I prefer to wait until the work day has finished and then go to the pub and have a beer or two. I don't really understand the appeal of drinking at work (which seems more prevalent in US), surrounded by office equipment and computers, it's not really relaxing. Plus there might be people still in the office at 5pm who actually have something important to do and it's not really fair that they then have to try to work with people getting pissed up 10 feet away.

If everyone is complaining about their office being too noisy, how can an even noisier pub be more relaxing than that?

Aren't people complaining that their office is too noisy to work in? I wouldn't be going to the pub to work, rather to relax and have a beer and a chat. For the record I'm talking about a traditional, "old man" pub where I can get a nice pint of ale and a table, not some trendy place full of office workers.

Well, they're not trying to work there...

You're asking why people are OK with a noisy pub but not a noisy office? Surely you can see the difference if you try.

The difference I see is that a relaxing drink in a less noisy office would be more relaxing than the same drink in a more noisy pub