The Korova Milk Bar appears in the novel and film A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange is a 1962 dystopian novella by Anthony Burgess. The novel contains an experiment in language: the characters often use an argot called "Nadsat", derived from Russian....

by Anthony Burgess

Anthony Burgess

John Burgess Wilson  – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works...

. It is a twisted version of a milk bar

Milk bar

Milk bar is a term in some parts of Australia for suburban local shops or general stores. They are known as tuck shops, delicatessens or delis in South Australia and Western Australia, and as corner stores in Queensland and New South Wales...

.

The bar serves milk laced with drugs. The protagonist and narrator Alex

Alex (A Clockwork Orange)

Alex is a fictional character in Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange and the film adaptation, in which he is played by Malcolm McDowell. In this film adaption, Alex's surname is DeLarge, in relation to Alex's reference to himself as "Alexander the Large" in the novel. This, in itself, is an...

 lists some of the (fictitious) ingredients one can request: vellocet (opiate

Opiate

In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic opioid alkaloids found as natural products in the opium poppy plant.-Overview:Opiates are so named because they are constituents or derivatives of constituents found in opium, which is processed from the latex sap of the opium poppy,...

), synthemesc (synthetic mescaline

Mescaline

Mescaline or 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class used mainly as an entheogen....

s), drencrom (adrenochrome

Adrenochrome

Adrenochrome, chemical formula C9H9NO3, is a pigment obtained by the oxidation of adrenaline . The derivative carbazochrome is a hemostatic medication.-Chemistry:...

). For another ingredient he uses the phrase (drink the milk) "with knives in it," as it "would sharpen you up". By serving milk (instead of alcohol), the bar is able to serve intoxicating libations to minors. In the film, the bar has furniture in the shape of naked women and the milk is served from their nipples.

Other uses

There was a bar in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

's East Village

East Village, Manhattan

The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...

 named the Korova Milk Bar styled after the bar in the film. The bar closed in October 2006 but served as a gathering site for the city's goth, punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, industrial

Industrial music

Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...

, metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

, hardcore

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

, and fetish

Sexual fetishism

Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g...

 subcultures for many years. In September 2007, the bar re-opened in White Plains, New York

White Plains, New York

White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...

.

A bar also recently opened in Toronto, Canada called the Korova Milk Bar. It does not bear any resemblance to the bar in the movie or book but shares the same name.

Korova

Korova (Liverpool)

Korova is a bar, music venue and restaurant located on Hope Street, Liverpool, England. Before moving to its current premises, it was located on Fleet Street close to Concert Square...

 is also the name of a bar and music venue in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, founded by members of the band Ladytron

Ladytron

Ladytron are an English electronic band formed in 1999 in Liverpool, Merseyside. The group consists of Helen Marnie , Mira Aroyo , Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu .Their sound blends electropop with New Wave and shoegazing elements. Ladytron described their sound as "electronic pop"...

. The earlier Liverpool band Echo & the Bunnymen

Echo & the Bunnymen

Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...

 were also signed to a record label of that name.

A club in Melbourne, Australia, also shares the name Korova Milk Bar and is a haven for Minimal/Tech Electro.

There is also a bar named Korova on St. Laurent, in Montreal, Canada, along with another one in Ferrara

Ferrara

Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...

, Italy, with another bar and Music Venue in San Antonio, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

.

At Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, there is a student run coffee shop and live music venue named The Korouva Milk Bar. The difference in spelling is intentional and it bears little resemblance to the original.

In Popular Culture

• The rapper Cage, who is heavily influenced by the novel, references the bar in his song "Agent Orange".
• The band Blur used the bar as the setting for the song "The Universal".
• Rob Zombie uses the bar in his video for "Never Gonna Stop (The Red Red Kroovy)"