The exterior of the building has clearly seen some renovation over the years, fresh paint and new brickwork among the improvements, but the sign helps keep the look divey. Next door’s classic orange backdrop, black lettering sign for the Pasty Shack helps as well. Inside, all of that curb appeals pays off with the kind of wood paneled comfort that can only come from a good dive bar. The open space is divided into a drinking half and a gaming half, a long bar running the length of the space just inside the front door. A better-than-dive-bar draft selection complements liquor bottle shelving with enough room for the usual suspects.
Because of the chrome taps and glass bottles, the Christmas light strings that snake through the bottles and along most of Club 2 Me’s walls have plenty to reflect off of. Even the fresh look of the fans above the bar creates another surface of reflection that all told creates a dazzling display by dive bar standards of green lights, polished surfaces and beer handles. A dash of bar neon above the taps doesn’t hurt and while it might seem a little like overkill to extol the virtues of twinkling lights in a dive bar, the promise of the neon outside is more than satisfyingly paid off by the lively display indoors.
The balance of the space is devoted to the gaming half of the dive bar’s footprint that includes a pool table and shuffleboard table. New carpet can be found on this side of the room but the wood paneling keeps the look divey along with a classic set of mirrored beer signs and framed photos. Golden Tee and an electronic dart board can be found in this same area of the bar, but it should be mentioned that Club 2 Me is not the type of dive bar that crams everything into a small set of square footage. There is some space here and it provides room for enough seating to feel like even at busy times there’s still a chance at a conversation.
