Editorial
A great sports bar needs three things: enough screens that no seat is blind to the match, a queue that moves fast enough to keep your pint full, and a room that knows why everyone walked in. The fifteen below clear that bar, from American multi-screen barns to football pubs that have run the same ritual for decades. James Harlow ranked them on the test that matters: what the match looks like from the worst seat in the house.
Connolly's runs three Midtown rooms, and the 47th Street original earns the spot. Fifty beers, two floors that swallow 500 bodies, and screens angled so the back booth still sees the match. It fills with Arsenal and Liverpool supporters' clubs on weekend mornings. The worst seat in the house still gets a pint inside two minutes. Go early for a Champions League kickoff.
Sports Bar & Grill keeps it simple: every Premier League game, every weekend, on giant HD screens across Canary Wharf, Marylebone and Victoria. No team loyalty at the door, which is the point. The Old Street room runs the biggest wall. Order a burger and a pint, grab a booth before a 12:30 kickoff, and you see the whole pitch. Built for watching, not posing.
Belushi's spreads across six London sites, and the London Bridge Dugout is the one to book. It screens Premier League, NFL and AFL on 4K walls with Dolby Atmos, so you hear the crowd before you see the goal. Hammersmith counters with 20 HD TVs and stadium seating. They open at odd hours for AFL and NRL finals. Happy hour runs four to eight, Monday to Friday.
The Piccadilly Tap sits in Gateway House right on the station approach, and it earns the list on beer more than screens. Eighteen kegs and eight casks, fresh pizza from 11:30, and a downstairs that runs mostly standing room when a match is on. Catch a game before a train, not during a derby crush. Head upstairs to the terrace if you want a seat and a clear view.
The Banshee on Dorchester Ave is Boston's serious soccer room, home to seven official supporters' clubs across two floors and fourteen flatscreens. Sunday mornings it opens at nine for European kickoffs and a full Irish breakfast. Green Bay fans claim a corner in fall. It runs to 1am every night. Get there an hour before a big Premier League fixture or you stand.
The Cabbage Hall stands on Breck Road, a short walk from Anfield, which tells you exactly who fills it on a matchday. Rooms upstairs cater to traveling Reds; the bar below pours from noon to 10pm and feeds you pies and Sunday roasts. It is a football pub first, not a screen palace. Go before kickoff, eat, then walk to the ground. Pure Anfield ritual.
Sin É on Upper Ormond Quay is a music room first, but the quayside crowd packs it for big rugby and soccer too. Open since 2001, it pours from 3pm till late, now seven nights a week. The pints are well kept and the talk is loud. Skip it if you want forty screens; come if you want a real Dublin local with the match on and a band after.
The Tara sprawls over six buildings off the Rokin, with three bars, seven rooms and a couple of terraces. The locals' beer blog calls it an Irish and Dutch hybrid, and that fits. Big screens go up for football and the church-pew room fills fast on a Champions League night. Open 10am to 3am. Find the front pub room near the fireplace for the best sightline and a fair pint.
Hennessy's anchors the Cais do Sodré strip and pours Guinness from 11am to 2am, later on weekends. Tripadvisor regulars rate it for rugby and football, and the kitchen runs all day if you want fish and chips with the match. Wednesday is open mic, Friday and Saturday bring live music. It is a working Irish pub, not a tourist trap. Grab a table before a Six Nations kickoff.
The Abbey Theatre near Piazza Navona is the rare Rome room that takes sport seriously, with fourteen screens across six air-conditioned rooms on two floors. It shows NFL, the Premier League, Serie A and rugby, and Tripadvisor reviewers call it the city's real sports bar. Live Irish music most weeks. Go for a late Sunday NFL window; upstairs holds a clearer view than the crowded ground floor.
Cargo Bar holds down King Street Wharf at Darling Harbour, a split level waterside room that reopened in 2026 after a four month refit. Time Out still calls it the city's original party bar, so set expectations: this is DJs and dance floors more than a dedicated sports room, though the big screens come out for a State of Origin or a World Cup night. Come for the harbor deck and the crowd.
Game On sits right against Fenway on Lansdowne Street, and it is built for volume: 13,000 square feet, two floors, north of forty HDTVs, RedZone and NFL Sunday Ticket on tap. There is even a Fenway batting cage inside. It holds 650, which it needs on a Sox night. The worst seat still sees a screen. Book a suite for a playoff game or you fight for standing room.
The Londoner Brew Pub is Bangkok's oldest microbrewery, running since 1997 and now three floors deep on Phatthanakan Road. House brewed craft beer is the draw, but several screens carry soccer, boxing, UFC and more. It pours till midnight, opening at 9am on weekends for early European kickoffs. Families fit here too. Order a house ale, claim a table downstairs, and settle in for a full match.
The Penny Black plants a full Victorian London pub on the Boat Quay waterfront, fitted out in England and shipped over piece by piece in 1999. It pours till 1am most nights, 2am on weekends, and the riverside tables fill for Premier League afternoons. It is more proper pub than screen barn, so arrive early for a marquee fixture. Reliable Guinness, real ale, and a view of the water.
The Globe has poured craft beer in Central since 1995 and now runs eighteen rotating drafts off Graham Street, plus a bottle list past a hundred. It leans gastropub, with pies and Sunday roasts, and has been named among the world's best beer bars. Screens go up for big football, but go for the beer first. Ask a bartender to steer you through the local Gweilo taps and grab a seat before kickoff.
Every bar here was checked against three independent sources for being real and currently open before it kept its place. Five venues from the old draft were cut: two had closed for good, two could not be verified as real venues, and one was a self-pour novelty bar rather than a sports bar. What is left spans 13 cities and two traditions, the American multi-screen format and the European football pub. Both work when the room takes the match seriously.
Sightlines first. A great sports bar puts a screen in front of every seat, keeps the beer queue short, and fills with people who came for the match. Food and decor are tiebreakers, not the point.
For pure soccer, Connolly's in New York and The Banshee in Boston run official supporters' clubs and open early for European kickoffs. Both treat a weekend morning match like an event.
Several do. Game On at Fenway carries RedZone and NFL Sunday Ticket, Belushi's London screens NFL and AFL, and Rome's Abbey Theatre runs NFL across its fourteen screens.
Yes. Rooms like Game On, Connolly's and The Banshee hit capacity well before kickoff for marquee fixtures. Arrive an hour early or reserve a table or suite.
A few. The Cabbage Hall in Liverpool, The Penny Black in Singapore and The Globe in Hong Kong lead with the pint and the room. Go for atmosphere with the match on, not a wall of forty TVs.