Ponq is a cafe, bar and community centre on Hrnčiarska, the craft alley in the old town, a few minutes from Hlavná and the railway station. It opened in August 2025 in a former carpenter's house, and the name comes from ponk, the Slovak word for a carpenter's bench, with a q added for queer.
The building was the Hoblina gallery before this, and the art side of it stayed. There is a studio running courses and exhibitions, and a programme of talks and DJ nights. Specialty coffee and local beer are the mainstays at the bar, there is a bistro doing sandwiches and burgers, and the courtyard garden is where most people sit in warm weather.
It is run by the association Saplinq together with the team behind PRIDE Košice, and the profits go to Prizma, their counselling centre for LGBTI+ people a few streets away on Hlavná. The city's older gay bars and saunas have closed, so this is now the main queer address in eastern Slovakia, and it is an ordinary cafe the rest of the time.
