A friend’s facebook post celebrating the fact that at least the airport she was stuck in had beer made me chuckle, because of course there was beer at the airport.
Then it made me wonder.
Where and when was the first airport bar?
I dunno, but the Croydon Aerodrome was an early international airport, established in 1920. In 1928, the Croydon Hotel was added to it, which contained a bar. But I doubt whether that was the first one.
The beginnings of commercial aviation are murky, but Silas Christofferson carried passengers in his hydroplane between San Francisco and Oakland harbors in 1913. I’ll go out on a limb and assert that there were vendors of alcohol at both destinations. http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Commercial_Aviation/1920s/Tran1.htm
Railway termini had refreshment rooms, and public coaches started and finished their journeys at inns. I’d imagine that as soon as the idea of an airport was conceived, it included a bar. Why would it ever occur to anyone to build or operate a public transport facility with no catering facilities? Travellers gotta eat and drink, don’t they?
I would suggest that the first (legal) airport bar in the United States probably wasn’t in operation until after December of 1933.
Passenger travel wasn’t that big prior to 1919, so I don’t think there would have been “terminals” of any substance before prohibition hit. Other countries would vary, of course.
Thanks for the answers. Looks like 1928 is the date to beat.