This weekend I strolled into the still busy hotel bar at closing time RIIIGHT before 11am and ordered a brew, got one, no problem from the barkeep.
10 minutes later, a party of 5 came in and the other barkeep refused to serve them saying Last Call was announced a while ago.
Afterward, I was served a SECOND beer. On top of that, another couple who was there before I was were served, and even another guay came in and was able to order drinks for his table. All of these drinks were approved by my bartender, not the guy who refused to serve the party of 5.
In other words, 40 minutes after I entered the bar drinks continued to be served.
What gives? Is Last Call up to the bartender? Why would the one bartender refuse to serve the party of 5 while the other one kept the drinks flowing for almost and hour after? What would happen if the party of 5 discovered the drinks were flowing well after they were refused and demanded they get the same (they didn’t appear to be drunk)
I imagine a smart bartender will postpone or “extend” Last Call if the bar is busy and not full of out of control drunks or up against the legal close time, and the owner won’t mind paying the bartender an extra hour wage if they see hundreds of extra dollars in the till.
Now, there’s been times where I’ve walked into a busy bar closed after closing time but well before legal closing time and refused service.
So what’s the deal? Are there rules of thumb as to Last Call? Is it the other bartender saw 5 guys roll up to the bar and know if he didn’t refuse them they’d be there all night? Was my bartender out of line?
One side note: one of the party of 5 who got denied service is the owner of a competing company, and is worth millions of dollars in personal wealth; it’s a small victory but one nonetheless that a nobody like me continued to get served while Mister Big Shot got treated like a jerk!
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Unless it’s near the legal time for last call (2am in ca), then last call is upto whoever is working and how they feel about staying later to possibly make a few bucks more.
Last call depends on how well the bartender likes you.
My ex wife was a bartender, so I speak from experience. (Plus I used to live in bars. Not proud of that fact. Just say’n.)
Legally of course, it’s 2am.
at my bar last call went like this " its 1:45 unless your friends or family drink up pay up and GTFO … and wed be there until 4 or our deputy friend would say yall need to go home …depending if he wanted a few or not
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some bars would get cute and play the “its two o clock in the morning” song or “the girls all get prettier at closing time”
In New Orleans, there is no statutory closing time. In fact many bars in the French Quarter are open 24/7. There is a current proposal that would require bars to close their doors at 3:00 am. Notice I didn’t say close the bar, just that they close their doors, not locked, just that the doors can’t be left propped open. The bar would still be permitted to serve drinks.
In my experience, if the legal end time is 11:00 pm, then bars will serve you your last beer right up until 10:59:59 PM, and handle the actual money exchange after the fact.
So if they can get the drink in front of you before 11, they’ll do so, and then let you settle up later.
IDK how legal that is, but that’s how it always worked in college (last time I actually closed a bar down)
Depends on the place. I tend to drink around (I don’t really have a regular place anymore) and some here are very strict about it; others not so much so. One place had the fun solution that you paid several drinks in advance before last call but you didn’t actually get them until needed.
Where Pittsburgh is much stricter is noise/the bands. Many places have a time limit of midnight and by God they mean it. I band I went to listen to started a song as the clock struck and the manager pulled the plug on the stage shutting them down. Not being from here it caught them by surprise. Since most of the audience were locals, it didn’t surprise us at all.
Former bar owner here. If a party of 5 comes in late, my guess is they had been drinking someplace else, and that place had already closed. So they now come to my place looking to drink some more. My problem is I have no idea how much booze they already have in them. Granted, I don’t know that about any customer who came in earlier, but I know some bars close earlier than others, and patrons will just run to another for last call somewhere else. I don’t want to serve someone one drink, they get nailed for DWI on the way home, and I’m on the hook for serving someone to the point of intoxication.
In the UK traditional pub closing time is 11:00pm. At around 10:40 the bar staff ring the bell and announce “last orders please”. At 11:00 the bell is rung again with the announcement “time at the bar”. You then have what’s known as “drinking up time”. You have until about 11:20 to finish your drink and leave. But then there is what’s known as a “lock-in” where the landlord allows some regulars to stay behind after everyone else has left and carries on serving.
russian heel cleared it up. He meant 11 pm, which makes sense. And yes, bartenders have discretion about who to serve. The bit about not serving customers whom he believes might be intoxicated makes sense. Legally, he’s obligated not to serve intoxicated patrons.
As a former bartender, I’d guess that he was just heading off the “You’re too drunk to be served” conversation.
It really varies by location. In Travis Co., TX, closing time is 2AM. Last call is typically done at 1:45, but there is no legal last call requirement. At 2am, no more drinks (not even water) can be served. at 2:15 ALL drinks (including soda and water) must be removed from the table. Yes, you paid for them, but too bad, if they’re not finished, down the drain they go which is why I tried to talk you out of buying a pitcher at 1:58.
So I was completely thrown for a loop in Baltimore a few years ago. They said last call at a quarter til. I ordered a beer and a shot, thinking I had half an hour to finish it which I didn’t. At the stroke of the hour, they collected all the glasses. BUT what I didn’t know was that you could purchase a six pack to go at last call.
I don’t know where you’re posting from, but I did notice that you were at a hotel bar. I know that in some locales, hotel bars can continue to serve guests (i.e., people staying at the hotel, not people who just came into the bar) after closing time. Could that be what was going on?