Nellie's Sports Bar

About this place Nellie's Sports Bar

Nellie's Sports Bar opened in 2007 and has become one of the most beloved gay venues in Washington DC — a gay sports bar with a rooftop deck, regular drag shows, and a genuinely diverse crowd that makes it one of the most inclusive spaces in the city's LGBTQ+ nightlife. The concept — gay sports bar — sounds like a contradiction, but Nellie's has made it work by understanding that the sports bar format (multiple screens, affordable food and drink, space for groups, long hours) is perfectly suited to the social needs of a gay community that does not want every night out to be a nightclub experience. Sports screenings run alongside drag shows; the rooftop is packed on summer evenings; the happy hour is one of the best deals in the U Street Corridor. The U Street location places Nellie's in one of DC's most historically significant neighbourhoods — the cultural heart of the city's African American community for most of the twentieth century — and the bar's crowd reflects the diversity of the area. Nellie's is probably the most racially diverse major gay bar in Washington DC, a distinction that matters in a city where the gay scene has historically been more segregated than its politics. During Capital Pride, Nellie's is a central gathering point on the U Street end of the celebrations.