Why Do We Call Sketchy Pubs “Dive Bars”?

If you’re in a tavern and find yourself surrounded by ripped upholstery, a stained counter, and dirty glasses, chances are you’re in a dive bar. As drinking establishments go, dives aren’t necessarily a bad thing: Some people enjoy the gloomy ambiance of a well-worn pub and its well-worn patrons.

But why do we refer to these lived-in spaces as dive bars?

1. The Origin of Dive Bar
2. What Makes a Dive Bar a Dive Bar
3. Is Dive Bar an Insult or a Compliment?

The Origin of Dive Bar

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, dive bar was preceded by dive, a colloquial term for “an illegal drinking-den, or other disreputable place of resort, often situated in a cellar, basement, or other half-concealed place, into which frequenters may ‘dive’ without observation.”

The term first saw print in 1871, when the New York Herald observed that a local bar was “one of the gayly decorated dives where young ladies ... dispense refreshments to thirsty souls.”

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Dive in this context took on two separate—but often related—meanings. One was literal: In order to gain entry to a dive, one must descend into a subterranean location the way an ocean explorer must dive into the depths. The other was more metaphorical; entering a dive meant lowering oneself into a less reputable area of society where vices like drinking, narcotics, and gambling prevailed. To dive implied that you’d sooner not be seen or recognized.

Because dive could refer to any number of seedy locations, it became necessary to distinguish them from one another. The OED dates dive bar, a “shabby, cheap, or disreputable bar,” to 1940, but printed mentions appeared long before that. In a 1902 edition of The Daily News out of Perth, Australia, a travel column featuring its author in London mentioned that “Australians who are not quite at the top of the finance go to the Fleapit, a dive-bar and billiard-room and restaurant ... ”

What Makes a Dive Bar a Dive Bar

Not all dive bars start out as dive bars. “Their first [life] is as a tavern, mom-and-pop shop, roadhouse, speakeasy, juke joint, nightclub, honky tonk, club, lounge, pub, beer hall, fern bar, gay bar, tiki joint, inn, or saloon,” wrote T.J. Flynn in Thrillist in 2016. “At some point in time, unforeseen circumstances lead to compromises in upkeep, inventory, and clientele. This can occur slowly or swiftly, but the consequences are lasting. Often it is the result of changes occurring in the neighborhood in which the bar is situated, but many a dive was borne of divorce, health crises, or legal judgments.”

Flynn’s additional criteria for a dive bar: no craft beers, no branded bar merchandise, no kitchen menu, and plenty of dirty windows.

In 2015, a (loosely) organized dive bar crawl in Syracuse, New York, offered some other parameters, as did citizens of Reno, Nevada, in 2025. A sampling:

Is Dive Bar an Insult or a Compliment?

Whether dive bar is a pejorative term or a compliment depends a lot on who’s using it and why. For some, dive bars conjure up images of a homey, unpretentious setting. For others, it’s like saying you might get stabbed.

The lack of pretense is usually the selling point. “It’s our view that today the term has mostly and rightly shed its negative connotations, and we take a flexible approach in part to avoid the exhausting semantics of it,” wrote Chris Drosner in Milwaukee Magazine in 2022. “A dive bar needn’t be lowbrow; it’s just a brow without judgment. A dive is natural, authentic, comfortable in its (usually wrinkled) skin ... And because people make a bar tick, not feeling judged is one of the things that really makes a great dive bar.”

For some, dive bar is a synonym for neighborhood bar—a place that doesn’t need any fancy décor or a particularly clean bathroom in order to attract customers. “A dive bar,” wrote the Staten Island Advance in 2019, “is a low-key neighborhood spot were locals gather to drink and socialize—often sipping on a simple selection of drinks. Dive bars are the beloved pubs and taverns that have operated within a community for years because they have their regulars and know how to keep it simple.” In this context, dive bar means “longevity.”

If a bar owner wants to cultivate a reputation for being a dive bar, however, they probably need to avoid calling themselves a dive bar. Opening Dave’s Dive does not automatically bestow dive status. That’s up to the customers.