The Spirit World

One of the really beautiful aspects of the English pub is that they are comfortable, relaxed places where you can walk in, have a seat, and have a pint. The act of going to the pub is therapeutic. In fact, on one of the podcasts I listen too regularly, the hosts mentioned that people who go to the pub daily are more relaxed, have less stress-related disorders, and live longer. What I’m thinking is that we need more English pubs in the US. So what’s different about an English pub from an American bar?

There are several different classes of American bar. I won’t attempt to classify them all today, but the two that come closest to the English pub are (1) the brewpub bar, and (2) the neighborhood bar.

The brewpub bar is the bar at your local brewpub. These are nice places, but if all you want is a pint or two, you have to sit right at the bar. I usually feel like the tables in the bar area are for folks who actually want to eat something with their pint of beer. Most of the time if I go into the brewpub bar with a group of friends and we have to sit at a table, everything is alright if we don’t order food, but you never know when you are going to get that wait-person that’s going to get all bent out of shape because you are taking up valuable table space and hurting their tip potential.

The neighborhood bar is a place where no one expects you to order food. Sit where you want and drink your pints. This is the sort of place that is most like an English pub, but the problem is that most neighborhood bars want to be sports bars too, so there are usually TV sets blaring out some kind of sports event. Or worse, they have loud music playing.

There’s no such thing as the idealized “English Pub.” Many of the pubs I visited while in England were more like American neighborhood bars with spiffed up architecture. There are plenty of pubs in England that play loud music and have sports on the telly. But what I think of when I say those magic words “English Pub” I’m thinking of a cozy place that is quiet where you can have a seat and drink a pint or two in peace. Of course, that’s not to say there shouldn’t be any talking.