Kolingen is the cellar bar and late-night club beneath Engelen, the long-running pub on Kornhamnstorg in Stockholm's old town, and it runs as the room you move down to once the band upstairs has finished.
The address is Kornhamnstorg 59 in Gamla Stan, the medieval island core of Stockholm. Thatsup and the Engelen venue itself describe Kolingen as the downstairs nightclub of the Engelen complex, a vaulted cellar space rather than a street-level bar.
The schedule is a weekend one. DJs start the nights at 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and the listing notes resident DJs chosen for reading a floor rather than headline names, which keeps the music aimed at dancing rather than spectacle.
The room seats around 100 in its lower space, and entry is included for guests of the Engelen pub and restaurant from Wednesday to Saturday, so many drinkers arrive by working down through the building rather than queueing separately for the club.
The setting does a lot of the work. A stone cellar under a Gamla Stan square gives the night a low-ceilinged, close feel that larger Stockholm clubs cannot copy, and the old-town location puts it within a short walk of the waterfront and the Slussen crossings.
Who would love it: late drinkers who want to dance without a stadium-club scale, and anyone already eating or drinking upstairs at Engelen. Who should skip it: anyone after a quiet conversation bar or an early night, since this is a weekend club room that fills after midnight.
Timing is simple here. The action builds after the 10pm DJ start and runs late, so arriving with the upstairs crowd around closing time lands you in the room as it fills. The Engelen building also houses a pub and restaurant for the earlier part of the evening.
Drinkers working the old town can set it against our guide to the best pubs in Stockholm and the wider Gamla Stan bar scene, within reach of the apothecary cocktails at Pharmarium and the all-night energy of Tjoget, and the brasserie bar at Riche. For the wider city, see our Stockholm bar guide.
Gamla Stan is not Stockholm's obvious nightlife district, which is part of the appeal. The island is better known for its daytime crowds and narrow lanes than its late hours, so a cellar club here runs against the grain and pulls a crowd that wants to stay in the old town rather than cross to Sodermalm or Stureplan.
The Engelen connection is worth planning around. Because club entry is folded into the pub and restaurant upstairs from Wednesday to Saturday, the efficient way to use the room is to start the evening at Engelen and move down as the DJ set begins, rather than treating the club as a separate stop.
What to order
- 01
Beer on tap
The standard pour for a night on the dance floor
from 75 kr - 02
House cocktail
A simple build to carry between sets
from 145 kr - 03
Engelen entry
Club access included with the upstairs pub Wed to Sat
varies