| Best live venue with no cover charge – King Henry VIII Pub on Eighth Avenue – any Saturday night
Bartender Pat stuffs the jukebox with The Band, Neil Young and Ryan Adams so that the breaks are nearly as fun as the bands, and saucy waiter Brad quotes poetry when he brings your drink. If that sounds all too trendy-smarmy for you, then you’ve never been to King Henry VIII Pub (221 Eighth Ave. S.W.), styled after a British pub, but turning out more like a cross between the old National Hotel and your rumpus room.
Originally started by the same people who owned the Ship & Anchor, Henry’s is delightful because, unlike the Ship, you are more likely to be run over by a three-steppin’ barfly than by a 15-year-old with a fake ID (Brad checks everybody he doesn’t know). There’s nothing upscale about the magic of this place – the magic that bonds together lawyers and street folk, the desperate and the dreamers, all for a dance, or a cig, or a round to forget their respective miseries.
In spite of a pair of pool tables, the whole place is about as wide as your rec room, which makes for a real family feeling when the place packs up. Which it does most Saturday nights, when legendary house band Tom Phillips and the Men of Constant Sorrow can usually be heard slingin’ their vicious honky-tonkin’ tunes, all for the price of a walk through the door. |
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