Advice and opinions: opening a pub

In My Humble Opinion
41

This sounds marvelous. I personally really enjoy these kind of bars (even though I’m a young male :eek: )

I might also suggest, along the game line, either a pinnball machine or a “classic” arcade game. Something the “older” clientel can enjoy, like Centipede or Pacman.

Also, very now and then have a Dope Night. :smiley:

42

Here’s a bar for sale that I found while browsing eBay. Could give you some ideas what to put in your place.

43

Funny, the hubby mentioned Centipede last night. I want pinball.

About the stereotyping I’ve been doing: You all DO know that I am making generalizations for the sake of convenience and not actually trying to keep all younger males out of the place, right?

As for Dope nights - I definitely want to do this, but as matt_mcl noted in another thread (I’m not digging up a link, it’s not that important) some people hear the word “dope” and think ALL the wrong things! We’d have to put “SDMB Night” on our sign or something. There are a couple other sites I visit regularly, and I’d love to “host” their get-togethers too.

Jeff Olson - Man, I wish that bar you linked was local to us. We’d snap that puppy up in a heartbeat. It sounds very much like what we’re trying to put together.

44

Galaga, definitely Galaga. It appeals to EVERYONE (generalzation based on my bias).

45

A huge list of hard to find beers on tap, refrence material, shuffle board sounds like my kinda place. Toss in a trival pursuit board and you would have to pry me outta the place at closing time. make sure you have a dictionary also (unabridged plz).

46

All the best bars have a gimmick (well, not ALL of them, but it is usually a safe bet). Based on what you like and the suggestions you’ve had so far, this is what I picture:

  • Homey type atmosphere with two or three pool tables (with plenty of clearance).
  • Get a few televisions, but use them for NTN trivia. Encourage people to play.
  • A few video games and pinball machines (oh yes, pinball, mmmm). Make sure you find a good operator who takes care of their stuff, even if it costs a few bucks more. Definitely throw in the Golden Tee and perhaps one or two Touchmaster games for the bar itself. They are tv sized and people play by touching the screen, no joysticks or buttons. They usually have one or two dozen different games varying between trivia, puzzle, etc.
  • Oversized board games such as checkers, chess, backgammon. If possible, have a few tables made that have the board ‘inlaid’ in them. In addition, there is an Irish pub (or there was) in Marietta, GA that used to have cribbage boards and decks of cards available to players.
  • Consider running monthly or weekly ‘tournaments’ where regulars can win bar cash for playing cribbage or whist or whatever. Don’t do this immediately as you may need someone to oversee games.
  • Jukebox, as mentioned should have no top-40 stuff, but a mix of older music. Pick stuff that appeals to you first, but also keep the variety wide open.
  • Allow and encourage others to bring in games of their own to play (assuming they will be buying drinks). I know, as part of the German board gaming crowd (Carcassonne, Settlers of Cataan, etc), finding a group to play with more than once a week is difficult. This will reduce the expense on your part and since the games belong to others, you won’t worry about losing the little pieces =)

In any case, I guess I am describing a ‘quaint, no-flash, friendly Dave and Buster’s type atomsphere without the youth element’. I know if this place existed near me I would be there almost every night. Of course, I’m a huge geek so mayhaps it would not appeal to anyone else.

47

Seeing that all nicely organized by LlamaPoet, it looks what we’re aiming for here is a gamer’s paradise that serves drinks and has music.

Which isn’t a bad idea at all, come to think on it…