DIVINE Bar is a wine bar, cafe and stage on Viehofer Straße in the middle of Essen, and the address for drag in the city. It opened in spring 2024 in a corner unit that had previously been a pub and a wig shop.
The programme is what makes it: drag shows and drag brunches, wine tastings, burlesque evenings, bingo, poetry slams and karaoke. Alongside the wine there are coffee and small dishes.
The bar describes itself as a meeting place for drag, travesty and queer culture, and it is open to everyone rather than to a gay crowd only. It drew enough attention in its first year that the city's mayor came by.
