No Stupid Questions

Yes. In my fathers time men would go there often for lunch and after work. I think some went home and then went over for an hour or two. Later it was still common but someone who did it all the time would be called a barfly but almost everyone did like friday night and pretty often thursday or saturday. Its diminished since and more and more bars have to sorta be restaurants or dance clubs or band venues.

I don’t know about every night but I know plenty of dudes who have a watering hole they go to weekly.

There's a reason prohibition happened. Alcohol consumption back then was 3x higher than it is now, so it was not uncommon for men to get off work, go blow their paychecks at the bar, then go home and beat their wives.

A lot of bars would have tons of cash on Fridays and bartenders would cash paychecks. Customers would pay off the tab and start a new one. Idk how common it is anymore. Most jobs I’ve had for a while will give a paper check if they have to, but discourage it as much as possible.

Worked in a pub in the UK.

Yes, we had regulars. They'd be there nearly every night after work for a quick pint before heading home.

Very few of them would stay for more than one or two though

Yes, and in some places especially small towns, it is for some people, since it's the main hangout spot (3rd place) in town.

Though I don't think young people do that as much, "regulars" tend to mean 1-3 times a week. My university had a bar that had a "ritual" where Friday afternoons it would be a completely full house.

I do. Most other people that come here are regulars also.

Not much else out there for community.

These neighborhood bars in Boston were real. I had a GF who worked in a university lab where they would go to a bar after hours and she would bring me along. It was an old school Irish bar (even had pics of Sinn Féin members on the walls). I kept going after we broke up and ended up dating one of the woman who bartended. She would pass me free drinks. I was always a light drinker though, I just nursed them. This was mostly in my 20s. I did visit another Irish pub after night class in a different part of the city and the guy working there remembered what my usual meal order was. lol

I mean, people still do that.

Europeans are pretty active on this mater. I'm always amaze by how much people go to bistro bin France and Belgium. I think this applies to pub in England too. In Quebec, I think it was morr common in the 60, 70 and earlier and fade away with the importance TV and later the Internet took in people's home. Now when I go back to some small cities that use to have pretty active downtowns in the late 90s and 200Os, it's absolutely dead. The only bars that survive have a crowd of people in their 40s and more. It use be full of young people, but now I guess they just "flix and chill'...

If I could afford it I would. Better than going home and sitting on my ass playing video games or whatever. Bars around here are too expensive though (just like everything else). I could drink for a month at home on what I spend for 1 trip to the bar.

Sir Patrick Stewart's autobiography has a heartbreaking account of his father's nightly bar visits, and it sounds like he didn't drink alone.

Before the pandemic, I was watching Drag Race at the gay bar and a not-so-gay bar, so yes.