Entrepreneurs open Prague's first alcohol-free bar, Sober Bar

Entrepreneurs Tobiáš Pikart and Ondřej Midlár have opened Sober Bar in Prague, near Náměstí Míru — the first bar in Czechia with a menu consisting entirely of alcohol-free drinks: beer, wine and cocktails. They had been nursing the idea for seven years, waiting until Czech consumers were ready for this kind of format.

The new bar has taken over the premises of a former Czech Post branch on Italská street — where for decades people stood in queues, there is now a space for “quality meetings,” with wood paneling and a modern interior. While alcohol-free versions of drinks have long been available at many bars, this is the first venue in Czechia fully dedicated to the concept — similar bars appeared in the West as far back as ten years ago.

“Tobiáš and I had been carrying this idea around in our heads for at least seven years, but for a long time we weren't sure the Czech mentality was ready for it. I think opening an alcohol-free bar is a bit like what opening a vegan restaurant was a few years ago,” says Ondřej Midlár, who runs the venue's day-to-day operations.

According to the founders, the moment has ripened thanks to two factors. First, lifestyles are changing — not drinking is becoming “cool,” especially among young people. Statistics from the Czech Union of Brewers and Maltsters confirm this: consumption and production of regular beer are falling, while non-alcoholic beer keeps growing steadily and already accounts for up to 10% of brewery output. A similar trend applies to wine and spirits.

Second, the quality of alcohol-free drinks has improved significantly thanks to producers investing in new technologies. “In the past, many non-alcoholic spirits were made by maceration; today, perfumery-style extraction, reverse osmosis and other methods have become standard. Just in the past two years, while we were renovating the space, the culture of alcohol-free drinks has advanced incredibly,” explains Tobiáš Pikart.

Thanks to that, the shelves above the bar are now stocked with alcohol-free gin, rum, tequila and other spirits, as well as alcohol-free wines, including sparkling ones. In-house and guest bartenders will use them to make cocktails — the venue deliberately avoids the word “mocktail,” considering it “needlessly dismissive.”

Ondřej Midlár has run two bars in Prague's Nusle district for several years — that is where his partnership with Pikart, who works in IT and has spent many years in real estate, began. One of their joint projects is what led the partners to the idea of Sober Bar. “I don't drink myself anymore. As someone from the food and beverage business, I unfortunately have plenty of experience with what alcohol can do to a person. I've seen regulars whose lives were ruined by drinking,” Midlár admits, explaining one of his personal motivations for launching the project.