Bar Struts

About

Bar Struts is a cocktail bar on Fleminginkatu in Kallio. It calls itself a very queer cocktail bar, run by the queers, for the queers and friends. The room is small, dark and heavily decorated: chandeliers, a golden ostrich, and what the bar bills as the smallest cabaret stage in Helsinki.

The drinks list runs to cocktails and a long list of mocktails alongside wine and beer, with weekly specials. The bar also does bartending and cocktail workshops for private events.

Most of what happens here is programmed. Karaoke, drink and draw, queer speed dating, an open mic writers' night, a queer folk jam, drag and sing-alongs, and cabaret nights on that small stage. Entry to most of them is free.

The bar is open about its accessibility and says plainly that the space is not accessible. There is a 15 cm step at the door, the doorway is 81 cm wide, and the corridor to the toilet is 70 cm with a tight turn. Guests can use the accessible toilet at Bar 10, a few doors up at Fleminginkatu 10. A small terrace by the window opens in summer, and the bar says it is negotiating with the city for a ramp to the larger terrace.