No Stupid Questions

Still is common, most bars have their regulars

Idk how common it was but it's a good example of a "third place". A spot that isn't work or home where you can meet and socialize

It still is. There's bars like that in every town.

Yes, my dad was one of them. I haven't gone to a bar for years but it used to be most smaller bars had at least a few regulars that basically lived there. I remember one old vet that used to show up every day as soon as the bar would open for his daily fix... It got to the point the bar refused to serve him, so he would try and get unsuspecting customers to buy them for him. (This was in the 70's and 80's, there were (or at least seemed to be) a lot more alcoholics back then.)

Also booze used to be a LOT cheaper, so it wasn't nearly as expensive as it would be now.

Yes, but bear in mind a lot of factory, construction, and industrial jobs are 7-3 or 8-4. So a working class laborer could go catch a happy hour with the coworkers or neighbors and be home by 5.

Also in the age of single income households men were often not expected to pull as much weight at home.

Did this (Mon-Sat) together with a few friends and colleagues in my late 20s. We were regulars to the point of the cook always making something off menu more fitting for regular dinner, as well as no need to settle the bill every night. Once a month everything was tallied up.

Good times. Had to stop though since I found myself going through the fridge on a Sunday once looking for some alcohol.

edit: This was the tail end of the 90s btw, small town in Sweden

I live in a tiny NE college town where that happens but for breakfast at a dive coffeeshop. It's loud, packed, the food and coffee are meh, but every single day I can walk in there and see 5-10 locals eating breakfast and shooting the breeze. There's cliques who always sit together, and social butterflies who pick a different group every morning. A bottomless mug of coffee is $3, so folks will just come and hang out from like 8-11am. It's great fun.

There's a brewery next door that's often busy at night but generally it's a quiet town so folks are home chilling after dinner.

It used to be a place for the working stiffs to gather and was priced accordingly. Nowadays capitalization has been overused to the point where a lot of businesses are pricing themselves out of customers.

My uncle was a factory worker and a daily regular at his favorite local bar for more than 30 years.

My mom wouldn't allow me to go inside the bar (because drinking alcohol is a sin, you know). But in the '80s and '90s, before cell phones, I knew exactly where to find him after school if I needed anything.

Unfortunately, 30+ years of excessive drinking caused a lot of really serious health problems that caught up to him when he was in his 50s. The owners and staff sent a huge flower arrangement and all came to his funeral.

Yeah, I used to finish work, walk down to my local pub, have dinner and a few drinks then go home to bed, good meals, good people to talk to, I kinda miss it but I don't drink anymore.

I’m an outlier because I live in a walkable neighborhood in a city. But I have 10 breweries within walking distance around my house. I know the owners by name for 2 of these breweries and the bartenders know me for 4 of them. I think they all know my dog.

I usually go with my wife and/or girlfriend about 2-4 days a week, but it’s still very much a hang out.

We’re also Friday regulars to a semi-close bar every Friday because I won a free beer/week for a year in a $25 raffle!

Still do?

I don't drink anymore, but yeah. Those people you see in dive bars are often daily customers.

Some of the older old dudes I've worked with used to. I actually convinced one of the avocado toast whiners he was wrong based on bar cost now and back in his day

It depends on (sub)culture, but mainly yes.

Bars were often cheap too, so going to the bar multiple times per week was not expensive. The reason these bars were cheap:

• Outside of touristic areas ground is cheap.
• If the local government allows it, the bar can on the owners property.
• The owner and customers were often friends, so friend pricing would be standard.
• Health and safety regulations used to be less strict. Allowing for lower prices.
• The bar was open whenever the owner wanted, instead of on a fixed schedule, making it more easy to combine with a second job.
• Bars rarely had a menu, they just sold whatever they had in stock. Today customers would be upset if an item on the menu was not in stock.

Also,

• Parks used to be less safe and less well maintained, so buying drinks in the supermarket and consuming them in the park wasn't really an option.
• The internet wasn't a thing, so people who wanted to spend the evening gaming had to do so in the bar.

It's fairly common right now, too.

Umm, I'm in my 40s and I do... 😬

Granted it isn't like Cheers, I just need the change of scenery since I work from home 10-20 hours a day.

Yup, it used to be a lot more common, Not Just Bikes has a great video on this subject too and how our car dependency made most of them disappear:

The Great Places Erased by Suburbia (the Third Place)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvdQ381K5xg
non YT https://yewtu.be/watch?v=VvdQ381K5xg

Yeah. My husband went out to the pub 6 nights a week. He's no longer drinking - quit last year - finally! (I quit in 2009)

Seriously, alcohol is overrated.

Yes, even in countries like Austria. Saddest thing was that many men that were 'great pals' while drinking turned into abusers when coming home, making their families co-dependents and their lives hell.

Remember, no internet before this millenium, 3 to 7 television channels before cable, no TV before the 50s...

Pub culture is definitely a thing in the UK though and I wish we had some of these neighborhood meeting places in the US too. They aren't necessarily a place to get shitfaced but to get a simple meal and a beer.

Fraternal/Sororal organizations used to be a big thing up to the 60s with the Elks clubs, Odd Fellows, Shriners, etc. We've lost a lot of that community glue.

When I was younger I did this and it was the best part of my life. Having a place to go where everyone was welcome was very nice

A lot of blue collar workers went straight to the bar after work 3-4 days a week.

I did sheet metal back in the 90's for a year. Typical day... start at 6, off at 2:30, bar from 3-5. Pretty much everyday.

Still do.

I've been alcohol free since 7th April 2023 but it's a stop on the way home to see mates that don't game online.

UK pub that's part of the community. We organise canal cleans / litter picks / quiz nights / charity events etc..

Pubs can be good and you don't HAVE to drink booze. Bars now..... They are a different story I feel.

On a side note I feel the ability to 'legally' drink (without a meal) from the age of 18 stops a lot of the idiotic drinking stuff I always hear about from over the pond.

I worked in a bar for a few years and I saw the same people everyday. They would even come in on holidays if the bar was open. Some of them would blow their whole paycheck, I always thought it was kinda sad.

Yes, and it's still pretty common.

beer used to be a lot cheaper

Used to be? This is still common in many industries and localities.

I live in England, but maybe twenty years ago I'd go to my regular pub most days, have a couple of pints and maybe some food, socialise with people I'd got to know there.

Obviously that doesn't happen anymore, it's way too expensive now. Going to the pub or out for a meal is a rare treat these days.

I don’t know about every night but I know plenty of dudes who have a watering hole they go to weekly.

There's a reason prohibition happened. Alcohol consumption back then was 3x higher than it is now, so it was not uncommon for men to get off work, go blow their paychecks at the bar, then go home and beat their wives.