By Fredrik Filipsson · Published Feb 24, 2026 · Last reviewed May 19, 2026 · How we pick bars
Standings is barely the width of a hallway, and that is the point. This single narrow room on East 7th Street has spent two decades proving that a serious sports bar does not need square footage, only the right beer list and the right crowd shouting at the right screen.
The bar sits at 43 East 7th Street, on the block between Second and Third Avenues that also holds McSorley's, Burp Castle and the old Jimmy's No. 43 cellar. Gary Gillis took over the former Brewski's space in 2005 and rebuilt it as a craft-focused sports room, and the address has carried a Good Beer Seal ever since, the certification that recognizes independent New York bars committed to American craft and quality imports (Good Beer Hunting).
The room is small enough to count: a short bar, a row of stools, walls and ceiling papered with team pennants, scarves and decades of accumulated fan clutter. There is no kitchen, so patrons are encouraged to bring food in or order delivery to the door, a quirk that has become part of the appeal. On a busy match day the whole place leans toward one of the screens as a single body.
Soccer is the soul of the place. Standings opens early for Premier League and Champions League fixtures, and the European football crowd treats it as a clubhouse, with supporters' groups claiming their mornings and the bartenders pouring before most of the neighborhood has had coffee. It is one of the few East Village rooms where a 7:30am kickoff draws a full house.
What to order is straightforward: beer, and the right one. The 12 taps rotate constantly across local breweries, seasonals and imports, so the move is to ask what just went on and trust the answer. Bottles and cans add another 30-plus options for anyone chasing something specific. Pours land in the neighborhood-fair range that keeps a long Saturday from turning expensive, and the lineup leans craft rather than macro, with only a token domestic lager on the board (BeerAdvocate).
Who is it for? Soccer supporters who want atmosphere over comfort, craft drinkers who would rather have 12 rotating taps than 50 static ones, and anyone who treats a cramped, loud, single-room bar as a feature. It is not the spot for a quiet date or a large group; it is the spot for being shoulder to shoulder with strangers who care about the same result. Standings anchors the East Village entries on our New York sports bars guide and earns its place on the global best sports bars ranking for sheer match-day intensity.
The bar has outlasted most of its early-2000s contemporaries by staying exactly what it is. While larger sports halls chase TV-wall arms races, Standings has held its corner on reputation, beer quality and the soccer calendar, a fixture on nearly every serious list of New York beer bars for close to twenty years.
Best time to go: any major European football morning, when the room is at full voice and the taps start early, or a weekday evening when the crowd thins enough to actually talk to the bartender about what is pouring. Avoid expecting table service or a meal; this is a drinking room first. For the wider neighborhood, our New York bar guide maps the rest of the East Village and beyond.
