Pubs & Bars - A difference?

[Acier]

Bars usually vary with which one you go to. A fancy downtown bar is different from a dive is different from a pool house is different from a band/spoken word/open mic place.

Pubs I've always though of as more resturanty and a place more intimate and a meeting places.

I mean, I doubt there's much real difference between a pub(lic house) and a bar

 

[ace_of_something]

I've always understood it as a 'pub has better food than a bar' and a bar has damn near no food.

 

[Dango]

One is stereotyped to be full angry angry sailors and Irishmen, the other is not.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

i think bar is american, pub is british.

that said, theres a bar in my town, generally sucks, very seedy, but in the town over theres a lovely place, the Red Stone Pub, has a fantastic atmosphere, great food, great beer selection.

 

[octafish]

A pub never plays music. At least this should be the case.

Pfft. A pub without live music is more than likely a Poker Machine venue (Tabaret). All pubs should have live music. If people go to a place to dance it is neither a pub nor a bar, it is a club.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

i think bar is american, pub is british.

This. The only places in America that actually call themselves pubs are run by English or Irish immigrants, and are advertised either as an English or an Irish pub. The term "bar" around here encompasses everything people have listed under both terms, and quite a bit more -- for example, nobody has properly described a honky tonk bar, which is a lower class Southern bar which has live music every now and then, usually either country or Southern/classic rock.

 

[Gamblerjoe]

A bar is just a general term for a counter-like surface that isnt actually up against a wall. It is more or less used to describe the part of a restaurant that serves alcohol. A pub is an establishment that doesnt do much beyond sell alcohol and have the normal trappings such as a pool table or dart board.

I live in the northeastern U.S. where pubs are called pubs. Sometimes the word tavern is used. If its a brew pub, we call it that. If a place is a restaurant or inn, we call it that. No one refers to a business as a bar, because that would be like calling a restaurant a dining room.

 

[DustyDrB]

In America...

A Bar is a place that serves alcohol. It can also be a restaurant. It can be small and intimate. It can be filthy and boisterous. It can have any kind of music on the spectrum playing, though it isn't meant for dancing (but there may be a few people dancing). It can be a classy place downtown on a nice Hotel's rooftop that overlooks the ocean (I'm describing my go-to first date destination). It can be the dingy hole-in-the-wall where you can get a dozen of the best wings you've ever had and a Red Stripe or two for $8 (I'm describing the place I go to after she's gotten to know me and my friends). It can be that sad, nearly empty place that only serves Bud or Coors Light to port workers. It can be the mecca of the brew fanatic, a place that provides the best beer from all over the world for the enjoyment of indulgent patrons.

A Pub is bar that is named a "pub" to appeal to people with unfounded pride of being "Irish" (meaning they had an Irish ancestor five or six generations ago). Regardless of that bit of dishonesty, these places can be fun in their own right, full of colorful personalities and a charming aesthetic. But it's often full of dirty stinkin' Red Sox fans....

 

[ElectroJosh]

In New Zealand.

A Bar is one of two things: a place in a restaurant, hotel or pub where you buy drinks or a venue of its own (in which case it will offer some food - as mandated by the government). The standalone Bars often become a club around 11pm onwards on Thursdays through to Saturday nights.

A Pub is similar to a restaurant but has a larger range of alcohol (particularly beer) and usually food orders are taken at the counter (no waiters/waitresses) but you can have a decent to excellent meal (depending on the place).

If you are in Auckland for any reason (like the Rugby in September) you should check out Galbraith's which is a pub/micro-brewery or Brew on Quay (which has a fantastic range of beers) or the Empire Tavern (not as a good a range of beers as the other two but more space and lot of TV and a couple of projector screens (for Rugby watching).