Lockinn
c/o Flickr
949 Grand St.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.302.0810
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Hours: Daily 3pm-4am
Subway: L to Grand St.
Food/Menu: No food available
Booze: Full bar
Happy Hour: Daily 3pm-8pm: $2.50 domestic bottles, $3 well drinks, $3.50 varying tap specials, $5 Long Island ice teas, and $1 off all other beer
Gothamist says:
A couple blocks from the Grand Avenue L station, Lock Inn is recognizable for not being an auto body shop or construction company- that and the oversized wrought iron key on the door. Inside, the keys are all over the place, hanging on the exposed brick wall, most notably near the chastity belt above the menu. The bar is comfortable and the tables built into the walls have Scrabble and chess boards encouraging people to linger, and when we visited there was a small child and a dog at the tables in addition to construction workers and students. In the back there is a good jukebox and a pool table, opposite pretty memorable bathrooms lined with crossword puzzles and lit by refurbished Jack Daniels bottles. Under the AC a heavy door leads to a large garden with tables, grape vines and, weather permitting, barbeque, a welcome addition to the bar snacks of barbeque potato chips, orange cheese doodles and microwave popcorn. Weekdays from 4-8, the happy hour gives patrons $2 house “just beer” (read: Bud Lite), $1 off every other beer making the most expensive choice $4. The bar has the usual suspects and other choices like Blackthorne cider in line with owner Lisa Buono’s Anglophile aesthetic (in the U.K. the bar’s name is a term for an after-hours location). Converted from a scooter shop, it is surprisingly easy to get comfortable at the bar and settle in.
The Village Voice says:
TAGS: Bars, Bushwick, Good for Groups, Grand, Happy Hour, Notable Beer, Notable Whiskey, Open Late, Recommended, ★★★★ GreatGetting to Lockinn was quite the trek. Sort of. One could easily take the L to the Grand stop and be there in a flash. Or they could forget the address at home, as we did, and rely on their dyslexic inner compass to lead them to 494 Grand Street instead of 949 Grand Street. Regardless, Lockinn was well worth the avoidably lengthy walk from Williamsburg. Will most non-locals make a special trip through the industrial ghost-town neighborhood just to check it out? Probably not. Is that the whole point of living in East Williamsburg? You bet. The name is a nod to owner Lisa Buono’s Newcastle, England, roots and the U.K. pub practice of locking up and sipping on past last call. Decorated with antique keys, a creepy chastity belt, and tables with built-in boards from rainy-day favorites like Scrabble and chess, the space is a good exercise in the subtlety of theme decor that lots of bars miss the boat on. Locals in Mets jerseys shot pool next to the dormant fireplace, while most of the action, thanks to a beautiful night, was happening in the tree-canopied back garden. Unfortunately the only table open was next to a group of obnoxious boys who, despite being well over 21, were acting like it was their first time ever drinking, one of them booming at one point “I love Chinese people!” and then singing the opening riff to the Vapors’ “Turning Japanese.” Our refreshing pint of white sangria, made of white wine, ginger ale, and peach slices ($5), was too good, though, to keep us from throwing it on him.
