From 10 June to 10 July, Paris will be transformed into Europe’s capital of football as France hosts the Euro 2016 tournament. It will be big, of course, in the city’s numerous sports bars, Irish taverns and faux English pubs such as the Coq & Bulldog or the Frog et Rosbif, but every bistrot, bar and cafe will also be installing TV screens, not just for those cheering on Les Bleus, but for fans from abroad flooding into Paris and looking for places to watch their nation compete. Games will be shown on giant screens at a massive fan zone in the Champ-de-Mars by the Eiffel Tower, and Les Berges de l’Europe (the pedestrian banks of the Seine by the Pont de Solférino) will have concerts, food trucks and parties. Just be prepared for very strict security checks. To find the nearest watering hole showing your favourite match, go to allomatch.com but these 10 bars do have a genuine neighbourhood feel.
Les Tontons Bringuers, 20th arrondissement
The cosmopolitan, buzzing Belleville and Ménilmontant quartiers are a gold mine for neighbourhood bars, cheap and cheerful bistrots and live music venues. The atmospheric Tontons Bringueurs is a mix of all three, and while owner Yves Barruet loves to project cult 1950s French thrillers on to a huge wall, the place swiftly converts into a sports bar once a big match kicks off. If a game coincides with the 5pm-10pm happy hour, Yves generously extends until the final whistle, while bar snacks range from hot dogs and bruschetta to roasted camembert with honey. Don’t miss the killer absinthe selection, plus more than 20 jars of rhum arrangé – rums infused with spices like ginger or cinnamon. After the match, catch an indie concert at either La Bellevilloise or La Maroquinerie, on the same street.
• 1 rue Boyer, on Facebook
Le Magellan, 11th
The cosy Magellan is in a narrow sidestreet near where the November bomb attacks began, at the Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge. But this nightlife neighbourhood is as busy as it always was, and to be sure of bagging a seat on the Magellan’s comfy leather Chesterfield, get there at least an hour before the match. Happy Hour is 6pm-8pm and is not suspended during games as is often the case in more classic sports bars. A generous plate of cheese and charcuterie is €10, and there is a good selection of Belgian beers. The laid-back local clientele run poker tournaments, and this is one of the rare spots in Paris to boast a dart board. The friendly owner/barman, Olivier Sayrou, admits he is more of a rugby fan, but expects big crowds during Euro 2016.
• 12 rue des Goncourt, on Facebook
The Pure Malt, 4th
The fashionable Marais is home to one of Paris’s most famous Scottish pubs, the Auld Alliance. It still serves haggis and has half-a-dozen TV screens, but the Alliance is a shadow of its old self. A much better bet is to walk across the busy rue de Rivoli towards Place des Vosges to the snug Pure Malt. This is a genuine Scottish boozer, whose garrulous landlord Shep – Colin Shepherd from Aberdeen – opened in 2009 after he got fed up with working in themed Scottish bars that were run and mostly staffed by Frenchmen. It stocks more than 100 pure malts, Brewdog ales and no food apart from packets of crisps. A sign outside prohibits hipsters, but that is just Shep teasing the tourists. Scotland may not have made it to Euro 2016, but there will still be a great atmosphere here for every match.
• 4 rue Caron, thepuremalt.fr
Bambolina Caffé, 10th
Off busy Boulevard Haussman, the funky Bambolina is known as the best bar in Paris for watching Italian soccer, and is a second home to the raucous Paris San Gennar, the local club for Napoli fans, along with Juventini, Milanistas and Interistas. The bar has featured in Italy’s sports daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport, and French TV crews regularly turn up to film during big matches. Around 60 people can cram into Bambolina, and though getting a seat when Italy is playing will not be easy, owner Andrea Conti guarantees an electric atmosphere for all the Euro 2016 games. Order a Bambolina spritz or chilled Peroni, then Andrea’s famous lasagne and homemade tiramisu.
• 13 rue Rougemont, bambolinacaffe.fr
Café Titon, 11th
If you think watching an England match in a German bar is a bad idea - especially if the match goes to penalties – think again, as the friendly Titon is a surprising venue. It may serve curry wurst, pretzels, apple strudel and foaming steins of weissbier, but the bar is actually owned by a couple of Frenchmen, Joel and Stéphane, who fell in love with Germany during a holiday in Berlin and have created a one-off locale with a unique franco-allemande ambiance. So if France is playing, choose from the wide list of French organic wines and order a croque-monsieur or a steak tartare, followed by crème brûlée. Weather permitting, a big screen will be set up on the terrace which, during the last World Cup, helped put the cafe at the centre of a huge street party.
• 34 rue Titon, cafetiton.com
Au Dixième, 10th
There are dozens of places in which to watch Euro 2016 in this bustling corner of the 10th arrondissement, from a Turkish kebab joint to football-mad Algerian cafes. But if France is playing, head for this classic corner cafe, taken over a few months ago by two Parisian brothers, Arnaud and Xavier. Both big footie fans, they are putting in a big screen for the tournament, but Arnaud says it will disappear afterwards, because “we don’t want a bar with a TV where everyone looks at the screen, no one talks and no one listens to the music”. The cafe serves craft beers, organic wines and traditional dishes such as beef cheeks or boudin noir blood sausage and mash.
• 22 rue de Mazagran, on Facebook
Patrick’s Le Ballon Vert, 11th
Kieran Loughney and sons Donal and Kevin decamped from Dublin 10 years ago to found Patrick’s, for many people the best pub in Paris. You’ll find more Parisians here than noisy expats, and they come for draft Guinness, one of the world’s biggest selections of Irish whiskies – over 350 at the last count – dozens of Irish craft ales, and an unbeatable lunch menu at €10 for a juicy burger, fat hand-cut chips and a beer. There are three TVs surrounded by battered leather armchairs and velvet sofas, and for big matches, the end room is dominated by a huge roll-down screen. If Patrick’s gets too packed and noisy, another Loughney son runs the more relaxed Green Goose just up the road, with food more gastro than pub grub.
• 33 rue de Montreuil, on Facebook
Le Progrès, 18th
This is a wonderfully preserved belle époque bistrot. With its enormous bay windows, art nouveau mirrors and paintings, it’s an oasis amid the area’s tourist traps and sleazy strip clubs. But when it is time for a big match, the TV takes pride of place in front of the mirror and locals crowd in, along with a few curious tourists. Owner James Patou offers a wide choice of wines and draft beers, plates of charcuterie and cheese, plus classic plats du jour from his native Auvergne, such as veal roast with lentils or sausages with cheesy aligot mashed potatoes.
• 7 rue des Trois-Frères, no website
La Gueuze, 5th
Belgium’s Red Devils are one of the favourites for Euro 2016, and plenty of Belgian bars in Paris will be screening matches. La Gueuze, named after the country’s lambic beer, is a lively student haunt right by the Sorbonne, handy for the Latin Quarter’s tourist attractions. There is La Mort Subite on draft, and bottles ranging from Trappist ales to fruity kriek (cherries) and framboise (raspberries), and a steaming plate of moules-frites will set you back €12.50. The nearby Bombardier, another favourite watering hole for sports events, looks out on to the imposing Pantheon.
• 19 rue Soufflot, no website
Thirsty Mad Cat, 2nd
Parisians flood to this peculiarly named bar every time there is a big game. Between the Irish bars that line Boulevard Haussmann and mega sports bars like Le Players, Thirsty is almost a quiet, cosy alternative. The food is basically burgers and steak-frites, while exotic cocktails, tequila shots and jägerbombs are just as popular as pints, with Guinness and Kilkenny on tap. Faithful England fans may remember it as the site of a pub festooned with red and white flags and called The Lions. The owners sold up a couple of years ago but have now reopened near the 13th arrondissement’s Chinatown.
• 120 rue Montmartre, thirstymadcat.fr
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