ROCKNROLLA
Rocknrolla is a rock-centred bar and live music venue in central Iași, opened in 2014 and located at Strada Grigore Ghica Vodă 14. Expect regular concerts and themed nights spanning rock, blues and jazz, a relaxed alternative crowd, and an outdoor terrace area. The bar serves food with QR-table ordering, and accepts reservations—making it a dependable spot for casual drinks and gigs in the city centre.
ADDRESS:
Strada Grigore Ghica Vodă 14, Iași 700259, Romania
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MAMMUT BAR
Mammut Bar closed down on November 22nd 2025.
Mammut Bar, nestled in Gamla Stan, invites visitors on an atmospheric journey into a dark 17th-century cellar vault. Illuminated by flaming torches and ambient lights, the space exudes a magical ambiance. Themed as a rock and metal bar, it bears the signature touch of renowned musician Martin “E-Type” Eriksson.
The pub is fairly new, having opened in February 2024, but since then it has hosted numerous pre- and after-parties, DJ events featuring well-known Swedish musicians, and E-Type himself often drops by to hang out with guests. Just watch out for the steep steps, and be aware that it can be hard to see down in the cellar – this place is seriously dark.
ADDRESS:
Västerlånggatan 60, 111 29 Stockholm, Sweden
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BAR L’EXCALIBUR
Bar L’Excalibur is a small, long-running rock and metal bar in Strasbourg’s Krutenau district, located at 39 Rue des Bouchers, just a short walk from the Porte de l’Hôpital tram stop.
The music leans heavy via playlists rather than live shows, creating a friendly and informal vibe. Typical opening hours are Tuesday–Friday 17:00–01:00 and Saturday 19:00–01:00 (closed Sunday–Monday). Expect a solid beer selection, some outdoor seating, and even darts inside.
In July 2025 the bar celebrated its 27th anniversary, cementing its status as a local reference point for Strasbourg’s rock crowd.
ADDRESS:
39 Rue des Bouchers, 67000 Strasbourg, France
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CONTROL PUB
Control Pub is a rock and metal pub in Budapest, Hungary. Located on Podmaniczky utca in the Terézváros district, close to Nyugati railway station, it is a basement pub with several rooms, games and a strong heavy music identity.
The current pub opened in June 2022, after the basement space had been renovated and redesigned. The layout is larger than it first appears, with a long bar, several separate rooms and a games area with billiards, darts and table football.
The interior has a playful rock and horror-inspired look, with flags, zombie figures and other decorative details around the rooms. The basement setting gives the pub a slightly hidden character, while the size of the space makes it more open than many small rock bars.
Rock and metal form the main soundtrack at Control Pub, and the atmosphere is informal and sociable. The pub has a regular local crowd, but visitors from outside Budapest are also likely to find an open and friendly setting.
ADDRESS:
Budapest, Podmaniczky u. 31, 1067 Hungary
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HELLION ROCK AND METAL PUB BERGEN
Hellion Rock & Metalbar Bergen is a metal pub in Bergen, Norway. Located on Neumanns gate in the city centre, it reopened in a new location on 6 June 2025 after a period without permanent premises.
The bar is strongly connected to Bergen’s metal scene, both through its music and through the objects, posters and memorabilia displayed inside. The decoration draws on Norwegian metal culture rather than using a generic rock-bar style, giving the place a clearly local identity.
The new Bergen venue is mainly set in the basement, with a dark pub atmosphere suited to heavy music, beer and late-night gatherings. It also has an outdoor area, adding extra space during warmer weather and on busy evenings.
Unlike the earlier version of Hellion, the new location does not have a concert stage. The bar instead functions as a dedicated rock and metal pub, with the soundtrack centred on hard rock, heavy metal and extreme metal.
Hellion is often used for pre-parties and afterparties when larger metal concerts take place elsewhere in Bergen. These events can include guest DJs from the Norwegian metal scene, with names such as Hoest from Taake appearing behind the decks.
In 2026, Hellion also opened a branch in Oslo, expanding the name beyond Bergen. The Bergen bar remains the original reference point, while the Oslo branch gives Hellion a presence in both of Norway’s main metal cities.
ADDRESS:
Neumanns gate 8, 5015 Bergen, Norway
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HALFORD
Rockcafé Halford is a long-running heavy metal bar at Mainzer Straße 15 in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin, Germany. The bar was established by Sven Rappoldt in 1992 and takes its name from Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford. Over the following decades it has moved several times around Berlin, but has retained the same uncompromising heavy metal identity throughout its different locations.
Rappoldt was already deeply involved in heavy metal before opening the bar. During the years of East Germany he played bass in Metall, a heavy metal band formed in 1982. The group later continued under the name Headless before ending in the early 1990s, while Metall was reactivated by Rappoldt in 2013. He remains the band’s bassist.
After German reunification, Rappoldt opened what he described as the first dedicated metal discotheque in East Berlin in May 1992. The original Halford was considerably larger than the present pub and divided different forms of metal between two floors. Death, black and thrash metal were played upstairs, while the lower floor concentrated on bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Manowar and Metallica. The club quickly became popular enough that customers sometimes had to wait outside until others left.
Judas Priest has always occupied a particularly important place at Halford. Photographs, posters and memorabilia connected with the band cover much of the interior, while a large sculpture of Rob Halford is one of the bar’s most distinctive features. The figure was originally created for Halford’s fifth anniversary in 1997 and has followed the bar through several of its different locations.
Sven Rappoldt himself adds another unusual element to the theme. With his shaved head, beard and heavy metal appearance, he bears a striking resemblance to Rob Halford. Rappoldt has said that the similarity is largely accidental and has joked that his appearance seems to have developed in parallel with the Judas Priest singer over the years. He is sometimes referred to as “Rob II” within the German metal scene.
The connection with Judas Priest eventually went beyond decoration. Halford hosted a press conference and signing session with K.K. Downing and Tim “Ripper” Owens during the “Jugulator” period, while Rappoldt later became involved with Rob Halford’s Berlin press activities surrounding the “Resurrection” era. Judas Priest members have also visited the bar during trips to Berlin.
The present Rockcafé Halford is densely decorated with heavy metal memorabilia, photographs, album covers, skulls, chains and other objects accumulated over the years. Music videos are an important part of the bar, shown across several screens from an extensive archive covering metal from the early 1980s onwards. The music itself ranges across traditional heavy metal, power metal, thrash, death metal and black metal, with Judas Priest naturally remaining a constant presence.
The bar also has a pool table, darts, table football and an Addams Family pinball machine. Release parties, meet-and-greets, after-show gatherings and occasional unplugged performances have all taken place there, giving Halford a role that extends beyond a regular neighbourhood pub.
Rappoldt and the Halford team have also organised Metal Gods Open Air, an underground festival featuring bands from different branches of heavy metal. The festival reached its fifth edition in 2024, with German and international underground bands appearing over two days.
More than three decades after opening, Halford remains closely tied to both Berlin’s metal scene and Rappoldt’s own history as a musician. Between the Judas Priest memorabilia, the giant Rob Halford figure, the vast music-video collection and an owner who could easily be mistaken for the Metal God himself from across a dark room, there is little ambiguity about what kind of bar it is.
ADDRESS:
Mainzer Str. 15, 10247 Berlin, Germany
(All photos by Jan-Erik Johansen)
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