pubs
What people want:
- a nice conversation with their friends
- a lovely alcoholic beveredge of their choice, served in the right glass, at the right temperature and accompanied by their favourite kind of nut/chip/olive/tapas
- their favourite music playing in the background
- comfy chairs
- safety and no fine for drunken driving
- a clean toilet
Where to get it: at home.

Instead, people seems to prefer pubs to fulfill the above-mentioned needs, yet this is what they get:

- a semi-dark room filled with smoke and other undefined but horrible smells
- either badly served foamless beer or sour wine in a glass that still has the previous girls lipstick on it
- a ruined voice and ears due to a failed attempt at conversation over the loud and obnoxious music.
- wobbly barstools
- the risk of ending up either dead (because some drunk crashed into your car) or fined (for drunken driving), or both (in case you drunkenly fell off a wobbly barstool)
- peanuts that have been in closer contact with the toilet than you'd ever want to be yourself.

Seriously, can someone please explain me what is so good about pubs that you'd be willing to put up with all that for?
(Poezestrepe, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 14:56, 18 replies)

Sky Sports on the big screen
and the possibility of free bar mats, pint glasses, and stools to kit out my flat.
( SpankyHanky, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 14:57, closed)

mats
maids
( IHaveABadFeelingAboutThis most likely working from home on, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 15:25, closed)

OLIVES!? TAPAS!?
YOU'RE DOING PUBS WRONG.

There may be drunk people in pubs. They may wobble into you. Pubs are not for eating Spanish food in. There may be music playing. The smoking ban means they're not smoky for cancer dodgers. if you don't like that, drink at home.
(Alphabet Soap boshboshboshbosh, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 15:01, closed)

"if you don't like that, drink at home."
Exactly. Thank you for pointing out exactly what I said in my original post.
(Poezestrepe, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 16:02, closed)

That's me told.
Sorry, bit tipsy - pub lunch.

You honestly think drinking at home in front of the tv is better than the pub? they're not all Yates' you know...

*mind explodes*
(Alphabet Soap boshboshboshbosh, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 16:06, closed)

I never mentioned drinking in front of the tv...
I said that I prefer to invite my friends over to my place to have a drink and a chat, rather than do so in a pub.

Meanwhile my 'local' (if you can call it so since I visit it maybe 5 times a year, but never mind) is indeed a very nice pub by all standards, certainly not as horrible as the examples I gave in my original post.
(Poezestrepe, Sat 17 Oct 2009, 10:19, closed)

Pubs. You're doing it wrong
I don't know which pubs you are going to (or indeed the last time you went to one as there has been a smoking ban for quite some time). But there are pubs all over the place that are far nicer than the ones you describe!
(TeabagSalad Never teabag a troll, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 15:04, closed)

I reckon we are already stood on opposite sides of the fence on this one, but I'll give it a go.
They are one of the few places in town (more importantly) villages were people can meet socialise and generally relax.

Pubs are important. In a time when more and more people are staying in at home watching telly, internetting and only heading out to go to work Mon - through till Fri, there are communities where people don't know their own neighbours let alone anyone else on the street. Pubs allow nay force you to be more community minded like it or not. Unless you are on some manic drinking mission, or are such an obnoxious tit, You WILL end up talking to people there, you will meet people who live nearby, you will then recognise these people in the street on other days and you never know you might even say hello….

The one I drink in has 3 old boys all in their late 80s all widowed they still come out for 2 pints a night, a game of dominoes and a natter with the locals (young and old). They will tell you that their evening jaunt, is the one thing that has kept the 3 of them sane over the years. And if one of them fails to turn up for whatever reason, people will ask why, and if no reason can be found someone will drop round by the house to make sure they are ok.

Given the descriptions you give I reckon you’ve been in some fairly shonky establish But why not look round to see if you can find a decent real ale pub near by. Go in have a pint enjoy the smoke free air, and chat to someone, then you might realise the pubs are important.

Edit: I just realised that I have never considered wobbly a barstool to be the end of the world? Usually they are good for the comdey value when someone drops off it through the night!
( The magic of chutney Shakes it like an Instagram filter!, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 15:08, closed)

Do you live in Coronation Street?
Or Albert Square?
(Bear Pookie The Frankly Challenged. Halloween is coming to town., Fri 16 Oct 2009, 15:39, closed)

nope, Ambridge
Next to the Grundy's ;)
Seriously though, while It might come across as a bit twee, out here in back woods Lincolnshire, the village pub is still an important bit of village life and communities really do take a hit when one closes.
( The magic of chutney Shakes it like an Instagram filter!, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 15:45, closed)

Agreed
Sadly, out of the three in our village there's only one left.

...and of course the moment the other two went out of business, the one left put it's prices up to stupid amounts, then got rid of the carpet and plays the jukebox at stupid volume so no-one can hear themselves think let alone have a conversation.

A sad, sorry state of affairs.

All that leaves is getting pissed at home on your own and going to work 9-5 monday to friday.

Oh joy.
(dchurch bah, Sat 17 Oct 2009, 11:29, closed)

no need for a fence
I'm not against pubs, they do indeed serve a lot of good purposes (the social cohesion for one thing, as you mention). I'm just saying that for me personally, a pub is not the best place for drinking, seeing friends, meeting new people or getting to know the people who live in my neighbourhoud.
Perhaps is has to do with the area in which one lives, but I still know my neighbours, we say hello, even have real conversations, and if something were wrong with one of them, I'd know without going to a pub for it.

What surprises me is the fact people so heavily defend pubs, it seems like you MUST spend time in them, lest you become a social paria. There are a lot of people who love and need pubs, but I'm not one of them, which is why I very rarely visit one.
(Poezestrepe, Sat 17 Oct 2009, 10:52, closed)

^All these^
But, a pub which actually cleans it's lines out is a rare pub these days it seems. I drink at home because I don't like feeling ill after one pint!
( Blind Meach Cautiously optimistic, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 15:09, closed)

who drives to the pub?
Are you a 'Merkin?
( IHaveABadFeelingAboutThis most likely working from home on, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 15:26, closed)

The only important thing is the beer
...the rest of the pub could be on fire for all I care, and I'll piss into a hole in the ground if I have to.

I used to drink in a pub in Walsall that had a leaking pipe onto the floor and no lights in the gents. It was awesome.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 15:52, closed)

I'd love to have
a smoke filled pub.

My local smells of wee and B.O. since the smoking ban
(manwiddicombe is thinking of something witty to add here, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 16:18, closed)

This!

( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Sat 17 Oct 2009, 1:35, closed)

come to Belgium then
The smoking ban only applies to restaurants/bars/pubs/... if they also serve food. Whish means the smoke still masks all other foul smells. :-)
(Poezestrepe, Sat 17 Oct 2009, 10:23, closed)