Still is common, most bars have their regulars
Did it really used to be common for guys to go to a bar every night like in Cheers or The Simpsons?
Submitted 13 hours ago by pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Comments
Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
saltesc@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Yeah. Few times a week I go to mine to chat with all the locals over two or three beers then head home. It’s a nice way to wind down, be out, and socialise at a really low intensity. No organising is needed, just arrive and there’ll be someone there you know.
That was kind of the point of pubs (public house). A place for the community to meet up in any weather and have a good time together whether games, sharing stories, or having a meal. The smaller the town, the friendlier and more tight the patrons are too. Also great places to frequent when travelling, meeting new locals, getting great travel advice, making friends for the few days you’re there.
Grass@sh.itjust.works 3 hours ago
Some of the older old dudes I’ve worked with used to. I actually convinced one of the avocado toast whiners he was wrong based on bar cost now and back in his day
SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 13 hours ago
Idk how common it was but it’s a good example of a “third place”. A spot that isn’t work or home where you can meet and socialize
Chronographs@lemmy.zip 12 hours ago
I wish we could have third places that don’t involve fucking up your body.
litchralee@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
Even with NA (low/non-alcoholic) beverages, it’d be nice to have third places that don’t come with an obligation to spend money.
To be clear, I’m not asking for places that ban spending money, but there are third places like parks (eg NYC Central Park) that are destinations in their own right, but one can also spend money there, such as buying stuff and having a picnic on the grass, or bringing board games and meeting up with friends. Or strolling the grounds astride rental e-bikes. Or free yoga.
Where there’s an open space, people make use of it. But we don’t really have much of that in the USA, that isn’t tied up as a parking lot, an open-space preserve (where people shouldn’t tred upon to protect wildlife), or are beyond reasonable distances (eg BLM land in the middle of Nevada).
Cevilia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 hours ago
Public libraries are great third places. Larger ones often have classes, groups, and social clubs. And you’ll meet like-minded people just by becoming a regular.
usrtrv@sh.itjust.works 6 hours ago
Hacker/makerspace
skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
Honestly I’m cool with fucking up my body to have a good time, I just wish it didn’t cost me $200 for the privelege.
Okokimup@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Check your library. They do all kinds of activities.
Nastybutler@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
For the non religious, that’s where clubs like the Shriners, or Lions come in. Social clubs that don’t revolve entirely around alcohol
Usernamealreadyinuse@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Your local gym? CrossFit box? Football/soccer club? Community centre? Library? Outdoor? Scouts?
danc4498@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
May I introduce you to your lord and savior Jesus Christ? He’s got a third place for you.
danc4498@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
I’ve never heard of a concept of a third place. Seems like everybody should have one.
TachyonTele@piefed.social 13 hours ago
It still is. There’s bars like that in every town.
MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 4 hours ago
Yes, and it’s still pretty common.
AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 hours ago
Umm, I’m in my 40s and I do… 😬
Granted it isn’t like Cheers, I just need the change of scenery since I work from home 10-20 hours a day.
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
I work from home 10-20 hours a day.
That’s fair. Drinking at one’s workplace is usually frowned upon anyway.
ohshit604@sh.itjust.works 1 hour ago
usually, upper management go for their hour and a half long launches and come back blitzed.
Flames5123@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
I’m an outlier because I live in a walkable neighborhood in a city. But I have 10 breweries within walking distance around my house. I know the owners by name for 2 of these breweries and the bartenders know me for 4 of them. I think they all know my dog.
I usually go with my wife and/or girlfriend about 2-4 days a week, but it’s still very much a hang out.
We’re also Friday regulars to a semi-close bar every Friday because I won a free beer/week for a year in a $25 raffle!
thatradomguy@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
I usually go with my wife and/or girlfriend
image of hold up meme person with both hands in front of torso
Ok, sorry. I just wanted to post that finally. Also, I was remembering that one clip that always gets put in compilations about that guy and his wife and her bf. Anyway, carry on.
Flames5123@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
Being polyam in Seattle is great. All of my coworkers know I’m poly and just accept it. All the bartenders know too. Makes it easy for them to start the tab.
Pencilnoob@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I live in a tiny NE college town where that happens but for breakfast at a dive coffeeshop. It’s loud, packed, the food and coffee are meh, but every single day I can walk in there and see 5-10 locals eating breakfast and shooting the breeze. There’s cliques who always sit together, and social butterflies who pick a different group every morning. A bottomless mug of coffee is $3, so folks will just come and hang out from like 8-11am. It’s great fun.
There’s a brewery next door that’s often busy at night but generally it’s a quiet town so folks are home chilling after dinner.
merc@sh.itjust.works 6 hours ago
I like that in the US, New England (NE) is in the North East (NE).
RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Could be Nebraska.
pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 10 hours ago
That sounds awesome.
Pencilnoob@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
It really is the dream
Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 13 hours ago
Yes, my dad was one of them. I haven’t gone to a bar for years but it used to be most smaller bars had at least a few regulars that basically lived there. I remember one old vet that used to show up every day as soon as the bar would open for his daily fix… It got to the point the bar refused to serve him, so he would try and get unsuspecting customers to buy them for him. (This was in the 70’s and 80’s, there were (or at least seemed to be) a lot more alcoholics back then.
OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
I remember stories from my dad about a guy he knew where the bar maid would have to help him with the first drink in the morning because his hands would shake so much.
The romantic history of the happy drunk is almost entirely fictional. I say almost because I know a few people who are able to take it or leave it, but for the most part the people I know/knew who were drinking either in bunches or daily end up complete and unabridged alcoholics, whether they are active and in serious trouble or have sought help and straightened up, but cannot touch it.
HuskerNation@lemmynsfw.com 11 hours ago
I’m one of the rare happy drunks. Don’t drink often, I’m an extremely quiet person usually. But get a few beers in me and my wife says I won’t shut up but she also says it’s the only time she gets to talk to me. I don’t know why, I can’t hold a conversation when I’m sober. Never know what to talk about, my work life is boring so nothing interesting ever happens.
When I have a few, it’s likeeverything just starts coming out.
pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 12 hours ago
Yeah, I wouldn’t want to spend that much everyday, I’ll just have some beers at home for 1/5th the price
snooggums@piefed.world 9 hours ago
The extra price was so they weren't drinking alone, or to avoid going home.
HuskerNation@lemmynsfw.com 11 hours ago
I’ve never been a big drinker but I have a few places around me where beer is $3. And the actual place my wife and I go if we do feel like drinking is our local VFW. I can get a 24 oz frosty on tap for like 2.50. and a jack and coke for 3. Last time we went out drinking spent like $30 total and we were both drunk
pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 10 hours ago
Damn - I’m in Seattle and it’s rare to find $6 drafts anymore.
troed@fedia.io 12 hours ago
Did this (Mon-Sat) together with a few friends and colleagues in my late 20s. We were regulars to the point of the cook always making something off menu more fitting for regular dinner, as well as no need to settle the bill every night. Once a month everything was tallied up.
Good times. Had to stop though since I found myself going through the fridge on a Sunday once looking for some alcohol.
gdog05@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Had to stop though since I found myself going through the fridge on a Sunday once looking for some alcohol.
I had a similar experience except I’d open the fridge before work and instinctively grab a beer or start to grab one before I realized I was just there for creamer.
PillowTalk420@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
It’s fairly common right now, too.
Psythik@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
How can anyone afford to go to bars anymore? Drinking at home is much cheaper.
dil@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
any area with bars has a cheaper bar usually, my main college bar was hella cheap, always had a deal everyday, most nearby bars had deals once a week or specials for locally brewed stuff that was a lot cheaper than buying it elsewhere. I could black out easily off 50$ vs sf which is like 2 one shot drinks maybe for that amount
474D@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
Get buzzed first then go out and coast with a few drinks
LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
It’s technically considered depression & alcoholism to drink alone in one’s house.
Most people use alcohol to unwind & socialize so they do it in social environments.
OhmsLawn@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
Still do?
I don’t drink anymore, but yeah. Those people you see in dive bars are often daily customers.
pdqcp@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 hours ago
Yup, it used to be a lot more common, Not Just Bikes has a great video on this subject too and how our car dependency made most of them disappear:
The Great Places Erased by Suburbia (the Third Place)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvdQ381K5xg
non YT yewtu.be/watch?v=VvdQ381K5xgfriend_of_satan@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
For folks who like this theme, there is lemmy.world/c/fuckcars
foodandart@lemmy.zip 13 hours ago
Yeah. My husband went out to the pub 6 nights a week. He’s no longer drinking - quit last year - finally! (I quit in 2009)
Seriously, alcohol is overrated.
the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I worked in a bar for a few years and I saw the same people everyday. They would even come in on holidays if the bar was open. Some of them would blow their whole paycheck, I always thought it was kinda sad.
merc@sh.itjust.works 6 hours ago
In the show Clarkson’s Farm, Jeremy Clarkson is looking around, trying to buy a pub. At one point they talk about wanting to have a pub with a little grocery store attached. Clarkson’s girlfriend explained why that was common at one point in Ireland. It was because in the past men would get paid, go immediately to the pub, and drink until their paycheck was gone. If there was a shop attached to the pub, they could hand in an order at the shop before they started drinking. And then, even if they drank away the rest of their paycheck, they’d still be handed a bag of groceries before they were kicked out and had to stumble home.
trashcroissant@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 hours ago
I had the same experience and did feel badly for them as well. For a lot of them (especially middle aged men in my experience), they just seemed very lonely. I miss a lot of those regulars, they were generally good people.
TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 12 hours ago
beer used to be cheaper
adespoton@lemmy.ca 7 hours ago
And bars/pubs used to be fine with the regulars hanging out in the corner, only buying a pitcher of beer each per night.
YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH@infosec.pub 12 hours ago
When I was younger I did this and it was the best part of my life. Having a place to go where everyone was welcome was very nice
Drusas@fedia.io 12 hours ago
Did everybody know your name?
Damage@slrpnk.net 12 hours ago
and they were always glad you came
Rentlar@lemmy.ca 13 hours ago
Yes, and in some places especially small towns, it is for some people, since it’s the main hangout spot (3rd place) in town.
Though I don’t think young people do that as much, “regulars” tend to mean 1-3 times a week. My university had a bar that had a “ritual” where Friday afternoons it would be a completely full house.
Pumafred9@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
Yes, and it still is to certain folk.
I think with sugar and alcohol taxes, a lot of establishments had to change to survive.
Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
Europeans are pretty active on this mater. I’m always amaze by how much people go to bistro bin France and Belgium. I think this applies to pub in England too. In Quebec, I think it was morr common in the 60, 70 and earlier and fade away with the importance TV and later the Internet took in people’s home. Now when I go back to some small cities that use to have pretty active downtowns in the late 90s and 200Os, it’s absolutely dead. The only bars that survive have a crowd of people in their 40s and more. It use be full of young people, but now I guess they just "flix and chill’…
axexrx@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
I used to, up until the last couple years, when I stopped bartending. I still get most of my drinks for free though! And i still have a couple different groups of friends im all but gauranteed to find one of to hand out with.
Fondots@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Around 10-15 years ago I worked in a pizzeria with a little sports bar. We had more than a couple people who were there almost every day.
I still stop by there once in a while, and without fail I run into at least one of those old regulars every time.
YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca 12 hours ago
I worked in a couple of pubs in england back in the 90s and there were definitely regulars that would come in every weekend night and quite often, some week nights.
MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I currently have 2 great microbreweries near my work. So, I alternate nights, but, very much a regular at both.
FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com 11 hours ago
One of the only things I miss from somewhere I used to live was my local bar
It was a minute walk from my front door
It was a little hub for the community. My dogs loved it and it was a fantastic place to socialise
I wasn’t there every day, but a couple of times a week wasn’t unusual
notsosure@sh.itjust.works 11 hours ago
I never did and none of the other men and women in my family neither.
slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 1 hour ago
I watched a documentary about “bar culture” in the 60es and 70es where i live. Shit was pretty wild. Dudes talked about going to the bar like people talk about video games these days. “Oh yeah, on a good week i’m here 40 to 48 hours” what doesn your wife think about it? “She’s not excited, but you know…”