Brooklyn’s best affordable venues

Despite sounding like the haunt of a particularly conspicuous child snatcher, Pete’s Candy Store is actually a charming neighborhood live music venue. Opened in 1999, Pete’s occupies the building at 709 Lorimer Street in Brooklyn, originally a 1920’s general store, of which the facade remains.

The historical pedigree goes beyond the material, too: the list of past performers reads like the Spotify playlist of a girl who is probably definitely too hot and too cool for you: Loudon Wainwright III, Sharon Van Etten, Josephine Foster, and Beth Orton have all graced the claret red stage walls of Pete’s Candy Store.

Despite the litany of incredible names, Pete’s Candy Store retains an aura of affordability that is all too rare in NYC these days. We’re talking a very stomachable $18-20 per person for a 2-hour open bar buyout.

As the world's first LEED Certified bowling alley, music venue, and event space, Brooklyn Bowl poses a few key questions to the humble event planner with an aversion to financial stability. Namely - what the hell is a LEED certificate? Well, it means Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. You’re welcome.

Brooklyn Bowl brings the joy of throwing heavy balls at less heavy pins to the old industrial quarter between Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The events space is huge, with a large menu of options. Importantly – everything is underpinned by a progressive energy policy which sees 100% of its energy come from wind sources and a menu that reduces food and plastic waste. All this for $30pp sounds like a steal to us.

Brooklyn’s one and only shuffleboard bar and club does exactly what it says on the box: gets you drunk while you slide (or shuffle?) weighted pucks across a highly varnished board. This simple pastime is given the Texas treatment, by expanding the game across 120 courts, supporting 128 quarterly league teams, all fed by a rotating roster of 18 food trucks.

For private hire, you can expect to pay $20-35/hr for a maximum of 100 guests, with food coming in at extra. Considering all you get, this one is a great crowd-pleaser for activity events on a shoestring budget in Brooklyn.