# You're opening your own bar. What's it like? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298 "2005-04-14T16:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/41 "2005-04-16T13:28:57Z")
It’s more of an upscale lounge. There’s a bar, but the rest of the place is filled with big overstuffed chairs and sofas in “conversational groupings.” It’s for people who actually like to talk and hang out with their friends when they go out. It’s dark with mostly candlelight. There’s no smoking. Board games would be available. There would be a game room with darts, pool, and card tables. There would be a blackjack table as well with a really cool dealer. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/42 "2005-04-16T17:15:52Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > There is a small candy shop with phone booths in the back. You go into the phone booth and dial a special number and a secret door opens and lets you into my speakeasy. **DMark** , have you ever been to [The Safehouse](http://www.safe-house.com/mainmenu.cfm) in Milwaukee? It’s sort of a gimmicky place, but still fun and a good place to take people from out of town. Oh, and I know the original Miss Moneypenny, too. There’s a secret entrance from The Press Room, and a “back way out” along the riverfront. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/43 "2005-04-16T17:58:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Take an abandoned church, put in a multi-level queer discotheque/sauna complex called AhhMen. Piss off everybody. There’s an abandoned church in Denver that’s a huge multi-level dance club. Not really a gay club, but probably a decent percentage. Kinda cool with a genuine gothic(arcitectural not clothing(although that’s there in force as well)) feel , but I hate dance clubs, and the beer is expensive as hell. My perfect Bar 1. Huge Cheers style rectangular bar in the center of the room, no counter stuck along the wall. 2. Good scotch. 3. Good beer, and lot’s of it. At least 100 kinds of good beer. As well as my own brew, made on site. 4. TVs all over the place, showing every freakin game that is being played everywhere. 5. a row of lazy boys infront of the big screens. 6. big freakin ten person tables. 7. A real pizza oven, and real pizza. 8. Preferably in the mountains on a nice lake or river. 9 Full sized pool tables. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/44 "2005-04-16T21:12:21Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I have two ideas for a pub, but the one I really like is sort of a cross between an English pub and a WWII Officer’s Club. > > Starting with the traditional pub layout (or starting with a quanset hut fitted out like a traditional pub), I would add aviation memorabilia including practice bombs, ‘nose art’, the odd airplane part, and of course, the Robin Hood toby from _12 O’Clock High_. Traditional English beers would be served, and there would be fish’n’chips, bangers and mash, and other ‘pub grub’. Naturally, there would be a dart board. I’d have a little area where people could read or just sit and relax by the fire. There would be a jukebox with 45s instead of CDs that would play 1940s-era music (Glenn Miller, _et al_). > > I haven’t thought of a name for it, but it would be situated on an airport. Sounds somewhat like the “56th Fighter Group” bar/restaurant. It’s located at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, NY (on Long Island). I think the building is supposed to be a bombed out English farmhouse, though (not sure – it has been quite a while since I went there.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/45 "2005-04-16T21:33:00Z")
> [@Chance the Gardener](#): > > I’ve had this idea for a long time, but I’m far from flush enough even to open a lemonade stand, much less a bar. I don’t have a name for it, but I’m sure I could come up with one. I just really like this idea. If such a place existed, I’d drink there! Take a look at the DC bar scene sometime - I’m not _sure_ there’s a bar like that in this city, but I’d be shocked if there isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_loblaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@bob\_loblaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_loblaw)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/46 "2005-04-16T22:11:12Z")
mine would be three bars in one; access to each would be from a bank of staffed freight elevators in the entrance vestibule on the main floor. basement would be called “a hole in the ground” – the divingest dive that ever dived. barely lit, concrete floor, and cheap booze all night long. one long bar serving draught in plastic cups, and limited to something domestic, and something domestic light. mixed drinks limited to rye, rum & vodka, with only basic mixes. also served in plastic cups. and no beer bottles, only tall cans - available from the bar, or one of several tended bathtubs of ice placed at strategic points around the joint. stage at one end, pool tables at the other. in between, long wooden benches bolted to the floor, at long wood tables also bolted to the floor. tvs around everywhere, all tuned to whatever game is on at the time, with cc & no volume. rock mix piped in way too loud, when there is nobody on stage. 7 days 9 - close. (first floor is stockrooms for the whole complex, plus office space for running the place) second floor would be a dance club called “dress code in effect” there would of course be a dress code in effect. four corner bars - fully stocked, classy glassware, but no taps, standard club prices. open hardwood floors, broken up by a dozen or so pillars for setting down of drinks. couches along the walls would be the only place to sit. standard dj rotation, open only thurs- sat, 10 - close. third floor would be a restaurant, called “the sandwich” classy, but not over the top. decent prices for great food. 7 days, lunch - 11. fourth floor would be a pub style, called “o’tappery’s drinkhouse” with dozens of quality microbrews & imports on tap. full wine bar, great scotch selection, partial access to the restaurant menu from “sandwich” kitchen. bar would be in the centre of the floor, surrounded by good old fashioned bar stools. orders from the kitchen carried on a dumb waiter to the bar. around the walnut panelled walls would be several booths, some dartboards, chess tables in three corners, and a snooker table in the other. music would be eclectic mix, but lowish volume. 7 days, happy hour - close. and “over it all” is a rooftop patio. open thurs - sun weather permitting, access from & same hours as “o’tappery’s” umbrella’d picnic tables, propane heated for the slightly chilly nights. satellite bar to the pub, so similar selection, though not complete. same tunes as the pub, but louder. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/47 "2005-04-16T22:43:35Z")
One thing you seem to have forgotten…how are you going to deal with the obnoxious jerks that every bar attraracts? You cannot allow them to take over your bar-they drive the good customers out, and often they are the advance guard of the rather unsavory elemnt (like motorcycle gangs) who will attempt to use your place as a drug supermarket, etc. So, hire some GOOD BOUNCERS…off duty cops would be good. Don’t tolerate any guff…and if a fight breaks out, run the miscreant OUT immediately. If you allow the wrong element to take up residence, you will very likely regret ever getting into the bar business! ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/48 "2005-04-17T13:17:37Z")
One thing I’d like to see: NO JUKEBOX. I know that a jukebox is a money machine inside a bar, but I"m so sick of some idiot with a 20 dollar bill who plays music no one else wants to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/49 "2005-04-17T13:31:05Z")
> [@Tenar](#): > > Sounds somewhat like the “56th Fighter Group” bar/restaurant. It’s located at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, NY (on Long Island). I think the building is supposed to be a bombed out English farmhouse, though (not sure – it has been quite a while since I went there.) Out here they’re called The 94th Aero Squadron. WWI motif, with a bombed-out French farmhouse, mock-up Spowith Camel and Fokker DR.I, military vehicles, ducks and geese… I’m actually looking for the WWII look, though. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/50 "2005-04-17T21:31:13Z")
With so many pubs around and within walking distance, originality is critical. My pub would serve good food, cider, and wine, and any music would be classical. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298/51 "2005-04-17T23:54:11Z")
My favorite bar of all time was a place called “Joe’s” on Back Street, St. Thomas, VI. I lived on the island for several months in the 70s and the cast of characters who frequented the place was terrific. As for a description, here is an excerpt from a (sort-of) memoir I’m writing: > [@](#): > > Joe’s Bar was a real dive, in the finest tradition of island dives found throughout literature. Located on Back Street, it was just a couple of blocks off the beaten tourist path. The occasional tourist would tentatively poke his nose in the door, wearing that vague, expectant smile that all tourists seem to sport, but they rarely summoned up the nerve to enter. This was a drinker’s bar; no t-shirts for sale, no goddamn bobble head dolls, no puka shell necklaces made by happy natives. Just booze, smokes and a jukebox. You couldn’t even buy a bag of potato chips at Joe’s. The brave soul who decided to chance it would usually depart hastily after one drink, as the conversation in the place was decidedly bizarre and the language unapologetically coarse. > > Joe’s Bar had never been what you might call a fashion plate; more of a fashion risk, I would say. The faded sign outside hung over an entry consisting of a set of two hinged garage doors that were secured at night by means of a Master padlock. This was not done in an effort to create a shabby chic statement. The place had actually been a garage in a previous incarnation and was truly shabby in every sense of the word. The interior was dim and hot despite the wooden shutters and the garage doors that remained open regardless of the weather. The floor was concrete, stained and littered with cigarette butts. A raised area in the rear was made of wood and supported a pool table whose rails were covered with cigarette burns. A feeble one-lamp fluorescent light fixture illuminated the table. The front area contained a collection of tables and chairs scavenged from street corners and other bars, and a few benches along the walls. > > The bar was the prominent feature in the place, and is where most regulars sat to drink and roll dice. Every surface was covered with the ubiquitous cigarette burns and stains from countless spilled drinks. Electrical wiring ran exposed on the walls and along rafters, windowsills, and even on top of the short wall that divided the raised area from the front area. You had to take care where you rested your arm, as abandoned cigarettes had melted the wiring insulation in some spots. The toilet was small and disgusting, and served all comers. No cutesy names here, either; just a small sign that indicated ‘toilet’. It was poetic, really. Man, I had some _good_ times in that place. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-opening-your-own-bar-whats-it-like/299298.md?page=2)