A 10e speakeasy reached through a working laundromat, with cocktail swings hanging from the ceiling once you find the door.
Lavomatic sits at 30 Rue Rene Boulanger, a five-minute walk from Republique metro on the quieter side of the square, and has run as one of Paris's better-known speakeasy concepts since 2015. The street-level frontage is a real, working laundromat; the bar entrance is the third washing-machine door from the left, which opens onto a stairwell up to the second-floor cocktail room.
Le Figaro, Time Out Paris, and The Infatuation Paris have all profiled the bar as part of the post-2010 wave of Paris speakeasies that took the New York and London speakeasy format and rebuilt it for the 10e. The upstairs room is bigger than most of its siblings, about 70 seats across a main bar room and a smaller terrasse, and famously includes swing-seats hung from the ceiling.
A wide loft-style room with exposed beams, low-amber lighting, and a long bar running along one wall. The signature feature is the three ceiling-hung swings positioned in the centre of the room; Le Figaro described them as “a tourist trap that became part of the building's actual furniture”. There is a small open-air terrasse for warmer months. The room runs loud after 10pm.
Order the seasonal signature cocktail (€13), a rotating list built around French-distilled spirits and Paris-region botanicals. The Negroni (€12) and the Pisco Sour (€13) are the most-recommended classics on Google Maps reviews (n=2,100). The Infatuation Paris singled out the bar's punch-bowl programme as “genuinely worth the €48 for four people, which is rare for a Paris speakeasy at this volume”. Skip the wine list; the room is built for cocktails.
Tourist-heavy on weekends and from 9pm onward; the early evening (6pm to 8pm) draws a more local 10e crowd. Reddit's r/paris regulars consistently flag Tuesday and Wednesday before 9pm as the best window for a first visit, when the swings are usually available and the noise level is conversational rather than party-loud.
Reservations are taken via the bar's official site for groups of four or more and are recommended on weekends; walk-in seating fills by 9pm Friday and Saturday. The entrance trick, the third washing-machine door from the left, is no longer a secret but the bar runs the laundromat genuinely; Le Monde noted in a 2023 feature that locals do still use the machines downstairs. Card and contactless both work; tipping is appreciated but not expected. The bar shuts on Mondays year-round and closes during the first two weeks of August in line with most independent Paris venues. The kitchen runs a short menu of small plates until midnight, mostly tapas-style and priced €7 to €14. The bar accepts foreign cards and the English-language service is fluent; the staff are accustomed to a heavily international weekend crowd. Smoking is permitted on the terrasse only; the main room is smoke-free in line with French national law. The swing seats book up first; arriving by 7pm on a weekend is the only reliable way to get one without a reservation.
Lavomatic's official site (verified May 2026); Le Figaro; Le Monde; Time Out Paris; The Infatuation Paris; r/paris; Google Maps reviews (n=2,100).