Bars and late nights

The drinking in these two neighbourhoods splits cleanly: Fort Greene runs along Fulton and DeKalb, Clinton Hill along Myrtle.

This is a shortlist, not a directory. Places included are ones with a clear reason to exist — a room worth sitting in, a thing they do that nobody else nearby does, or long enough tenure to have become part of the neighbourhood's furniture.

Fort Greene

Habana Outpost holds the corner of Fulton Street and South Portland Avenue and is unlike anything else around it. In warm months it is an outdoor operation — frozen drinks, mojitos, loud colour, and a summer-long movie series projected onto a large exterior wall. It is solar-powered, it is chaotic on a Saturday, and it closes for the cold half of the year, which catches people out.

Frank's does double duty as the neighbourhood's most reliable live music bar. See the venues page.

The stretch of Fulton Street between South Portland and Clinton, and DeKalb Avenue running parallel, carry most of the rest — wine bars, restaurants with proper bars, and a couple of places that stay useful past midnight.

Clinton Hill

Myrtle Avenue is the spine here. Bar Bolinas at 455 Myrtle is a good example of what the street does well: small, wine-led, food that is more than an afterthought.

Mekelburg's opened in summer 2015 as a hybrid that sounded like a bad idea on paper — part gourmet grocer, part bar — and became a genuine neighbourhood staple. Strong beer list, and the grocery half is not a gimmick.

Place des Fêtes is on the wine-bar end of things, along the Lafayette and Fulton arteries where Clinton Hill meets Fort Greene.

Practical notes

Hours in both neighbourhoods are more conservative than in Williamsburg or Bushwick. A midweek night can wind down early, and several of the better rooms are small enough that a post-BAM crowd fills them in ten minutes. If you are coming out of a show on Lafayette, walking two blocks off the main strip usually solves it.

Nothing on this page is checked daily and none of it is sponsored. Confirm hours with the bar before making a plan around one.