With the passing year, after 28 years, the pub U Buldoka is closing. Following the closure of Újezd club, this is another major loss not only for the social life of Smíchov but for the whole of Prague. Both venues were among my favorites during the years I lived in the city. I started going to Buldok practically right after it opened in 1997. We regularly gathered there with our group of friends; many of us celebrated birthdays there, and later even the births of our children. Often the evening continued with a move to Újezd, where the party carried on until the early morning hours.
With the beginning of our fan friendship between Bohemka and St. Pauli, we introduced this pub to our Hamburg friends from the St. Pauli Skinheads, who immediately loved it. Even many years later, when they visited Prague with their families, goulash and Pilsner beer at Buldok were always part of their itinerary. The genius loci of this place was shaped over the years by the guests themselves. Until the very end, a poster I hung more than twenty years ago still hung at the regulars’ table. On the wooden paneling were hundreds of postcards, football scarves from countless European clubs, signed jerseys of world champions and Olympic winners, even a boat suspended from the ceiling. Athletes were frequent guests—you could meet ice hockey world champions, top‑league footballers, canoeists, rowers, or basketball players.
Not only during the golden era of the USK Praha basketball club at the turn of the millennium, but also in later years, we experienced unforgettable parties there together with the players. And once, a Finnish bodybuilder even mopped the floor with me because I looked at him the wrong way. I used to call Buldok the “shadow FAČR” (Czech Football Association), because some transfers or scandals were known there earlier than at the football federation itself. Buldok was simply a venue that, over the course of its existence, became one of Prague’s pub legends.
That’s life. Something ends and something new begins. Owner Pavel has decided to open a new Buldok, which will welcome guests on December 1, 2025. You will find it right next to his other pub U Rarášků at Mikulandská 7. I am convinced that he will succeed in creating a place with the same great atmosphere as he did during those 28 years on the other bank of the Vltava.
You can come to say goodbye to the old Buldok for the last time on Friday, November 28. The all‑day feast starts at 10:00.