2 Triangle dive bars among best in US, report says. See the full list
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- Huckberry's 2025 list includes two Triangle dive bars among top 50 in the U.S.
- Durham's Green Room earns honors for vintage pool hall charm and local roots.
- Chapel Hill’s The Kraken gains national praise for community and live music.
The dive is the most cherished tier of drinking establishment, an honorific reserved for the darkened rooms and swiveling stools of some of the most iconic bars in existence.
Two Triangle spots have been named among the nation’s very best dive bars. This month, lifestyle site Huckberry published a list of its 50 Best Dive Bars in America, including iconic Durham dive The Green Room and rural Orange County honky tonk The Kraken.
Read the full list of Huckberry’s 50 best dive bars at huckberry.com/journal/posts/50-best-dive-bars-in-america.
The Green Room
1108 Broad Street, Durham
The Green Room is best known as the pool hall in Bull Durham, where Kevin Costner, sad and sipping on Jim Beam, laments a concluded baseball career. The film actually captured the Green Room when it was on the other side of Broad Street. It has been in its present location since 1992, moved by then-owner Joel Wilson. Current owner Michael Dearing took it over in 2006.
Today it remains a busy pool hall, opening only in the evenings, a dark cavernous room lit only by neon and the lamps above the tables. The drink list is beer only, with a glass cooler of cans and bottles. The bell clangs when drinkers tip well on their out of this perfect Durham time capsule.
“As Durham’s grittiness becomes more varnished with the rise of each new condo development, like it or not, the ten pool tables of The Green Room have remained the same since the late 1950s,” Durham photographer Kate Medley tells Huckberry in a blurb.
The Kraken
2823 NC HWY 54, Chapel Hill
Way out in rural Orange County is the Triangle’s best roadhouse bar. Part honky tonk, part country dive, The Kraken is a destination for live music and good times. Situated 15 minutes outside of Chapel Hill, no one makes it to The Kraken by accident, a vibe that’s helped create a loyal community of regulars and admirers. In the midst of the 2020 pandemic, which hit bars like The Kraken particularly hard, a crowdfunding campaign raised more than $25,000 to help support staff members and pay utility bills.
First opened in 2010, The Kraken is today owned by Jody Kidney, who bought the bar in 2015. Named for a mythic sea creature, The Kraken has its tentacles wrapped around the hearts of anyone who darkens its door.
“It feels otherworldly, like it suddenly spawned from the depths, yet also like it’s been there forever,” Raleigh Denim founder Victor Lytvinenko said in a blurb.
The Burger Bar
Beyond the Triangle, Asheville spot The Burger Bar was also included in the list. Despite the name it serves no burgers, only drinks in the hip West Asheville neighborhood.
This story was originally published August 12, 2025 at 4:28 PM with the headline "2 Triangle dive bars among best in US, report says. See the full list."
