Madrid, New Mexico · Founded 1947 · Building: 1947
Madrid's 1947 rebuilt mining-town tavern, known for its 40-foot bar, live entertainment, and a publicly promoted haunted reputation.
The Mine Shaft Tavern is the 1947 successor to an earlier Madrid company-town tavern that sources date to around 1895 and say burned on Christmas Day 1944. Located on the Turquoise Trail, the current building preserves the physical language of Madrid's coal-mining era, including its famous 40-foot stand-up bar. The tavern remains an operating restaurant and bar, while its older predecessor and current-building histories should not be treated as identical.
The Mine Shaft Tavern's published history dates Madrid's original company-town tavern to around this year.
Source: Mine Shaft Tavern, "Tavern/Cantina" history page
The earlier Madrid tavern reportedly burned down on Christmas Day.
Source: Mine Shaft Tavern, "Tavern/Cantina" history page; SantaFe.com, "A Short History of The Mine Shaft Tavern," February 5, 2025
The current Mine Shaft Tavern building was completed after the fire that destroyed the earlier tavern.
Source: Mine Shaft Tavern, "Tavern/Cantina" history page; SantaFe.com, "A Short History of The Mine Shaft Tavern," February 5, 2025
Most Madrid coal mines closed during the 1950s, after which the community became known as a ghost town for roughly two decades.
Source: Mine Shaft Tavern, "Tavern/Cantina" history page; SantaFe.com, "A Short History of The Mine Shaft Tavern," February 5, 2025
The Mine Shaft Tavern says the movie Wild Hogs was filmed in Madrid and that the film's biker bar was based on the tavern.
Source: Mine Shaft Tavern, "Stories" page
The Mine Shaft Tavern's official website listed regular restaurant and tavern hours at 2846 State Hwy 14 in Madrid.
Source: Mine Shaft Tavern official website, accessed August 2026
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The tavern publicly describes its 40-foot lodgepole-pine bar as the longest stand-up bar in New Mexico and says it was designed for miners who had spent the day hunched over underground. SantaFe.com repeats the 40-foot mining-era account, but no independently verified architectural measurement, construction record, or statewide comparison was located in this review.
The tavern and regional travel accounts document that it has a haunted reputation and describe reported falling glasses, swinging doors, unexplained sounds, moved furniture, and photo orbs. Those reports establish a reputation and the business's folklore, not the occurrence or paranormal cause of the events.
Mine Shaft Tavern states that Wild Hogs was filmed in Madrid and that the movie's biker bar was based on the tavern. The reviewed sources do not independently confirm that interior or exterior scenes were filmed at this specific building, so venue-level filming should not be asserted.
The tavern makes this county-level claim, but the reviewed evidence does not establish a complete operating timeline for the 1890s predecessor and its 1947 successor, nor does it compare all relevant Santa Fe County tavern claimants. The 1944 fire and 1947 rebuild make continuity and business identity especially important to verify.
The current Mine Shaft Tavern has been open in the same building since Madrid's nineteenth-century boomtown era.
Madrid's earlier company-town tavern reportedly began around 1895 but burned on Christmas Day 1944. The current Mine Shaft Tavern building was completed in 1947.
Source: Mine Shaft Tavern, "Tavern/Cantina" history page; SantaFe.com, "A Short History of The Mine Shaft Tavern," February 5, 2025
Wild Hogs filmed interior and exterior scenes at The Mine Shaft Tavern.
The tavern states that Wild Hogs filmed in Madrid and that its biker bar was based on Mine Shaft Tavern. The reviewed material did not independently verify Mine Shaft Tavern itself as an interior or exterior filming location.
Source: Mine Shaft Tavern, "Stories" page; Giggster, "Wild Hogs Filming Locations: Complete Guide to New Mexico Sites"
The Mine Shaft Tavern's 40-foot counter is conclusively documented as New Mexico's longest bar.
The 40-foot lodgepole-pine bar and statewide-superlative description are prominent local and business claims, but no independently verified measurement or statewide comparative record was located in this review.
Source: Mine Shaft Tavern, "Tavern/Cantina" history page; SantaFe.com, "A Short History of The Mine Shaft Tavern," February 5, 2025
Mine Shaft Tavern survived because Madrid's mining history became part of the town's identity after the mines declined. The rebuilt 1947 tavern offered a tangible link to the company-town era, then became part of Madrid's later arts, tourism, music, and road-trip culture. Its endurance depends less on an unbroken nineteenth-century business claim than on the continuing appeal of a mining-town gathering place on New Mexico's Turquoise Trail.
The current Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid opened in 1947 after an earlier company-town tavern, reportedly established around 1895, burned on Christmas Day 1944. The rebuilt tavern served a coal-mining community whose mines mostly closed in the 1950s. It later became part of Madrid's identity as a Turquoise Trail destination for visitors, music, food, and local history.
No, The Mine Shaft Tavern should not be called New Mexico's oldest bar. The current building was completed in 1947, although it succeeded an earlier Madrid tavern reportedly dating to around 1895. The record reviewed does not establish that the predecessor and current building form a single uninterrupted business lineage, and no statewide oldest-bar comparison was completed.
No reliable earliest written report of the Mine Shaft Tavern's haunted reputation was located in this review. The tavern currently promotes stories of falling glasses, moving furniture, strange sounds, swinging doors, and photo orbs, while regional travel accounts repeat the reputation. Those sources document that the folklore exists, but not when it first began or whether any paranormal event occurred.
The Mine Shaft Tavern says Wild Hogs was filmed in Madrid and that the movie's biker bar was based on the tavern. That does not confirm that a scene was filmed inside or outside Mine Shaft Tavern itself. The reviewed filming-location material identifies Madrid locations but did not verify this building as a production site.
The Mine Shaft Tavern describes its main counter as a 40-foot lodgepole-pine stand-up bar built for coal miners. The tavern and a local history article say the design let miners stand after working bent over in the mines. Its exact original construction details and statewide 'longest bar' ranking remain unverified.
2846 State Hwy 14, Madrid, NM 87010
(505) 473-0743
The tavern’s website lists food and drink service daily, with later hours on Friday and Saturday. Confirm current hours, live-music schedules, reservations, and museum access directly before visiting.