bars nearby.
The food and drink are built for a long fixture. The kitchen runs juicy burgers, crispy wings and finger food made for sharing across ninety minutes, and the drinks list reaches past beer into cocktails for anyone dragged along who does not care about the score. A weekday lunch runs from 11am to 2.30pm outside summer, and the afterwork deal runs Monday to Friday until 6pm, with a weekend happy hour from 4 to 5pm except during the biggest sporting events. Order wings and a lager for a Premier League Saturday and you have the format working as intended.
Who it is for is the visitor who wants a guaranteed screen for the big match without leaving the city centre, the after-work group looking for somewhere central with a deal, and the football or hockey fan who needs the right channel. It is not for anyone chasing a characterful old pub or a quiet pint. For those, our guide to the best sports bars in Helsinki and the wider Helsinki bar guide set out the alternatives.
Best time to go is a Premier League or La Liga weekend afternoon, or an NHL night, when the channel line-up earns its keep, or the weekday afterwork window before 6pm for the deal. Hours stretch on big sporting nights, opening earlier and closing later than the standard schedule, so check the fixture before a late arrival.
The Forum address is the practical case for Apollo over a more characterful pub. Everything in central Helsinki is a short walk away, the trams stop outside, and the railway station is minutes off, so a group can converge from anywhere in the city without planning. The bright lounge layout and the kitchen make it as workable for an early lunch or an afterwork pint as for a late match, which is more than most single-purpose sports bars manage. What it trades away is age and grain, this is a modern room rather than an old one. For a big televised fixture with friends arriving from all directions, that trade is usually worth making.
Apollo Sports Bar earns its place in this guide as central Helsinki's most reliable big-match room, a Forum-centre bar with the channels, the food and the location to anchor a match day. For more of the city's screen rooms, keep reading our Helsinki sports bars guide.
Sources: Apollo Sports Bar official site; Apollo sports schedule; MyHelsinki (City of Helsinki).
