Pubs seem to think they're re-opening

[DrGreggles]

Going for a couple of beers this afternoon, then I'll be giving pubs a miss for a while.
Not sure how my one person garden bar will fair outside the summer months though.

[wooders1978]

I'm converting my conservatory to be more pub-esque - when I can be arsed of course which is probably never

[Blue Jam]

I always find the idea that someone who is lonely would go to spoons a bit baffling because the pubs seem purposefully designed to keep people in siloes. There's no 'local pub' experience where you could sit at the bar and and end up talking to a stranger, no conversations that span the pub that you could listen into and pipe up when you have something to say to involve yourself in the discussion etc.

My local is like that. Yesterday one of the regulars ordered in a load of sandwiches and put them in the bar and when I asked what we were celebrating he just said "The last day of pubs- for now". He just wanted to make it an occasion for everyone, and to give the staff a bit of a thank-you. That's the kind of place it is- and I really missed it during lockdown, and will miss it now.

I love chatting to randoms as well. Sometimes that doesn't work out too well (ie, that time I let a group of men sit at the empty seats and the first one was a clever and interesting linguistics postgrad but his mates were all rahs who wanted to talk Rugby Union) but more often than not I find people have hidden depths.

It helps that my local is right by a university campus and it's where a load of academics drink. You see a load of laptops in there, and you see a load of students with laptops at a certain pub round the corner. The students do their work in one pub and the teaching staff mark it in another, hahahaha. Seriously though, it's a good system.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

it'd actually be preferable to close them and offer financial support rather than leave them open

I also agree, sad though it is.

The hospitality industry is desperately trying to paint them as Covid-secure, but there's close to no such thing. A small room isn't immune from airborne or surface transmission just because you nominally seperate people and wipe tables.

[BlodwynPig]

Yeah, true. I guess these are the same sort of people who would go to libraries to read the papers just as something to do.

GET BACK TO WORK YOU GERIATRIC LAYABOUTS!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I always find the idea that someone who is lonely would go to spoons a bit baffling because the pubs seem purposefully designed to keep people in siloes. There's no 'local pub' experience where you could sit at the bar and and end up talking to a stranger, no conversations that span the pub that you could listen into and pipe up when you have something to say to involve yourself in the discussion etc.

Cheap as fuck and a lot of people are now trained out of interacting with strangers.

[dissolute ocelot]

Where's the evidence that pubs are a significant cause? The Government's Weekly COVID19 Surveillance report separates out food/restaurants (which are a major cause though much less than workplaces) but doesn't have pubs as a separate category as far as I can see. Saying 1 in 5 people with COVID had been to the pub is meaningless unless you know what percentage of people without COVID had been to the pub - lower, the same, higher?

Admittedly part of the problem is that you need to distinguish between things which are a moderate risk each time you do them but almost everybody does them and are hard to avoid/ban (e.g. shopping, work), and things which are high risk but fewer people do and wouldn't destroy the nation if you banned them (singing, playing contact sports). Do you ban the former, or the latter? Is the goal to ban the most dangerous activities, to reduce overall rates by whatever means are necessary, or to inconvenience the fewest people? Where do pubs fit in?

[El Unicornio, mang]

I always find the idea that someone who is lonely would go to spoons a bit baffling because the pubs seem purposefully designed to keep people in siloes. There's no 'local pub' experience where you could sit at the bar and and end up talking to a stranger, no conversations that span the pub that you could listen into and pipe up when you have something to say to involve yourself in the discussion etc.

I miss bars in America for this reason. They always have stools around the whole bar area and it's normal to go on your own and chat with the bar staff or whatever stranger is either side of you, or watch the 80s portable TV hanging up in the corner.* Made many bartender/stranger friends this way. British pub/bar culture seems entirely aimed towards groups standing around shouting. Even at traditional pubs, I'd feel odd sitting at the bar.

*the only downsides to this system is that it's a pain getting a drink when it's busy as you have to squeeze yourself between two people who are chatting to each other. Also if you go with an odd number of people one person is left not talking to anyone.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I go to pubs and sit at the bar loads. It's still pretty standard in smaller places that aren't also vehicles for getting people in and out while they knock out cheap food.

[phes]

That's how I use pubs and sadly the pandemic has moreorless destroyed that experience. I pick my locals based on the bar shape/size and whether they're conducive to sitting at and meeting people. My favourite local had a long, shallow U shaped bar with plenty of seating, so you could chat to people next to you or across from you on the arms at each end of the bar. I've lost count of the number of people I've met this way, locals, people who run shops in the street, work at nearby institutions, off duty bartenders from other locals, folks who've lived near the road for decades. It's where all the good social stuff happens and my heart sinks when I go into somewhere with good drinks but a dead bar ambience.

[beanheadmcginty]

or watch the 80s portable TV hanging up in the corner.

It must have been a while since you last went to a bar in America. Every single flat surface in those places is like the front window of Dixons these days. Giant 60" plasma screens everywhere you look, all showing a different sport programme, all with the contrast turned up to eye melting levels of colour.
I do agree though that it is very easy to walk into a bar in America and make friends with strangers.

[El Unicornio, mang]

It must have been a while since you last went to a bar in America.

I was there from '03-17 so I'm sure some have been updated, but the proper local dive bars (not the sports bars) with ripped pool tables and an antique shop's worth of bric-a-brac dotted around sometimes have them. I went to one in Chicago that was still putting VHS tapes of Robocop and kung fu films and whatnot on for the punters as late as 2017.

[Blue Jam]

I go to pubs and sit at the bar loads. It's still pretty standard in smaller places that aren't also vehicles for getting people in and out while they knock out cheap food.

A smaller pub near me does free hot pies on Saturday and Sunday, when the football is on.

I do not go to this pub.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I don't often, as I hate having to order through/over people but occasionally the bar area seems like the place to be. The prospect is one you can pick up on quickly after walking in.

[BlodwynPig]

The Bricklayer's Arms, Salford...you meet people there.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm fairly sure the St Louis bar at the end of Partick has gone bump. They were due to, and did refurb when lockdown hit, which made me think they would weather the worst of it as they were planned to be shut anyway. They reopened one weekend, it looked heaving as I passed it, then it shut again claiming they had technical problems, now their Facebook page has gone.

Spoke to the lady in the homebrew shop next-door to this when getting some supplies, it's only a temporary thing due to boring administrative reasons.

[Cloud]

I'd prefer some system where the bar that people gather at and the bar the people order at are different.  I can totally see the appeal of sitting at the bar, but it's really awkward trying to peer past people to see the pump clips and reaching for your pint etc.

[phes]

Most places build bars that are already too small (except a lot of cocktail bars) without dividing them. Presumably a lot of places will end up doing table service via apps even after this whole pandemic eases off

[Fambo Number Mive]

My local pub (a Greene King) has closed. I only ever went in there once but it's a big loss for the community, the only family friendly pub nearby with reasonable prices. Takes away one of the few meeting places in this area. If the Government had kept furlough going until we had a vaccine this wouldn't have happened.

[iamcoop]

Most places build bars that are already too small (except a lot of cocktail bars) without dividing them. Presumably a lot of places will end up doing table service via apps even after this whole pandemic eases off

Being a manager in a pub, this is my experience. Most people now love the idea of not having to fucking move for anything at all, bar going to the toilet. Even if there is a day where the option of walking up to the bar is available again, most people (in my experience at work at least) wont want to return to that and want everything delivered to them on a silver platter.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Not me, I'd rather get off my arse than install some bollocks pub chain app that's no doubt snaffling all sorts of data.

[ASFTSN]

Getting up and going to the bar is an essential way of gauging how pissed you are.

[Cloud]

They'll go straight back to bar service as soon as it's allowed at my local which is fine.  If it gets busy, they're very good at keeping track of the order of people turning up

If it's one of those places where the only people who can get served are the aggressive chads who push past and lean right over, I'm 100% using any app that's available.

[Icehaven]

Being a manager in a pub, this is my experience. Most people now love the idea of not having to fucking move for anything at all, bar going to the toilet. Even if there is a day where the option of walking up to the bar is available again, most people (in my experience at work at least) wont want to return to that and want everything delivered to them on a silver platter.

The silver platter is negotiable but would I prefer to order on an app and have my drinks brought to my table rather than stand at the bar being ignored for 15 minutes while some blokes even more pissed than me roar over my head, then when I finally get served have to carry the drinks across the pub trying not to drop them or trip over chairs or feet or children? Call me Karen but I think I'll stick with the app. Actually if they do invent a feature on the app that can go to the toilet for you too, that'd be great.

[Fr.Bigley]

The silver platter is negotiable but would I prefer to order on an app and have my drinks brought to my table rather than stand at the bar being ignored for 15 minutes while some blokes even more pissed than me roar over my head, then when I finally get served have to carry the drinks across the pub trying not to drop them or trip over chairs or feet or children? Think I'll stick with the app.

Just fart. People who fart take precedence in customer service terms I'm told.

[Cuellar]

Much prefer the European mode of going straight to a table and getting waited on. Can take a bit longer here, because staff aren't used to clocking who's come in, how long they've been sitting etc. But the local near me at the moment is pretty sharp - take order, bring pint and card machine, bosh.

Much better.

[BlodwynPig]

Much prefer the European mode of going straight to a table and getting waited on. Can take a bit longer here, because staff aren't used to clocking who's come in, how long they've been sitting etc. But the local near me at the moment is pretty sharp - take order, bring pint and card machine, bosh.

Much better.

Canada was great for this. Service with a smile (although as I got used to it, it was more a grimace as they had to put up with my wide-eyed fawning over this novelty).

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Can't stand table service. When choosing, I like being able to see what's there in straight in front of me for a start. Often things are there that aren't on menus, and looking around is more of a pleasure than trawling an old menu.

I don't like waiting for waiting staff to notice us, or waiting for the drink, and don't see the point for customer or bar of added back and forth. More interactions, more work, it slows everything down. I don't find it relaxing adding stages where you are reliant on someone else.

Even apps haven't always been reliable. Sometimes the drink doesn't arrive until the food.

Granted, this is worse in some countries than others.

Go up, ask for drink, get drink, pay for drink. Excellent. You know you're sorted.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Edit.. Dp

[Fr.Bigley]

Can't stand table service. When choosing, I like being able to see what's there in straight in front of me for a start. Often things are there that aren't on menus, and looking around is more of a pleasure than trawling a menu.

I don't like waiting for waiting staff to notice us, or waiting for the drink, and don't see the point for customer or bar of added back and forth. More interactions, more work, it slows everything down. I don't find it relaxing adding stages where you are reliant on someone else.

Even apps haven't always been reliable. Sometimes the drink doesn't arrive until the food.

Granted, this is worse in some countries than others.

Go up, ask for drink, get drink, pay for drink. Excellent. You know you're sorted.

Have you tried farting?