4 ms·

A good irish bar is about the only place I can get people to go to where we can have a conversation in a booth with high wooden walls and not have our ears blee

A good irish bar is about the only place I can get people to go to where we can have a conversation in a booth with high wooden walls and not have our ears bleeding from loud music. The few irish bars that don't even do that are bound to fail. I don't really care if the bar is a premade transplant, as long as it fills that role well. I have long wished the US would learn to have more pubs in that booth style, geared towards good alcohol and conversation, rather than music. English, Irish, Scottish, the structure is far too few between. In the college town I am in I have thought a really cool bar would be a library/bar, designed for study groups, where you could bring a good non-fiction book and get a free drink or discount on one, and have an attached sleep-pod structure to encourage people to not drive drunk. Less sports bars, more intellectual bars...

Arizhel 10y ago
>I have long wished the US would learn to have more pubs in that booth style, geared towards good alcohol and conversation, rather than music. >Less sports bars, more intellectual bars... You're in the wrong country for that kind of thing. Americans don't like intellectualism. Just look at our elections.
- arca_vorago 10y ago
  I understand the frustration of the current state of things, but please don't write off 324 million people as all lacking intellectual traits. They are there, just far too hidden, with fewer places to congregate and not nearly as loud. Making fun of everyone for being ignorant is easy, putting effort into fostering the antithesis is much harder, but a more worthy cause.
- stephancoral 10y ago
  First off - are you like sixteen years old? You're writing off hundreds of millions of people. Many of the best universities in the world are located in, funded by, and populated with Americans. Americans in college towns probably tolerate or perhaps, yes, even like 'intellectualism'. A bar like that could very well become a community institution and reputable business. Have some perspective.
  - Arizhel 10y ago
    >Americans in college towns probably tolerate or perhaps, yes, even like 'intellectualism'. A bar like that could very well become a community institution and reputable business. The problem with that idea is that 1) college students don't have a whole lot of money to spend on establishments like that, and 2) the profitability of such places is poor, compared to places that serve a LOT of alcohol and don't require as much floor space. The cost per square foot of commercial real estate these days is very high, so it just isn't profitable to have an establishment where there's plenty of space (so it isn't a crowded, noisy din), people can spend lots of time relaxing, quietly socializing, working on their laptop, etc., and they don't have to spend a lot of money. It's why Starbucks are all small and crowded, and coffee shops that attempt to buck this don't do so well. You can't pay the rent easily when people have nice lounge chairs and camp out with their laptops and only buy a coffee drink and a small snack. By contrast, look at how bars and restaurants operate: bars serve high-priced alcoholic drinks and customers don't usually stay long, and are crowded. Restaurants are fairly crowded, serve high-priced meals and push hard to get you to buy high-priced alcoholic drinks, and are very pushy to get you out the door so they can clear the table for the next customer. >First off - are you like sixteen years old? I'm not even going to honor that insult with an answer.
techsupporter 10y ago
Oh yes, so much this. I can't drink but I like to go with friends and every bar seems to think that music cranked up to the level that would put a rock concert played by a jet engine to shame is the way to go. And I don't understand why.
- LoSboccacc 10y ago
  We used to go to some offhand pub outside the big templebar tourist traps and brothel dressed as club around st'stevens and well that was awesome everyone just dropping by to talk, share their story, hear your's - the furniture is about the least defining thing for the irish pub experience.
CalRobert 10y ago
Others have made this observation; you might be curious to see: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2014/02/bars_are_too_loud_and_caf_s_are_too_quiet_it_s_ruining_america.html http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2014/02/bars_a...

Arizhel 10y ago

>I have long wished the US would learn to have more pubs in that booth style, geared towards good alcohol and conversation, rather than music. >Less sports bars, more intellectual bars... You're in the wrong country for that kind of thing. Americans don't like intellectualism. Just look at our elections.

arca_vorago 10y ago
I understand the frustration of the current state of things, but please don't write off 324 million people as all lacking intellectual traits. They are there, just far too hidden, with fewer places to congregate and not nearly as loud. Making fun of everyone for being ignorant is easy, putting effort into fostering the antithesis is much harder, but a more worthy cause.
stephancoral 10y ago
First off - are you like sixteen years old? You're writing off hundreds of millions of people. Many of the best universities in the world are located in, funded by, and populated with Americans. Americans in college towns probably tolerate or perhaps, yes, even like 'intellectualism'. A bar like that could very well become a community institution and reputable business. Have some perspective.
- Arizhel 10y ago
  >Americans in college towns probably tolerate or perhaps, yes, even like 'intellectualism'. A bar like that could very well become a community institution and reputable business. The problem with that idea is that 1) college students don't have a whole lot of money to spend on establishments like that, and 2) the profitability of such places is poor, compared to places that serve a LOT of alcohol and don't require as much floor space. The cost per square foot of commercial real estate these days is very high, so it just isn't profitable to have an establishment where there's plenty of space (so it isn't a crowded, noisy din), people can spend lots of time relaxing, quietly socializing, working on their laptop, etc., and they don't have to spend a lot of money. It's why Starbucks are all small and crowded, and coffee shops that attempt to buck this don't do so well. You can't pay the rent easily when people have nice lounge chairs and camp out with their laptops and only buy a coffee drink and a small snack. By contrast, look at how bars and restaurants operate: bars serve high-priced alcoholic drinks and customers don't usually stay long, and are crowded. Restaurants are fairly crowded, serve high-priced meals and push hard to get you to buy high-priced alcoholic drinks, and are very pushy to get you out the door so they can clear the table for the next customer. >First off - are you like sixteen years old? I'm not even going to honor that insult with an answer.

techsupporter 10y ago

Oh yes, so much this. I can't drink but I like to go with friends and every bar seems to think that music cranked up to the level that would put a rock concert played by a jet engine to shame is the way to go. And I don't understand why.

LoSboccacc 10y ago
We used to go to some offhand pub outside the big templebar tourist traps and brothel dressed as club around st'stevens and well that was awesome everyone just dropping by to talk, share their story, hear your's - the furniture is about the least defining thing for the irish pub experience.

CalRobert 10y ago

Others have made this observation; you might be curious to see: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2014/02/bars_are_too_loud_and_caf_s_are_too_quiet_it_s_ruining_america.html http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2014/02/bars_a...