Sports bars in Beijing tend to come in two distinct, time-worn varieties: the squalid, rowdy late-night football pub and the brash, over excitable all-American bar. There are of course a few notable hutong-styled exceptions but, for the most part, choice is sorely limited. We assumed this was the result of straightforward market forces. Sports fans are a simple-minded bunch and – like sports bars themselves – tend to fall into one of two categories: Americans who enjoy sports involving helmets and padding, and non-Americans, who enjoy sports without helmets and padding. And then along came V Sports.
By Beijing standards, V Sports is less a sports bar, more a sports entertainment complex. It is the Las Vegas of sports bars, a massive, plush, roped-off enclosure where every seat is granted multiple, unobstructed views of countless numbers of enormous flat-screen TVs. The food is decent, even when eaten sober, and is served in massive, generous portions. The beer list is extensive and reasonably priced. They have Guinness on tap (RMB60) and a roof garden with a massive outdoor screen for special sporting events (we’re looking at you, World Cup).Owned by Gonti nightclub stalwart Vics, and operated by former Den manager, Carol Fei, V Sports takes the existing sports bar template and elevates it to a whole new level. It’s as if you’ve wondered drunkenly through some strange, hitherto unknown, backdoor in the Den and into a secret VIP area. The seating is clean and comfortable, the wait staff are attentive and friendly and the bar is – for the moment at least – free of raging, drunken d*ckheads.
Now, some people will undoubtedly accuse V Sports of lacking the atmosphere of other, less salubrious venues. But if we’re honest, perhaps that’s not such a bad thing?
// Daily 9.30pm-4.30am, Gongti North Gate East side, Chaoyang 朝阳区工体北门内东侧 (5293 0333)
Photo: Noemi Cassanelli.
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