Pyrates Sports Bar

Nic Pittman

Dive in! It's a private bar. Gonna cost you a couple bucks to sign up. But if ya know ya know. Private bars are the way to go....if those are your people. And if not, well they won't miss ya.

Christie Mack

First time there. Didn't even know this place existed. Great experience, friendly staff and patrons? Will go back.

Shayla Scott

Love this place. I've only ever been here 2 times but it's pretty cool. Love the karaoke machine, get to listen to my music when I drink. Will be going back.

Interwebs Reviewer

On a Friday evening, I stopped in at Pyrates on Manchester Road with a few girlfriends to check out the local nightlife, have a few drinks, play some pool, and dance. Even with a decent-sized crowd, the bartenders were attentive and didn't take long to serve drinks, and the waitresses would periodically check on you if you weren't sitting at the bar. It seems like the staff were operating well. We noticed a table set up with a hot-dog warming machine and nachos as snack food that people were sampling, but we did not. It seems we arrived a few minutes before a decent crowd arrived. We got drinks and started playing pool. As time went on, and more people arrived, we noticed that people were smoking both cigarettes and cigars in the bar. Within a few minutes, there was literally a thick, heavy cloud of smoke spread throughout the entire bar that hung from the ceiling to about 6 feet off the floor. With all of us being non-smokers, my girlfriends and I literally started to choke from the heavy cloud of smoke. Being very health-conscious about second-hand smoke, We quickly finished our drinks, gathered our things, and exited. Upon exiting, we noticed that we all smelled horribly of cigarette and cigar smoke. It was on our clothes, our skin, and in our hair. At that point we cancelled our girls night out, and drove our girlfriend's SUV back to her house where we had all met up. We stripped our clothes off in the garage, and threw everything in our girlfriend's washing machine. Each of us had to immediately take a shower just to get the smell off our skin and out of our hair. Luckily our girlfriend's house has two full bathrooms. We had planned on staying the night at our girlfriend's house anyway, so we had pajamas and other clothes to wear. We wound up having to run our clothes through the washing machine twice with added floral scent to get the smell out. In the morning, my girlfriend had to take her SUV to get fully cleaned, vacuumed, and scented to remove the horrible smell of smoke. It was so bad she had to drive with the windows down, sunroof open, and a plastic lawn bag over her seat to minimize getting the smell on her clothes a second time. If you are a non-smoker, or are concerned about a cloud of second-hand smoke, I would steer clear of Pyrates. The smoke is literally thick enough to choke on. I don't believe this bar qualifies as a cigar bar or any other exemption to where indoor smoking is permitted under North Carolina law. I'm sure that their smoking policy is going to cost them a fair amount of business and revenue from non-smokers that would have gone there to have a drink and play pool. If you are a heavy smoker, and enjoy being engulfed in a cloud of second-hand smoke that hangs throughout the entire bar, and having that smell in your hair, on your skin and on your clothes, then this is the place for you. It's totally possible that is the demographic that Pyrates is trying to attract. Since most other places are in compliance with North Carolina state law and do not permit indoor smoking, perhaps Pyrates is trying to establish itself as a niche bar for heavy smokers by violating the law. As of January 2, 2010, restaurants and bars in North Carolina and many lodging establishments were required to be smoke-free, thanks to S.L 2009-27 (G. S. 130A-496), otherwise known as North Carolina’s Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars Law.