Like your favourite pair of jeans – Fredagsbar.dk doesn’t try too hard
The beer is cold and cheap, the tables are long, and behind the bar a golden woman’s leg promises to get you drunk. All the basic ingredients of a good Friday bar can be found at Fredagsbar.dk, where the atmosphere is unpretentious.
REVIEW: FREDAGSBAR.DK
Reviewed on 6 May 2022 (afternoon)
Friday bar for Media Studies, Digital Design and Information Studies
Where: Helsingforsgade 8, 8200 Aarhus N (the Adorno building)
Opening hours: Selected Fridays from 14:00 to 02:00
Vibe: Usually based on a theme that includes words related to bars and drinking, e.g. ‘BAR Wars’, ‘AprilBOOZE’ or ‘SBARghetti CarBARnara’. The bar’s logo is the golden woman from the Tuborg logo, which is why you can ‘drink a leg’ in the bar (a golden leg from a mannequin that is used as a beer bong).
Prices: Bottled beer (Tuborg or Carlsberg) DKK 10, draught beer DKK 20 and mixed drinks DKK 20.
PLUS
- Informal atmosphere that feels inclusive.
- Good place to kick off the weekend after classes.
- Doesn’t try too hard.
- Prices are spot on.
- Activities such as games, beer pong and table football.
MINUS
- The space feels cramped and has low ceilings so the air quickly gets stuffy.
- The atmosphere in the bar is mostly down to the people there – it’s not created through the decor, furnishing or lighting (at least not when we visited).
At Fredagsbar.dk you can unwind after the last class of the week and start the weekend with a cold beer for DKK 10. The bar is basic. The white walls match the paper tablecloth on the long tables and the ceiling pipes have been draped haphazardly in string lights. Some of them are even turned on. A balloon hangs in the corner, and judging from its springiness – or rather, lack of it – it has been hanging there since the previous bar. Fredagsbar.dk can’t be accused of trying to hard.
During this particular afternoon, the tables are bustling and the humidity level in the room is nearing that in Phuket. Games of dice, table football and beer pong are all being played. Sunny tunes are playing from the speakers and the sun is shining outside, where the bar spreads out to a couple of picnic tables.
Normally, Friday bars at Fredagsbar.dk are themed – this Friday, which was the last opening day of the semester, the theme is ‘Just PUB by’. Which is exactly what we did. And we were well-received with quick and accommodating service in the bar and students willing to make room at a table at the far end of the room. The party won’t come to us – but if we were bringing the party ourselves (which we admittedly weren’t when we visited), Fredagsbar.dk would be a good place to have it. Apart from the golden women’s leg in the bar, there isn’t much glitter and glam over Fredagsbar.dk. It’s like your favourite pair of jeans – comfortable and unpretentious.
What do the regulars say?
Marcus Alexander Mejer Bjerremand, Anne Tietz and Michael Madsen (all Digital Design students):
“The bar is special because it’s small and intimate, and you always meet someone you know. Sometimes people from outside visit, but not that often. And that’s probably for the best, since we don’t really need more competition for the few available seats. Until 20:00, the atmosphere is usually like you see now, but then it gets crazy on the dancefloor and at the football tables – and you risk not remembering anything afterwards...”
What does the bar say?
Volunteer Samuel Bastiani Storm:
“Normally, we have a theme and make more of an effort with decoration than today. Today the theme is ‘Just PUB by’ – come down and have a beer before the exam revision period. In general, we try to create an atmosphere that can bring together the three degree programmes and compete with the DMJX bar (just across the street, ed.). We do the best we can for our guests, and I think we’re open to people from other degree programmes. In general, I think that’s the same for all Friday bars at AU, where many students also go on bar crawls to the different bars. The party usually gets wilder than it is now as the evening progresses.”
HOW WE WORK:
We send out two reviewers who start by hanging out in the bar for a while without making themselves known in order to get an impression of the atmosphere in the bar and the facilities.
As a Friday bar typically evolves from afternoon to evening, we make ourselves known and talk to guests and volunteers to get an impression of how the bar usually changes and what sort of mood the bar is hoping to achieve.
We don’t grade on a scale. The Friday bars at AU are very different, so it can be difficult to compare and judge using the same criteria. Instead, we summarise our review in plus and minus sections.
Translated by Theodor Cozart Madsen