The thing is, pubs are not just places to get drunk.
In many small towns they are the only place to get a meal that is not fast food without cooking it yourself. Even in larger towns they can have the best food.
They’re where you go to play darts, sing karaoke, play trivia.
They’re where you go to meet people to talk to - and no, not just people you might want to hook up with. When I was in college, regular department lunches, students and professors alike, happened…in the back room of a nearby pub. We’d get pies, one beer, and discuss the stuff we didn’t get to in class.
Pubs are places where the bartender knows your name, and where exchanges like “We’re out.” “I’ll have the other one.” are fully understood. Seriously, some people will walk into their “local” and their drink will be poured and on the bar before they get to it.
Yes, there’s alcohol, and absolutely some people go to the pub to get drunk. But a pub is not the same thing as a bar.
Pubs fall into the “third space” that is neither home nor work. In America, we had this little thing happen called Prohibition.
Alcohol became something you had to sneak.
A place to get a drink became a place to get a drink. It was the speakeasy. It was the den of vice.
The role of the pub was taken over by the coffee house.
So, Americans, don’t think of the British pub as a sports bar (where you go to watch a game), or as a regular bar (where you go to get drunk), or a bar and grill (a restaurant with good beer).
Think of it as a coffee shop that sells alcohol. As that vital third place.
And then you might understand why Britain has so many of them. (Britain does have coffee shops too, mind, but they don’t get turned into the third place in the same way as here, although Costa still way beats Starbucks).
(This is your PSA from the person who has lived in both countries).
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