Howard’s Club H

Yes, Howard’s is gross and dirty. But it is hands down my favorite bar in Bowling Green. It is the dive bar queen. It has also been a Bowling Green institution for at least 50 years. To the haters who snivel about how obscenely dirty it is– history lesson– it used to be across the street and according to local legend, had DIRT FLOORS.
The staff are some of the nicest people you can run across and the clientele is generally pretty awesome as only the bravest of undergrads will go in there. This is the bar that allows townies to keep their collective sanity during the school year. They get some amazing acts and, I won’t lie, some downright awful ones. But really, if you like meeting interesting folks, listening to great music, and having a great night– put up with the smelliest bathroom in Bowling Green and check it out!

«You’re a long way from home, yuppie boy. I’ll start a tab.» ~ Morris «Moe» Szyslak
It’s a local bar for the locals, which is fun to mesh with now and again. I’ve had good conversations with the bartender, the beer prices aren’t so bad, and there are colorful characters that periodically visit. That’s worth a stop for me. Sure, the bathrooms are a wreck and it could stand to be cleaned up a little, but I doubt that’s going to happen any time soon. Why harp on it?

This place is in my opinion the best dive bar in the country! I have had many a fun/​crazy night in this place! Live music and great people. besides my family it is my most missed part of BG

3.5 stars. A dive bar where you can rest assured you won’t run into any underage college students. The crowd tends to be locals and grad students.
As others have mentioned, it’s pretty grungy, like all good dive bars. There’s a bunch of picnic tables spread out and a couple of pool tables.
They often feature live music (usually a $ 5 cover). They don’t serve food, just beer, and not a huge selection.
Overall, not a bad place to grab a cheap beer but I much prefer the quieter, better-​beer selection Clazel across the street.

This is the first bar I ever went into when I started attending BGSU. In all honesty, I think it was the first bar I’d ever been into PERIOD. Yes, I led a sheltered life. However, this bar has inspired me to try dive bars all over the world. I love a bar where you can sit next to a college professor, and the person next to them drives the snow plow for the city. It’s unpretenious, cheap, fun, they used to have a good jukebox (it’s been a LONG time since I’ve been back!), and it was just fun. If you’re a fan of the dive, definitely check out Howards!

It ranks up there with the late CBGB’s in NYC .
All out music, unpretentious bathrooms and maneuvering room. It is the penultimate college rock bar.

I’ve been to this bar as many times as i’ve been to bowling green. Twice. That is two too many. I have to go there for a wedding this week and I really am glad we don’t have to partake in the drunken college student parade. I am way too old for that nonsense. The bar is rather spacious with ample seating. The drinks are cheap, the facilities not too awful (condom vending machine= classy) and the staff is nice enough. The bands are terrible! They want to charge you a $ 5 cover to see such crap as «the one-​armed one– man drum circle band» or «crotch rotting crotch». But sadly, this might be the only thing to do in BG besides get date raped at a frat house. Call me a dumb hippie, but i don’t think Athens, Ohio or even Kent are as pitiful as Bowling Green.

Howard’s is a filthy, nasty hole. There’s no getting around it. It’s quasi-​affectionately (and with some «yuck» factor thrown in) as «Howard’s Club Hell, and that nickname fits. For a place that depresses me to look at it every time I drive by, however, Howard’s brings in a surprising amount of really good local and national acts. I’ve often visited the «tours» page of a band that I love to find that they’ve decided to make Howard’s Club Hell in dinky Bowling Green, Ohio their Ohio destination. Don’t know how that happens, but it’s a good thing.

Filthiest bathrooms in America. Good place to see a friend’s band that you’re only half-​interested in. Many a night of debauchery and self-​abuse begins at Howard’s, the crucible of the Bowling Green rock scene, such as it is.