Our story

Some people know us as “Tulovo”, others as “The English Yard”, others still as “The Old Entrance”, or the cool little bar by BNT, or “The Wooden One”. What someone calls us depends on whether they first came to us in the 1990s, in the first decade of the new century, or in the last ten years. But for everyone, the bar remains a symbol of authentic, unpretentious city life. The name “Naklona”, meaning the slope and comes precisely from Tulovo Street, which is steep and “sloped.”

The bar is a true time capsule in the heart of Sofia, at 5 Tulovo Street. It opened its doors in the bitter winter of 1992, when there were almost no bars in the city. Three friends - Mitko, Vlado, and Rumen - began selling beer through the basement window of a building on the street sloping down toward the Canal. Gradually the little bar grew and became a gathering place for the bohemians and artists of the transition period in the country - from a communist regime to democracy and freedom.

In the 1990s, the bar was visited by Vasa Gancheva, Marius Kurkinski, musicians from “Akaga” and “Signal,” “FSB,” Vasko Krapkata, and dozens of other faces from the cultural and nightlife scene. At one point there was even a face-control policy at the door - a rarity for the time, comparable only to Sofia’s “Spartacus” club. Evenings before a party there often began with a drink at Naklona.

Naklona is one of the few establishments in Sofia that has not changed drastically since it’s foundation. The details are unique: lamps made from artillery shell casings; outdoor tables specially crafted for Naklona back in the ’90s; the wooden window frames, almost touching the pavement of Tulovo Street, one of the first espresso machines in the city and a rotary-dial telephone that still works - probably one of the last analog telephone lines in Bulgaria. The phone was once connected directly to BNT (Bulgarian National Television, situated across the street) and to the owners’ homes.

Photographs used to hang on the walls, and people whose faces are captured there - or their loved ones, or their first great love - often visit the bar. In this way, the fabric of Naklona remains forever woven into their life stories. To this day, the walls still show the regular characters from the bar’s old years, alongside the new faces that have joined them. In truth, within these walls l a history ives that is hard to tell without sitting down there and drinking a coffee in that authentic setting. Although it is below street level, when you look up, you see your own reflection in the glass ceiling - unique among Sofia establishments of the 1990s.

Until recently, the four-legged symbol of the Oborishte neighborhood also held court here - the dog Kiara. Today her memory lives on in a wall painting, where she is depicted as the bartender at her favorite spot.

Today the owners are Kalina, Alexandra, Marina, and Rosena - four women who met while working behind the bar and became friends. Kalina was the first to work there, having spent a large part of her life at Naklona. She used to go there as a child, when it was still her father’s “coffee place.” The summer she turned 16, she started working behind the bar as a bar back, and from then Naklona became an inseparable part of her story. A few years later, the sisters Sasha and Marina crossed the threshold one after another. Rosena came last, deciding to work at the bar after she accidentally noticed an old job posting still stuck to the coffee machine from the days when smoking was still allowed inside.

In 2019, when the previous owners decided to close the bar, the girls were devastated at the thought of losing their favorite place - the gathering spot for their circles of friends, their loves, the last refuge during difficult moments of growing up. They decided that Naklona had to go on, and took up the baton: the bar passed from the hands of one generation into those of another. Alexandra, Marina, Kalina, and Rosena founded a company, leased the premises, and symbolically each contributed 1 lev as capital. They were in their early twenties at the time and jumped into the deep end with no funding and without business experience. With their own hands and a great deal of enthusiasm - sandpaper, varnish, latex paint, and the support of relatives and friends - they renovated the bar, preserved its retro look, and opened a new chapter in its history. They managed to keep the old regulars while attracting new ones, who came to see them not merely as the bar’s proprietors, but as keepers of Sofia’s spirit.

The start of the pandemic proved to be a harsh trial - all the savings set aside for improvements were spent instead to keep the staff and the place afloat. Despite months of complete closure, Naklona survived!

The garden is a shady oasis where friendships are born, belote tournaments are organized, board games are played, literary readings and musical events are held, and art and activism initiatives take place - and for every book donated, Naklona treats you to a coffee. Every brick, every object on the walls tells a story - of the city, of the customers, and of the owners themselves. Today the bar is a counterpoint to flashy and expensive establishments, a place of counterculture and of people with civic conscience.