Function Venue Melbourne Tip: 5 Differences Between British and American Bar
When is a pub not a pub? When it’s a bar– Function Venue Melbourne
The Great British Pub is surely one of our finest National institutions – something one becomes particularly aware of when living overseas and pining for low-beamed doorways, uneven floorboards, good local beers and of course, hearty food. Function Venue Melbourne Tip: 5 Differences Between British and American Bar
America of course, is the home of the Sports Bar, but this is a very different kind of beast from the more traditional British Pub and the two cannot be reasonably compared. Loud, brash and often with more than a dozen screens competing for one’s attention (along with music played at head-pounding volumes), such places are not to be confused with those that seek to appeal to the Anglophile, the ex-pat or the tourist. — Melbourne Function Venue Pool
So here are some of what I feel are the more common differences between a real British Pub and the rather less successful attempts typically encountered here in America: Function Venue Melbourne
- The Name– Function Venue Melbourne Tip
Old fashioned, locally relevant and vaguely historical names are the meat and drink of the British Pub scene – the King’s Head, Hat and Mitre, White Horse, The Ship Inn etc.
If you come across anything along the lines of Ye Olde English Pubbe in the States – run for the hills. The same is generally true of anything loudly declaring itself to be Irish, pained green and decorated with cloverleaf emblems outside – it’s trying too hard to be authentic.
- TV Screens–Function Venue Melbourne Tip
The best Pubs don’t have them – they are places where people gather to drink, eat and chat in a convivial and relaxed atmosphere. They don’t have to compete for their friends’ attention with countless sporting or other activities happening on-screen and the noise level is determined by the level of jollity in the bar.
American Pubs seem unable to disconnect the umbilical cord to the world of TV, perhaps fearing that customers will abandon them. They may be right, but if you’re in search of something approaching a Pub, this is likely to be part of what frustrates you.
- Food– Function Venue Melbourne Tip
There are certain foods that just have a natural place on a British Pub menu – Bangers and Mash, Steak & Ale (or Kidney) Pie, Sunday Lunch, Ploughman’s Lunch, Pork Pie, Pork Scratchings, Welsh Rarebit and many more.
Most American Pubs will feature a version of some of these on the menu, but they are rarely the same as you will get back home. Sausages seem particularly tricky to get right. Then there are the foods that simply have no place on a decent Pub menu – Buffalo Wings, Nachos, Tacos, Southern Fried Chicken etc. These all have their place, but I would contend they are decidedly not at home in something purporting to be a Pub.
- Décor– Function Venue Melbourne Tip
This is perhaps the hardest difference to pin down. A really good British Pub exudes a sense of history and place. A sense that it is – and has long been – a central part of its community. As a result it feels reassuringly lived-in. Slightly worn around the edges. Wooden chairs and tables look and feel as they should after thousands of bottoms and elbows have used them. Fabric might be slightly worn. The place is clean, but not sterile.
I think every American Pub I’ve ever entered feels immediately too new and artificial. Obviously most have the disadvantage of youth when it comes to the age comparison, but this is compounded by the use of brand new and shiny furniture, all of which is kept spotlessly clean and never allowed to develop character.
- Location– Function Venue Melbourne Tip
Melbourne Function Venue advised that a good Pub can thrive almost anywhere and most Brits can recall fine times in Pubs in the country, in small villages and towns and large cities. I’ve even enjoyed many an evening in a Pub set right on the beach. But the key thing is that it should serve a community, however defined and however tightly or widely dispersed.
I think the Strip Mall is one of the worst things modern developers have visited upon the good people of America and it saddens me to see a Pub-style bar entombed in one, alongside an array of disparate and disconnected businesses. It shouts of inauthenticity and (sadly) looming failure.
Inevitably there are places where America has executed the idea of a Pub well – if you have a favourite example of a good US-based Pub near you then please share it in the comments section.
Melbourne Function Venue Tip–Also, if you think there are other common differences between American and British Pubs then tells us what they are. Function Venue Melbourne Tip: 5 Differences Between British and American Bar
