Please forgive my ignorance as someone who rarely drinks. But what is the appeal of dive bars? Or even posh bars? Frankly I'd rather drink at my friend's place if I had the chance.
Edit: wow, thanks for all the high effort answers guys (not being sarcastic)
If you've been to one corpo gastropub you've been to them all, but every dive bar is a special and unique kind of shitty. The vibes are unassailable. It is the proletarians bar genre
It's a public space where you can drink alcohol for relatively cheap.
IDK, maybe it's not as common as I think it is, but personally I often feel a weird urge to just get the fuck out of my apartment and be in a public space. Even if I don't actually socialize or do anything interesting, just nice to like, be out of my room. And sometimes that takes the form of a walk in the park or whatever, but later in the day I guess I just like getting a beer in a cool little basement room with mood lighting.
more social ambience than my apartment. better decor/vibes. live music (sometimes). beer on draft. mixed cocktails. easier to get friends out to a bar than to my apartment. nice to get out and breathe fresh air. can smoothly transition to a club or rave afterwards
I've never been to a bar where anyone wants to socialise. Everyone is already in their little group or intends on drinking solo. I get told these places exist and I've never seen one, the only person I end up talking to is the bartender so I'm entirely certain these places aren't real and I've been lied to all my life.
The only people at pubs during that time are retirees. I feel like the next requirement is to draw a summoning circle or input some code by pissing in the urinals in a certain order.
You can drink 50 brands of alcohol without having 50 different bottles in your house that you eventually have to finish or else it’ll be a waste of money.
People go to bars because they are more social places and dive bars are the best vbars in my opinion.
Everybody is welcome in a dive bar, old or young, rich ior poor, pretty or ugly, it is one of the least snobby places you can find. You can still smoke in many of them. They don't have a seven kilometre long drinks menu with posh hipster crap, you can just drink regular beer and that will be fine. Oftentimes people there are open to socialise.
Frankly I'd rather drink at my friend's place if I had the chance.
And if you either don't have any friends or don't have any who want to drink with you right now, and I tell you there's a place where you can go meet other people who wish they could hang out and drink with friends but are similarly lacking the prerequisites... are you going to say you're not interested?
Frankly I probably would too. But bars are good if no one wants to host though. Also if you're into chatting with strangers they can be good for that. Dive bars are good if you want the bar experience for cheaper and/or don't want to dress up fancy. I generally just feel more comfortable in dive bars, the closest to a casual hangout experience as if you're hanging in a friend's living room without actually hanging out in a friend's living room.
It's easier than drinking at home. I could go to the store, lug a 12 pack all the way up front, stand in line, lug it to my car, drive home, lug it up the stairs to my apartment, have it taking up space in my fridge. Or I could just stop at the bar on my way home from work, stumble in, ask for a beer, drink a couple, hand the bartender my card, then stumble out and drive the rest of the way home.
I have a tiny apartment and it's nice to get away
Even if I don't really socialize, it's nice to just be around other people
I go with my partner a lot, and they're better at striking up conversations with strangers
one of the servers at my local (actually a bar and grille, but sue me) flirts with me a lil bit
the dive bar I go to with my partner has a hole in the wall that lets you order tacos from the place next door, and they only charge $2 for Wells on Taco Tuesday
The dive bar that I used to frequent, but do so less because I have less time, was a favorite because they had great prices on drinks depending on the day of the week so you'd be able to try new things for less. It was also the one bar that I wouldn't find my students at since it was mostly populated with 30+ year olds and blasted punk, metal, and experimental hip-hop depending on who was behind the counter. It also had several pool tables and a shuffle board table. It was nice because I'd run into people from around town there because it's just where people over 25 congregate. They also have an open mic night, which brings in some interesting acts.
Please forgive my ignorance as someone who rarely drinks. But what is the appeal of dive bars? Or even posh bars? Frankly I'd rather drink at my friend's place if I had the chance.
Edit: wow, thanks for all the high effort answers guys (not being sarcastic)
If you've been to one corpo gastropub you've been to them all, but every dive bar is a special and unique kind of shitty. The vibes are unassailable. It is the proletarians bar genre
Exactly. It’s the exact opposite of a fucking Applebees.
To go socialize without having to spend $100 getting a buzz.
It's a public space where you can drink alcohol for relatively cheap.
IDK, maybe it's not as common as I think it is, but personally I often feel a weird urge to just get the fuck out of my apartment and be in a public space. Even if I don't actually socialize or do anything interesting, just nice to like, be out of my room. And sometimes that takes the form of a walk in the park or whatever, but later in the day I guess I just like getting a beer in a cool little basement room with mood lighting.
It's so you can drive home afterwards. (Though personally I prefer to drink alone with a banjo or video game in front of me.)
more social ambience than my apartment. better decor/vibes. live music (sometimes). beer on draft. mixed cocktails. easier to get friends out to a bar than to my apartment. nice to get out and breathe fresh air. can smoothly transition to a club or rave afterwards
The idea is to socialize and meet people I believe
I've never been to a bar where anyone wants to socialise. Everyone is already in their little group or intends on drinking solo. I get told these places exist and I've never seen one, the only person I end up talking to is the bartender so I'm entirely certain these places aren't real and I've been lied to all my life.
You've gotta go during the hours when responsible people are working.
Go during weekdays, especially at the daytime
Also better to go to less popular bars
The only people at pubs during that time are retirees. I feel like the next requirement is to draw a summoning circle or input some code by pissing in the urinals in a certain order.
You can drink 50 brands of alcohol without having 50 different bottles in your house that you eventually have to finish or else it’ll be a waste of money.
People go to bars because they are more social places and dive bars are the best vbars in my opinion.
Everybody is welcome in a dive bar, old or young, rich ior poor, pretty or ugly, it is one of the least snobby places you can find. You can still smoke in many of them. They don't have a seven kilometre long drinks menu with posh hipster crap, you can just drink regular beer and that will be fine. Oftentimes people there are open to socialise.
And if you either don't have any friends or don't have any who want to drink with you right now, and I tell you there's a place where you can go meet other people who wish they could hang out and drink with friends but are similarly lacking the prerequisites... are you going to say you're not interested?
Frankly I probably would too. But bars are good if no one wants to host though. Also if you're into chatting with strangers they can be good for that. Dive bars are good if you want the bar experience for cheaper and/or don't want to dress up fancy. I generally just feel more comfortable in dive bars, the closest to a casual hangout experience as if you're hanging in a friend's living room without actually hanging out in a friend's living room.
I'm a dive bar frequenter. Here's my list:
I like to drink
It's easier than drinking at home. I could go to the store, lug a 12 pack all the way up front, stand in line, lug it to my car, drive home, lug it up the stairs to my apartment, have it taking up space in my fridge. Or I could just stop at the bar on my way home from work, stumble in, ask for a beer, drink a couple, hand the bartender my card, then stumble out and drive the rest of the way home.
I have a tiny apartment and it's nice to get away
Even if I don't really socialize, it's nice to just be around other people
I go with my partner a lot, and they're better at striking up conversations with strangers
one of the servers at my local (actually a bar and grille, but sue me) flirts with me a lil bit
the dive bar I go to with my partner has a hole in the wall that lets you order tacos from the place next door, and they only charge $2 for Wells on Taco Tuesday
The dive bar that I used to frequent, but do so less because I have less time, was a favorite because they had great prices on drinks depending on the day of the week so you'd be able to try new things for less. It was also the one bar that I wouldn't find my students at since it was mostly populated with 30+ year olds and blasted punk, metal, and experimental hip-hop depending on who was behind the counter. It also had several pool tables and a shuffle board table. It was nice because I'd run into people from around town there because it's just where people over 25 congregate. They also have an open mic night, which brings in some interesting acts.