Last Train holds an address at Karl Johans gate 45 in central Oslo, with the entrance around the corner on Universitetsgaten, and has run as a rock and roll bar since November 1984. It has outlasted four decades of changing tastes on the city's main street, which in a small capital is a record few bars can claim.
The bar suits drinkers who want loud rock, cheap beer and a no-frills room with a stage. It works less well for anyone after a cocktail list or a quiet seat, because the format has stayed close to a rock pub for forty years and shows no sign of softening.
The room is small, with a stated capacity of around 100 and roughly 50 seats, which keeps every night close to the stage. The local paper AO has written that Last Train has survived more than 40 years and left a mark on a city the size of Oslo, a line that captures how central the place is to the local scene. The walls carry the history of a bar that has booked rock acts since its first concert in 1990.
The music is the spine of the place. Bands such as Turbonegro, the Hellacopters and Gluecifer have played the stage, and the venue is widely named as a launch point for Norwegian and Scandinavian rock acts. That heritage draws a steady crowd of musicians and fans rather than a passing tourist trade, and it keeps the booking focused on rock rather than a broad pop calendar.
The drinks side is plain and cheap by Oslo standards, which is much of the appeal. Coverage of the bar repeatedly notes the inexpensive beer and the welcoming staff and regulars, a combination that is rare on a street built for visitors. There is no kitchen to speak of, because the draw is the music and the price of a round, not the food.
The crowd runs older and rock-leaning, with an age limit set at 24 that keeps the room closer to a regulars' bar than a student club. Reviewers on Tripadvisor and Yelp return for the atmosphere and the cheap pints, and the common note is that the place is exactly what it claims to be and nothing more. It reads as a destination for people who came for the music.
Best time to go is an evening with a band booked, when the small room is at its best and the stage is the focus. The bar keeps long hours, open to 3:30am most nights, so it works as a late stop after the rest of the centre winds down. Quieter weeknights give a calmer seat and the same cheap round.
What keeps Last Train relevant after four decades is that it has never tried to be anything other than a rock bar, which in a city centre built around trends is its own kind of statement. The booking stays close to its roots, the beer stays cheap, and the room stays small enough that a gig feels like an event rather than a show watched from the back. That consistency has made it a fixed point for the local scene across generations of bands, a place where the history on the walls is matched by what still happens on the stage. For anyone tracing Oslo rock heritage, it is the obvious first stop.
Last Train is a fixture of any Oslo rock night, and it earns a place in our live music picks and among the city's hidden gems. Line up the rest of the night from the Oslo bar guide.
Sources: Last Train official site; AO.no; Tripadvisor; Yelp (updated 2026); Bandsintown; Foursquare.
