Re:Death of the Neighborhood Bar
by freehunter on Sunday August 11, 2019 @03:45PM
(#20670023)
Speaking here in the US, if you don't have a local coffee shop your neighborhood is probably not very vibrant, and lots of business happens in these local coffee shops. I host meetings at my local coffee shop all the time and see others doing the same thing. Even if all you have is Starbucks, there's still tons of meetings that happen at Starbucks and you're not likely to be hassled to leave.
I'm much more likely to be pushed out the door at my local brewery or bar than I am at a coffee shop. If I had to guess it's because coffee tends to be a grab-and-go whereas beer cannot be served in a to-go cup so it has to be served and consumed inside the building with few alternatives if the seats are all full.
Re:Death of the Neighborhood Bar
by pixelrevision on Sunday August 11, 2019 @08:42PM
(#20671525)
Huh. My experience in nyc is that most of the coffeeshops tend to have hordes of people on laptops with earbuds on ignoring each other.
Re:Death of the Neighborhood Bar
by Wowfunhappy on Monday August 12, 2019 @07:04PM
(#20681048)
I think that New York City may be particularly bad in this regard. I remember when I lived in Saratoga Springs (a small city upstate), I could strike up conversations with strangers on the bus or train, and did all the time. Here in NYC, that's nearly unthinkable—only crazy people do it.
And they are crowded and have loud music and no bathrooms.
Re:Death of the Neighborhood Bar
by wry_discontent on Sunday August 11, 2019 @03:45PM
(#20670026)
There's a hookah bar by my apartment that has just the vibe I crave from a coffee shop. It takes ~1 hour to smoke a whole hookah, and you can go with some friends, socialize, work quietly, and they don't blast music. I believe it's like that because it's next to a university and usually full of students. Other ones around me aren't like that.
Unfortunately, it comes with some dangers...nicotine.
Re:Death of the Neighborhood Bar
by rexgallorum2 on Sunday August 11, 2019 @07:37PM
(#20671242)
Good points. Pubs, tea houses, hookah bars, cafés, etc. serve a similar function as local gathering places in a number of cultures. It's important that you won't be pressured to leave if you don't order anything for a while.
Re:Death of the Neighborhood Bar
by Mediterraneo10 on Sunday August 11, 2019 @04:02PM
(#20670128)
> Unfortunately, it comes with some dangers...nicotine.
The days of hookah bars in many locations are probably numbered, since public health is focusing on gradually reducing tobacco use to zero. For the time being hookah tobacco might still be sold for someone to use in the privacy of their own home, but forbidding smoking hookahs in public spaces is a simple and effective step that the authorities can take.
Central Europe is losing the vibrant cafe culture it used to have, where people could sit together for hours and chat. Cafes today often blast loud pop music and send staff around more frequently to pester clients who seem to have finished their drinks, as owners believe this will prevent people from loitering. Instead, customers will quickly drink what they ordered and then get out, freeing the table for other customers.
Perhaps in the USA the situation is different, but I live in a city with a tradition of quiet, intellectual cafes that goes back centuries, and was still like that a decade ago, but now I am hard pressed to find a single place that would be pleasant to socialize even with my friends in, let alone mingle with other regulars and strike up conversations with strangers.