What most of us really want to know about unfamiliar bars is how we'll feel once we're inside them. And that's something that it's almost impossible to discover online. Or at least it has been until now. By literally providing you; the headphone listener, with a surrogate pair of ears, we're able to offer a visceral sneak-peak; a preview of the way you're likely to feel in each of the bars on our map. So find a quiet spot, don a pair of headphones, and check out the vibe at some of these spots.

Interesting things happen in bars, and they're places where story-telling traditions thrive, even in an age of relentless e-bonhomie. Click on a jumping flag to hear a user-story. Or post your own. You can both record your story, and send it to us, without ever leaving your smartphone. And if your story concerns a bar that we haven't recorded yet, please submit it anyway. If we like it enough, we'll create a new entry to put it (and you) on the map.   

Cities have incredibly dense social ecologies, but most of the worlds upon worlds that swirl around us here remain unfamiliar to us, and that's a shame. Take advantage of the unparalleled access that bars provide to the world(s) beyond your personal pale. Use this site -and the cities bars- to take in the sweep of society, to see contemporary Manhattan as Charles Dickens might have...