Depends on the person. I think it was more common 20-30 years ago than now in some places.
I was raised in a bar. My mother owned it for 40 years. Yes, same customers every day. They were all alcoholist but some of them stopped functioning. My mother Fed them, did their taxes, cut their hair. It’s terrible and sad. The functioning alcoholists had a family to turn home to. I used to be an alcoholist until 10 years ago. My wife had to make me realise that drinking every day, even just one beer a day, is alcoholism.
Is alcoholist(s) term that means something different than alcoholic(s)? Never seen it before
No, I suspect OP’s native language might not be English.
True, autocorrect switched alcoholic to alcoholist.
I think it’s alcoholism/alcoholic. Just a different translation.
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.
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.
Car centric urban design and pub culture are incompatible.
though alcoholism is bad, the lack of thirst spaces is a much bigger problem
*Third spaces
Thirst spaces is a new term for this ancient person. Could you define?
I’m picturing a bunch of thot’s and dudebros mingling
meant third spaces.
though when taking about pubs, it could work
me and my friends used to be regulars in a shitty pub where there was a group of older people who would be in there all day every day.
he was probably double my age but it didn’t stop him coming over to our table and pestering me and some of the other women.
we didn’t go in too frequently but the staff recognised us as regulars. we had to stop because some nasty people would come in on a specific day and one of our group wqs afraid of running into them.
Still is common, most bars have their regulars
Yeah. Few times a week I go to mine to chat with all the locals over two or three beers then head home. It’s a nice way to wind down, be out, and socialise at a really low intensity. No organising is needed, just arrive and there’ll be someone there you know.
That was kind of the point of pubs (public house). A place for the community to meet up in any weather and have a good time together whether games, sharing stories, or having a meal. The smaller the town, the friendlier and more tight the patrons are too. Also great places to frequent when travelling, meeting new locals, getting great travel advice, making friends for the few days you’re there.
I live a block away from my local bar. Go multiple times a week to play pool. There’s a lot of regulars so it’s like hanging out with friends/neighbors.
Yep, been a while since worked at a place like that, but there was definitely a crowed that would be there most days. This was mid 2000’s. Partly dried up when smoking indoors was banned, I think that was the last straw for a big part of the culture that was already drying up.
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
I’ve never heard of a concept of a third place. Seems like everybody should have one.
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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.
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.
A sin? Lol what? Jesus turned water into wine, the fucking madlad!
These neighborhood bars in Boston were real. I had a GF who worked in a university lab where they would go to a bar after hours and she would bring me along. It was an old school Irish bar (even had pics of Sinn Féin members on the walls). I kept going after we broke up and ended up dating one of the woman who bartended. She would pass me free drinks. I was always a light drinker though, I just nursed them. This was mostly in my 20s. I did visit another Irish pub after night class in a different part of the city and the guy working there remembered what my usual meal order was. lol
Remember, no internet before this millenium, 3 to 7 television channels before cable, no TV before the 50s…
Used to be? This is still common in many industries and localities.
The divide between cultures and populations becomes highly apparent on sites like this, which attract a very select group.
Yeah, from a lot of the responses I’m seeing my ignorance on the matter. I’m in a big city so it’s probably very different.
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.
An average draft goes for $7-11 dollars in my city. And the $11 drafts are served in a smaller chalice than the cheaper stuff. I usually buy a 12 pack of beer for $24 from the store and get drunk at home when I can afford it.
Holy fuck! Even today you can get a 30 pack of average beer like bud Budweiser for 25 ish.
Back in the day I paid 3 a point for some cheap ass.
I’m buying IPAs they taste better to me and still feel like a bang for the buck, I grab a pack of Bell’s
Sir Patrick Stewart’s autobiography has a heartbreaking account of his father’s nightly bar visits, and it sounds like he didn’t drink alone.
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.
I remember stories from my dad about a guy he knew where the bar maid would have to help him with the first drink in the morning because his hands would shake so much.
The romantic history of the happy drunk is almost entirely fictional. I say almost because I know a few people who are able to take it or leave it, but for the most part the people I know/knew who were drinking either in bunches or daily end up complete and unabridged alcoholics, whether they are active and in serious trouble or have sought help and straightened up, but cannot touch it.
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’d go to this bar during business hours to drink. And this went on to the point where they stopped serving him? Something is missing from the middle of this story…
Sorry If I didn’t explain that right… the guy was drinking non-stop every single day, to the point you could physically see his liver was shutting down because of his yellowish color. So the bar didn’t have much choice and had to cut him off. He was an awesome old guy so no-one wanted to boot him, but if he drinks himself to death the bar would be potentially liable for still serving him so they chose to stop.
Dude managed to get a parenthetical inside a parenthetical, respect
Yeah, I wouldn’t want to spend that much everyday, I’ll just have some beers at home for 1/5th the price
