Durham’s Best Dive Bars
Unpretentious, cheap, and full of character.
Durham has world-class restaurants, craft cocktail bars, and tasting menus that require reservations. This article is not about any of that. This is about the bars where the lighting is bad on purpose, the drinks cost what drinks should cost, and nobody’s trying to impress anyone. Durham’s dive bars are institutions — the kind of places that outlast trends because they were never part of one.
The Green Room
1108 Broad St
The anchor. A pool hall since the 1970s, featured in the movie Bull Durham, and still operating like nothing has changed — because nothing has. Ten full-size pool tables, a 22-foot handmade shuffleboard table, darts, foosball, and beer that doesn’t require a second mortgage. Owner Mike knows more about pool than most people know about anything. The floors show their age. The tables don’t. Tuesday through Saturday, 5 PM to midnight. This is the real deal.
Surf Club
703 Rigsbee Ave
Surfboards on the walls. Beach chairs. Pints starting at two dollars. Free pool, shuffleboard, darts. An outdoor area with cornhole, bocce ball, and a second pool table. Rotating food trucks handle the kitchen duties. The vibe is beach bar transported to a warehouse district — which shouldn’t work but absolutely does. Twenty-three and up only, which keeps the energy right. Unpretentious doesn’t begin to cover it.
The Tavern
1900 W Markham Ave
Operating since the 1940s and showing every year of it in the best way. A classic dive with a pool table, jukebox, dartboard, karaoke nights, live music, and an outdoor patio with a dart balcony — a sentence that only makes sense once you’ve been there. The food is unexpectedly good: burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, and a bacon jam that has no business being this well-made at a place with these prices. One of the longest-running dive bars in Durham.
High Dive
101 W Main St (Kress Building basement)
A dive bar in a basement. Specifically, the basement of the 1932 Kress Building downtown. Pool, darts, foosball, pinball, a vintage jukebox, Durham memorabilia on the walls, free popcorn, and cheese nachos that exist because they should. The name is honest — it’s a conscious dive, polished just enough that the bathrooms work but not so much that it loses its soul. Open every day, 5 PM to 2 AM.
DJ’s Dive
3219 Old Chapel Hill Rd
The neighborhood dive. Sports on multiple TVs, pool tables, dart boards, a jukebox, arcade games, and the kind of “Cheers”-like atmosphere where regulars know each other’s names. Open 4 PM to 2 AM every single day. Comedy nights and special events keep things interesting. Pet-friendly, wheelchair accessible, and genuinely welcoming to everyone who walks in. This is the bar where you become a regular without meaning to.
The Old North Bar
316 W Geer St
Opened in September 2025 in the former Accordion Club space — a Durham institution that left a hole when it closed. The new owners designed Old North to fill that void: draft beers $5 to $8, cans and bottles $3 to $6, classic cocktails $9 to $12. Hawk Dogs food cart operates Thursday through Sunday for the food situation. The commitment to staying cheap and accessible for the neighborhood is built into the business model, not an afterthought.
Lagoon Bar
900 Park Offices Dr, Suite 120 (atop Lawrence BBQ, Boxyard RTP)
The wild card. A tiki bar above a barbecue joint, serving Micheladas and tropical cocktails with a dive-bar price point and attitude. The staff is friendly, the drinks are affordable, and the vibe is “vacation you didn’t plan.” Not a traditional dive, but it shares the philosophy: come as you are, don’t overthink it, stay awhile.
The Rules of Durham Dive Bars
Bring cash. Tip well — these bartenders have seen everything and they’re still here. Don’t ask for a cocktail menu at The Green Room. Don’t wear a blazer to Surf Club. Don’t complain about the floors, the lighting, or the bathroom situation. These places aren’t broken. They’re exactly what they mean to be.
The craft cocktail bars will still be there tomorrow. Tonight, shoot some pool.
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