UK bar bans solo-drinkers to 'protect customers' | Hacker News Reader

UK bar bans solo-drinkers to 'protect customers'

bbc.com

23 pointswalterbell37 comments

I don't like it personally, but I fail to see what's controversial. It's a private business with rules. It's not very different from places requiring you to wear a tie. I can imagine some other establishment requiring you to bring a pet. A singles bar can require the opposite and exclude groups from entering. Part of the experience is socializing and I can see why some bars might want to have rules that cater to a specific audience.

If their rule was "no single men after 21:00" I could see that as a sex discrimination thing. But this is a perfectly reasonable rule, I don't like it or agree with it, but it's also entirely the business owner's right.

>I don't like it personally, but I fail to see what's controversial. It's a private business with rules.

It's controversial for people who believe that society is about more than merely doing what's allowed, and who think that this is a dick move, regardless if the business can get away with it legally or not.

I, for one, hope his fucking bar loses business and is shut down.

Wild how much people seem to care about how a random guy probably thousands of miles away runs his business. Even if you lived in Manchester I don't see why this would be such a big deal. Annoying, sure. But is it really so bad to have to walk across the street to the next bar?

>Wild how much people seem to care about how a random guy probably thousands of miles away runs his business.

Nothing wild about it, people care even if they're not getting personally incovenienced.

>But is it really so bad to have to walk across the street to the next bar?

What's bad is to tolerate such behavior in a society.

Your behavior feels wildly more intolerable than theirs. They want to provide a measure of safety to the place. You don’t have to go. There are plenty of places that will take a lonely person like you. But some people will prefer to frequent an establishment specifically for this, so going that they go out of business just because you don’t like it is an awful position to hold.

It's mostly just sad.

The weird thing to me is 'no single entry after 9pm' implies folks by themselves /are/ allowed in before that time

I don't think that's weird, lots of places stop serving alcohol entirely after a certain time, so the time factor makes sense. Lots of people bar-hop, by that time they're already drunk.

I meant it seems contradictory that they'll let loners in at 8:50pm, but when the hour hits they suddenly start having seizures and hassling people

It'd make more sense to say no singles at all

> describing his venue as an "inclusive and safe environment".

The dude literally talks about inclusiveness while answering questions about their new policy excluding people?

Anyone who states "inclusive and safe environment" almost certainly excludes people they don't like.

Yes, you absolutely have to curate a community if you want the maximum number of people to feel comfortable.

That’s right, excluding potentially bothersome or predatory people to provide others safety is indeed “excluding” them.

Yes, "inclusive and safe environment" sounds like ghastly Corporate HR Speak rather than anything resembling a British Pub.

It does give the vibes of Captain Buzzkill on a power trip. Can easily imagine Mine Host[1] eavesdropping on conversations to detect Problematic Language.

[1] Traditionally spelled sarcastic/humorous term for a British pub Landlord.

Amazing guerilla campaign that guy did for his bar.

> Firstly, if someone on their own has a seizure or an accident with no-one with them "in a late night busy bar environment, it's an absolute nightmare for us to deal with".

How many seizures does this guy deal with?

Also why are his bartenders incapable of cutting off people who are too drunk? I don't know about the UK, but most/all US states require bartenders to not serve someone who is visibly intoxicated.

Yep it’s illegal to serve anyone you believe to be intoxicated in the UK.

We just generally turn a blind eye to it as long as you’re not too far gone or being a dick.

What a knob. His logic is illogical, as anyone from any group can "mither" another group as easily as someone not with a group. Does he really expect that all groups will stay to themselves? He should look up what it means to be social, which is what people go to bars for in the first place.

Ok but what if the owner wants to be different? Why do you care?

So it appears to have trolled mainstream media as an effective guerrilla marketing by arbitrary discrimination to manufacture controversy. And a bar next door should have a "No gingers past 22:00" sign to poke fun at the stupidity of this if it were serious.

Might as well turn it into a member's only social club that requires a subscription and board approval to keep "the other" out if this were actually a serious, lame "short cut" policy.

An open society comes with burdens like maintaining security staff to deter and cease maladaptive behavioral outbursts of people individually in preference to trotting out mean, naive, footgun policies like "no blacks", "no singles", or "No men".

The culture where I live seems to be very different. In the mid-afternoons and late evenings, going to the bar alone or otherwise, is very common. The intention and effect is to spark up conversation with others at the bar. This is very much the norm here in Toronto at least, and certainly seemed to be the case other places I have traveled. We do still consider it rude to "mither" people sitting at the tables. But if you're at the bar itself, unless you're wearing headphones or buried in a book, it is assumed you're there for the chatter.

We also have quiet lounges, where the intentions of this bar owner would easily be compatible.

Speaking of - the bar owner's policy indirectly excludes most travelers.

TIL the term "mither".

It's hilarious that everyone is "quoting" the word, as the article also does. It'll be hard to not use air quotes when saying it aloud now.

But what does it mean?

They'll change their tune soon enough when the coin slows down.

Myself and many I know go to pubs/bars alone, have a drink and talk with a complete stranger or just sit people watching while decompressing after a long week.

They should pair the solo drinkers by opening a joint tab instead of banning.

Solo drinkers are allowed to do that outside of the bar and just go in as a group.

To any establishment!

I smell opportunity to stick all the solo drinkers in a room together to mither each other.

Add a pool table, an arcade machine, a dart board, and dudes will be in there for hours.

I mean… that’s a pub that is.

Traditionally a pub is somewhere you can go on your own, drink beer and talk shite.

I don't know why people even drink alcohol at all anymore, considering we know that it is causes numerous cancers and also brain damage, not to mention unsafe roads while driving intoxicated.

Because it's pleasant. I don't know why people drive if they don't absolutely have to when it's so dangerous, I don't know why people live in cities when the pollution causes so many health problems, I don't know why people keep hanging out with other people when so many turn out to be reprehensible, etc. The answer is, because life is not about living the longest in the most austere manner possible.

People drive because they need to get home for shelter, or get to work, etc. People live in cities because that's where the higher paying jobs are, again for survival, also given that one can use air purifiers at home and wear a mask outdoors. It is irresponsible to accept risk without reward.

In many developing countries, alcohol risks being contaminated with methanol which is extremely deadly. I wouldn't consider taking such an unnecessary risk to feel pleasant. Knowing everything I know, I would feel more scared than pleasant.

You have an extremely odd conception of people and the world. Do you take pleasure in anything?

It's not odd; it's the burden of being aware and not ignorant. Of course I take pleasure in several things that won't give me cancer. I also realize that true pleasure comes only after labor and pain. In contrast, alcohol is the kind of pleasure that is followed by pain.

I have a relative who drank regularly. He now has a bad case of gout because of his drinking.

Two others got diabetes from all the unhealthy food they ate while drinking, and died from it.

A coworker who drank regularly got brain cancer and died from it.

An ex-friend long ago basically killed someone drinking and driving.

Most humans don't learn from the dead but they should.

I guess this one of these ideas that most people believe is true that turns out to be actually false

Every word I said about alcohol is 100% true. And no, most people don't even know it to believe it. I don't know why you have to resort to blatantly lying in your comment.

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