I spend a fair bit of time up my local, drinking beer and sometimes eating there too. Being a country pub, it's usually pretty quiet. We don't seem to attract the youngsters here. The thing is, one pub has already had to close down and I just can't see how my local makes any money. It's only a small Island, and if my local closed down the next pub is beyond staggering distance. I think the government should give these community centers some kind of tax break until the economy picks up and people have more money to spend. After all, they're not an 'ordinary' business. I enjoy pub culture, and have made quite a few friends there. Are you a pub person, and if so what is it about your pub you like? Is it making any money?
Sometimes things happen that you cannot do anything about. When a place like where you live has a problem with the amount of people having a place to go to drink perhaps it is do to people leaving, people not making enough to drink or other circumstances that can and do happen to every small town as well as large communities.
As a musician I play in bars (we don't call them pubs in America) and I often go see my friends' bands play. Other than that I don't hang out in bars very often, but still that takes me into one about once a week. I can't imagine living within walking distance of a bar. That could only happen in a place like Manhattan or San Francisco, unless you deliberately make that a priority when you decide where to live. Or on a university campus, they're always surrounded by them. The closest one to my house is a mile and a half (2km). Yeah okay, that's walkable and I even did it once when my car wasn't running, but most Americans won't consider walking that far to go anywhere. We're car lovers. Especially on a winter night when it's 23 degrees (-5C). I'm not a big alcohol enthusiast so I never have more than two beers and I don't have to worry about getting home on the roads. Most of the bars I'm familiar with from (I or my friends) performing there are managed terribly. They usually turn over every couple of years and start over. A good band is a great way to get people to come in, but most of them are unwilling to shell out the money to advertise and some of them treat the bands so badly that we often get fed up and refuse to come back. Like most Americans I meet my friends at the office, but my best friend is actually someone I met in a bar when we both came to see the band. I knew the singer and the drummer from the office and she worked with the bassist's wife.
I'm lucky I guess that my local is only 15 minutes away by foot. I had a couple of pints in there yesterday and a lovely big juicy steak. I used to live next-door to a pub but that made it a bit too easy so just slip in of an evening. Usually I go on my bike, so am limited to two pints, I don't need a DUI on my licence. They have a quiz night every thursday, a couple of pool tables and a great open fire blazing away. They also have a curry night once a week. I can even take my dog in when they stop serving food.
I'm a ten minute walk from my pub, and it makes money hand over fist. It attracts a great cross section of patrons. Young and old, rich and not so rich.The place is jammed from 4:30 to 7:30 Monday to Friday as people stop in after work. Lawyers, doctors college profs and other white collar professionals rub elbows with painters, plumbers and other tradespeople. The students drift in and out all evening, and others in the neighbourhood stop by. Besides being one of the locals, I'm also part of the theatre contingent,who will find any excuse to have a pint or six. Friday nights is band night, and it's packed with youngish singles. The east wall of the pub sits on the very edge of a riverbank. We like to sit at the big table in front of the window on that side and watch the water flow past. It's a fine place.
The area I live in (DFW Metroplex) doesn't have pubs. We have bars, but that's not really the same thing. Being a musician, I do find myself in bars every now and then either playing or listening to friends play. But I seldom just go to hang out. However, when I go to Ireland I love to find a cozy little pub and soak in the music and the Guinness. The food's usually pretty good too.
I live in Dallas too...my local hangout is a pub (The Cock and Bull in Lakewood)...or at least the representation of an Irish pub. (It was founded by an Irishman who wanted a pub like back home) There's a couple down on lower Greenville too. One nice thing about Lakewood is there is no less than 6 bars within walking distance...plus several locally owned restaurants. I love this area.
I live in the general vicinity of Music Row and Hillsboro village in Nashville Tennessee. I'm surrounded by a plethora of bars - 7 of which are roughly 1 block away from my house. Actually ... make that 6 bars and one really awesome taproom.
i'd say the pubs/bars around me are doing just fine. they cater for all.. they have one side for the "tradies", where you can get cheap pub grub, sit on wooden stools and drink a pint or two, TAB for the punters, and on the other side, its' a little more trendy and up market, with a bistro & beer garden. One side has more character, the other side has more class.. i like to float between the two.. and i tend to float there often..
This is the stuff that stuff is made of! Music, beer, toffs, hoi-polloi, the lot. I'm getting a real flavour of pub culture all over now. This is just what I was looking for..
I'm on the other end of the Trinity in Ft Worth... But now that I think about it, we do have the Bull & Bush. It's very pub-like, unfortunately it's not within stumbling distance of home.
