West End Trading Company

No Sanfording experience is complete without stopping in arguably the best dive bar in Sanford. Amazing drink specials, with 4 hours of happy hour EVERY night make this a must on any Sanfording experience.

Fun place full of locals. Enjoyed the large selection of craft beers on tap. There are beer pong tables in the entry way if you’re into that. Lots of people were playing.
This bar has two sides and a middle area. There is a small concert venue on one side, a small entranceway bar area with cool murals above. Everything looks sort of unfinished, but I liked that. The larger bar area, on the other side of the place has small tabes and booths. I understand there is food served here, but I’ve only been in for hanging out and drinks. There are three bathrooms, ladies, men’s, and a co-​ed bathroom. Surprisingly, the co-​ed one is the cleanest. The entryway has a vending machine with funny things like Advil, beef jerky, chips, and just random other things you might desperately need after a long night of drink indulgence. By the way, it smelled really smokey inside, so just warning anyone if they can’t tolerate that. I didn’t see people smoking inside, I think it was coming from the large crowds of people hanging out by both entryways.
I really liked his place and the staff behind the bar and servers were so on it when it came to making sure you were well taken care of. Would come back again and hope to catch some shows here.

My husband and I went to West End for a concert, which was touted as being smoke-​free. Inside the first room, I was immediately greeted by a dog, someones dog, that wasn’t leashed, and eventually got all the way inside. It was so smoky in the bar that I immediately felt bad for all of the animals trapped inside. Onto the second room, more smoke. Into the very overpriced concert, with one sign outside the last room and one sign inside stating «No Smoking’. And enter the concert area where people are smoking everywhere. (Did I mention I’m allergic to smoke?) The concert was to start at 6, 4 bands, so since it was 8, we left and went down the street to another bar (non-​smoking!) and had a drink. Came back at 9, still not the band we were there to see, so we went to another bar (non-​smoking!) and had a drink. Came back again and yet another band was setting up, but we decided to wait it out… until 10:45 when the final band finally went on. The sound for the first few bands was so loud and the treble was turned up way too loud it was annoying… couldn’t hear anything those bands sang. Luckily, the got it right for the headline act.
Security walked through several times and would tell 1 person there was no smoking, but walk right past the 5 others smoking without saying a word. I guess he tried? Just don’t go expecting to have clean air. Would have loved to have gotten our money back for the concert, but since that was a no-​go, we tried to tough it out for the show and only stayed for the first few songs because I was sick and miserable by then.

Great beer selection. Great prices for happy hour. Plenty of daily specials and live music. The food especially the wings are delicious! Fun place to hang out with friends.

As a person in business, I am very disappointed in your establishment! Went to west end tonight! I took my European family with me! Needless to say because of the English barrier and foreign valid Id they were discriminated against! This is very upsetting and we will be filing an official compliant with the proper channels! The staff needs to be properly trained on foreign identification. The problem was that he showed his id numerous times to the same bartender. (Because he had ordered drinks from her during our time there) He asked why they needed the Ids so many times when he has already ordered drinks. She took that as disrespectful Bc of the language barrier and he was told to leave. He asked numerous times why??? It is absolutely understandable to identify a customer, however to discriminate because someone is from Finland! They actually play basketball and you can google them both! Please get your staff trained properly to avoid further confusion! Sanford is growing and expanding! It’s becoming nationally known and should be able to accommodate all guest! Thanks

It was alright. Cool ideas around the place but kind of run down. I went on Thursday so it wasn’t to impressive

Came here for drinks while alive after five was winding down. Great lemon drops, and the bartenders are great.
It turned out to be a good place for groups, and they didn’t mind is pushing a few tables around so everyone could sit together.

Probably the coolest place in Sanford! Walked in and I was in love. Tons of craft beers! The one wall is covered in cool a Sweet Water Brewing Co. mural. I said I was from out of state and wanted the most local beer the had and the dude was super awesome and helped me find one I would like. I ended up with Orlando Brewing Company’s Uncle Matts Grapefruit Ale. Super delicious!
Also everyday they have a happy hour buy one get one for free anything on tap. I am in love. Also this bar is dog friendly!

West End is a dive bar located in the historic downtown Sanford area. I never venture into Sanford, really, but I met some friends here and was surprised at how popular this bar is!
Showed up Saturday around 4pm and by 6pm the place was packed. I believe there was a band about to play in the back room (they have a lot of shows here). Bartenders are very friendly and there is a very good selection of beers on tap. I had a Fat Tire, Pacifico, Blue Point, and Woodchuck — all on draft.
Happy hour is the way to go — 2-​for-​1 beers at prices that will not break your bank. (8 decent-​sized draft beers for under 20 bucks)
I didn’t have any of the food, really, but my friends gave it good marks. If you are in Sanford and looking for a good dive bar, this is the place.

Good place for happy hour. Trivia on Wednesdays is fun. Large beer selection. Salsa wings were good… lemon pepper wings were really salty. Fun place and cheap food.

We came to get a bite during pints and paws. It was packed, they have cheap bar food and plenty of craft beer. We had boneless wings and fries that were tasty and I had a corn dog because I haven’t had one in years. A nice dive in Sanford.

Sux. The bartenders are rude as hell. I can buy a beer in a lot of places in downtown Sanford. Why would I give these idiots my money?

Do you one BOGO beer? Live music? Generally divey atmosphere? Then check out West End. I’ve been here a few times for shows and drinking, and I’ll say that the drinking aspect is really the only reason to go. As mentioned, it’s often that you can Buy One Get One Free at this establishment, but that doesn’t hide the terrible music aspect.
This is actually 3 buildings in one, but the average goer would really only spend time at the bar. There’s a very nice stage area in the back, but too often they have some crappy ska wannabe playing at the front, where they serve the beer. What does this mean? Well heck! I’m not gonna go pay more money for some band I don’t know, if Ska4.5 is playing near beer!
Again, this is a dive with cheap craft beer. Just don’t expect much more than that.

And just when I thought that there isn’t anything to do in Sanford, I stumbled across this bar, in downtown Sanford of all places! I used to go out to downtown Orlando every time I thought night life, but this gem is where all the kids in Sanford have been hanging out at.
Great beer selection, a really chill vibe, and a ton of people from my high school go here! I finally found something to do in Sanford!

The food is good, the owner is awesome, the staff is great. The place is always filled with two things, though: smoke and drunken frat boys. Hope you like Sublime.

Nice bar located in Downtown Sanford near 1^st street.
This is not a small bar with three different rooms and two bars but the place was packed when I came here after Alive after 5.
Service was pretty slow but once we got one to serve us after waiting prob 10 – 15 minutes around.
The only reason I ended up here with my gf was because I got two cards for shots at this place, this was my first time and the place is old but inside it is decorated with posters and the have several TV’s inside and even hade a trivia game that day.
The drinks we got were good and the lady behind the counter was nice and friendly bit she was drinking and looked pretty waisted.
Lots of alcohol to choose from and even pool table to play. Plenty of seating inside and out side.
Support local business!

I stopped in with some friends on Saturday night while doing a downtown Sanford pub crawl. It was very low key, no live music on this night.
I hate this place when they have live music for several reasons. The large room where the stage is set up is a hole — dark, dingy, SMELLY, last visit it wreaked of vomit… The acoustics in the stage room are awful, you can never hear the actual music, just loud noise. They also only have 1 bathroom per gender. Put 200 people in a venue with 1 toilet per gender, it gets really nasty really quick.
However, on this particular night no live band = low key and tolerable atmosphere. My friends and I sat at the bar, bar tenders were super friendly and somewhat entertaining. We ordered some lite bites to help with the home stretch of our evening. I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich (easy enough). My friends ordered a wrap with some fries. The wrap came out within about 5 minutes. My grilled cheese took almost 20 minutes to come out. Go figure.
Not a bad place, just don’t’ expect to be comfortable or catered to if there is live music/​a crowd.

This place is FILLED with smoke, and the service is pretty iffy. But other than that, there aren’t any real downsides. Their beer is really cheap. They have really great live music from local bands, which is pretty cool to see them support local artists. The acoustics aren’t too great, as the music reverberates off the walls at about 1,000 decibels, but at least it’s great music. The food is surprisingly good for bar food, and it’s cheap too. You have to order it at the bar, but then they bring it to you when it’s ready. Happy hour on all beer every day until nine.

Food? I have no clue but I totally dig the fact that this joint supports local music and I went for the local band showcase. The bartenders were uniformly friendly and knew their beers. The event staff seemed to have much enthusiasm and the guy working the door was hilarious. It was your typically bar. It smelled like you typically bar but the scene was pretty cool. I plan to come back and check out some more bands indeedy!

Well this place is kind of a mixed bag. Service is just okay, in that you have to go up to one of the two bars and get drinks yourself and order food, although they will then bring the food to your table. The food is actually pretty decent too, for basic bar food. The beer selection is pretty good, especially for the area. The live music and the side where the bands play is a great space. Overall, I thought the place had decent food, good beer and a great vibe. The two reggae bands we saw last Friday were both excellent and worth going to see again. So if you are on the North end of town and looking for live jams and a kind of funky vibe check it out. Oh, another positive, happy hour with ALL drinks and beer two for one until nine! And, one other negative, they do allow smoking, which is kind of nasty, but it is a big place and I didn’t have too hard a time just keeping my distance.