The second you start serving alcohol, you start being liable for things people do after they leave your establishment. Or even in your establishment. Your personal assets are at stake, and at that point, it doesn’t make sense to run something as a charity.

Yeah, I wouldn’t even enjoy running it as a charity, as that would be an enormous sacrifice. I wonder if someone did a cost analysis of Costco-style membership analysis for a bar.

I personally know people who avoid specific bars because specific patrons have been jerks, and they’re making others uncomfortable. Some sort of simple membership could keep them out.

I don't understand any of what you guys say.

What is there to fund? You just have to advertise a bit a meetup in some social medias and choose a place.

During the actual event, you aren't the one serving alcohol, there is nothing to be liable with and people are free to order non alcohol drinks.

It is just random people meeting at a bar.

tokyioyoyo was writing about making a place with the goal of having people meet and hang out. A bar doesn’t necessarily have that goal, it may have a goal of meeting a certain amount of revenue, most easily accomplished by incentivizing turnover.

Yeah, I wasn't talking about a "meetup group". I was talking about a spot where I could go on any given day, sit down, have a drink and just chat with whoever is sitting nearby, with the chances that they also live somewhere nearby. Think of British pub culture, but imported to PNW. In my area, we have exactly 0 of those spots, despite having a decent amount of bars and restaurants in the area.

As it was mentioned in the comments, it usually boils down to regulation and financial problems to have a place like that, unless you've been grandfathered in.

I guess your only choice is to vote for representatives that remove stupid zone rules and/or stop living in suburbia, and move to a city or a small town or to a different country. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I was chatting with a guy running a bakery/board game store. He was saying how hard the finances were (the store eventually folded), and he mentioned the price of alcohol insurance. The store didn't serve alcohol, so I asked why he had it. He said that (at least in Pennsylvania), if a visibly intoxicated customer left his store and got into an accident, he could be sued. Maybe not successfully, but it wouldn't necessarily be thrown out by the judge. It's why there are so many stores with BYOB around me: if they have to get insured anyways, might as well invite the business.

The US has an enormous problem with the costs of litigation gumming up society’s gears. From healthcare to police to even just having a neighbor’s kid get injured in your backyard.

Anyone that has an option to earn good W-2 income would need a huge carrot to incentivize them to forego that low liability lifestyle and instead opt to start their own business, especially one where you invite people into your premises.

Until you are making good money (and this can take 10+ years) and can afford lawyers, you are at the mercy of the legal system.