Editorial
Pigalle has been misread for decades. The area around Place Pigalle still trades on its historic reputation as a red-light district, but the neighbourhood that the locals actually drink in — the stretch known as South Pigalle, or SoPi — is one of the most interesting bar destinations in Paris. The bars here are not famous in the way that the cocktail bars of Saint-Germain or Le Marais are famous. They are the kind of places that people find because they are looking for something honest and end up returning to because they found it. For the full Paris bar picture, our Paris bar guide covers seven arrondissements, and the Le Marais bar guide covers the Right Bank neighbourhood with the most depth and range of style.
South Pigalle's bar scene crystallised around natural wine in the early 2010s, when a cluster of wine bars opened within a few blocks of each other on and around Rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. The neighbourhood drew a young creative crowd that wanted somewhere to drink interesting wine at sensible prices in rooms without pretension. That culture has persisted and expanded. These are the bars that define it.
Pigalle has been a live music neighbourhood since the 1940s and the music venues that remain are not nostalgia projects — they are working rooms with programming that reflects where contemporary jazz and chanson are going rather than where they have been. The late-night bar culture around Place Pigalle itself is heavier and less considered than South Pigalle, but has its own energy on a weekend evening.
South Pigalle's after-work scene operates differently from the Marais or the 6th. The bars fill up earlier — by 5:30pm on weekdays — and the crowd is more neighbourhood-specific. The people here live within walking distance and drink with the comfort of people who have done this many times in the same room.