I’ve pretty much always gone to bars alone. Part of that is that I don’t have a big group of friends to go out with, and my few close friends aren’t really drinkers. Also, I didn’t grow up in this town so I don’t have any lifelong buddies. I’m also quite terrible at meeting new people.
When I was in my 20s and a drunk I had one or two bars that I frequented regularly. At one in particular I got to be pretty good friends with almost the entire regular crowd. That was mainly because the first time I ever went there I discovered they had an open mike/jam night, and that enabled me to immediately fall in with this crowd of musicians that really enjoyed playing music with a variety of people, and new blood was always welcome. Also, my penchant for comedy songs quickly made me a favorite of the non-musician customers. So while I always arrived at that bar alone, I could always count on there being somebody there I knew and liked, who I could hang out and drink with any time of day or night.
Then in my late 20s I stopped drinking and visiting bars altogether and I lost contact with most of that crowd over the next 13 years during which I didn’t drink at all.
When I turned 40 a couple years ago I took up drinking again on a much more limited basis - where in my 20s I was in the habit of drinking beer until I was shit-faced every single night, now I restrict myself to going out no more than once per paycheck, and I also limit myself to spending no more than $50. That works out to three or four doubles of decent scotch, which I sip slowly to make them last from 9:00 to closing time. I only go to one particular small bar, which is within easy walking distance of my house, where I enjoy singing karaoke. I still go alone, but chat with the regulars who are mostly friendly people, though I don’t consider any of them “my good friends”. Nowadays, my twice-monthly excursions to the bar mainly provide me with a change of pace and a way to get out of the house and away from my computer.
Going out on your own can be immensely empowering.
[/QUOTE]
Not to mention that you aren’t constantly tied to always having to wait for your friends to want to do something and always going where they want to go.
Plus I think it sounds a lot cooler to call people and say “you should come out here because it kicks ass” instead of “what are you doing tonight…cause I’m doing nothin’”.
I don’t think I’ve ever done it, but it sounds like something I would like. Just me in a corner with a pint and a good book. Possibly a small bowl of crisps. I shall have to try it.
All the time! Drink some beer. Ogle the girls. Talk to quite a few of them, since I know them. Talk to the bar owners. Run into other guys I know. And depending on the bar, watch the live lesbian sex show.
I have no problem going alone to a bar. I find one that I like and stick to it, meet the bartenders and regulars, play some Golden Tee. I am a good tipper, bars like me.
I go to pubs alone all the more since having become single. At the moment I tend to go to a fine cider-house which has a good jukebox and a number of rather intelligent old regulars. It’s nice to chat with the old boys, and not have to consider the heartbreak that I associate with my own age group at the moment.
Or I go an Irish pub, play pool, and tolerate the relative youngsters.
But I’d visit neither without some reading material.
