Does any do this? Frankly, once in a while I’d rather go along and just enjoy the atmosphere, drinks, and good food. It beats sitting at home if no one you know is available. 
Woops, really sorry guys, I posted this in the wrong section!
I really only do it when there is a band I want to see or a sports match that I don’t have the right cable package for.
I used to do it often, but my ex was the bartender so it was kind of like having parental supervision.
I always wait for the horse to go first, just to avoid the jokes.
I see no problem with it. When my wife and I were living apart (job, not relationship related,) I used to go to a nearby Chili’s after work just to avoid my rather somber living accommodations. Had a few beers, some bar food dinner, and watched whatever they had on the telly.
Peace - DESK
I drink alone.
Yeah, with nobody else.
You know, when I drink alone
that I prefer to be by myself?
Welcome to the SDMB, Dustin_Jake.
It’s no big deal to put something in the wrong forum, and a mod will be happy to move it for you (as I have done). You can report the post yourself – click on the little triangle with an ! in the upper right corner of the post, and you’ll get a message box. Just put your message in the box and submit. Despite the standardized language under the box, it’s not just for emergencies – it’s a way to let the mods know there’s something they can help with, since we don’t read every post in every thread.
Again, welcome! Hope you enjoy your time here.
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
Typically it’s legs spread wide, arms akimbo.
mmm
ETA: Welcome, Dustin
I frequent a neighborhood bar where everybody knows everybody. So sure I go to the bar by myself. But not really because once I get there I know basically everyone in the bar. Even though I have no idea who will be there as I’m heading up to the bar.
I used to, but have since decided I really can’t afford it; drinking out alone isn’t a luxury I can afford. But, I enjoyed it at my local bar where I knew most of the bartenders and would often run into friends as well.
Yeah, some of the bars I go to with friends are so sketchy that I’d feel like a creeper, but there’s a nicer neighborhood bar/restaurant that I’ve been to by myself (and inevitably meet someone I know).
But this is why I like coffee joints. I take a sketchbook and draw for hours, and coffee places just seem more wholesome. And my body can take more caffeine than alcohol.
If I’m traveling, I take a book to a local bar, sit and sip a beer and read my book.
I have done that here too, but not in recent years.
I rarely go to bars any more at all.
This is exactly what I want to find! Except I don’t drink. Small matter. Now that my son is getting to be old enough to stay home alone of an evening I’ve thought I’d find a place to go, maybe with a trivia night.
I’m not sure where to try though. I live about half a mile form a fairly large university campus. The places right around me seem (logically) geared towards the college crowd.
The most popular college-kid crowd bars I wouldn’t bother going into alone – but a place where you can get to know the owner, or a bartender or two, tend to IME be just fine places to hang, if you want to just get out of your head for a while. I prefer mellow, and even have been known to go to sports bars (during the day), but it [Strother Martin]all depends on you[/Strother Martin] (with the accent from CHL)
Only when I’m traveling, and usually just the hotel bar. When I’m home I’d rather be at home. In my mid-20s I did it once and awhile. Local place, just to get out of the house.
I go to a sports bar to watch NFL games I can’t get free over the air. I go to a place that has a separate room with big screens and where you can’t hear the jukebox so much. Even then, I have to beg the waitstaff to turn up the audio so I can hear the commentary and play-by-play. I tried going to neighborhood bars, but the jukeboxes were deafeningly loud.
Other than that, I don’t go to bars, alone or accompanied. Just not my thing.
I do it often. I work late hours so there’s often no one around to meet up with, and a bar can often address the dual problems of finally getting dinner and getting a drink.
It puts you in a minority, more or less so depending on the locale. I’ll see more guys solo in a business district bar, all obviously coming off work, fewer in the suburban hangouts where I live. Few women, at least in bars that cater to all comers (as opposed to neighborhood bars where they know the owners/barkeeps and they will keep random guys from approaching the women, which I assume is most women’s disincentive to go out solo).
I don’t really feel weird, nor generally lonely. Most places I go alone relatively often the barkeeps know me and will chat with me when it’s slow especially. Bartending can be a lonely job in its own way. I like to think I’m pretty conversable, and don’t fall into any of the categories of people who make bartenders’ lives difficult (fratboys, obnoxious businessmen slamming shots, guys trying to hook up with the barmaid, fight-prone rednecks and meatheads, complicated prissy drink orderers, non-tipping furriners) so they seem happy to bend my ear, tell me about their day job if any, shoot the breeze on sports, whatever.
Like one of the posters above, I also often take a book (though chatty barkeeps often keep me from getting much progress done).
I do it all the time. I treat myself to dinner and drinks once or twice a week at someplace like Chili’s or Chevy’s and there’s usually either something to watch on tv or someone in a chatty mood. I don’t ever feel weird or awkward.
i’ve done it on rare occasions in the past, but like eating out alone I hate it.