Sat in a pub in Cheltenham on an October Sunday, with my hardback copy of The Scent of Flowers at Night by Leila Slimani in one hand (what a hauntingly beautiful title) and a local cider in the other, I am submerged by ideas. I can’t help but think if there were a place like this one, 5 minutes away from our flat, I would be there every single day to write. It has everything I imagined from a writer’s lair, it is full of wood and leather seats, vintage mirrors and a dark moody atmosphere, a Hemingway-worthy drinks menu and nice homemade food.
I have now spent many years drinking in many different places, and I have a good sense of what makes a good place, in my opinion, but also what kind of places any town needs. In my ideal town there is a good mixte of pubs and bars, 2-3 nightclubs, plenty of restaurants, and a food hall or indoor food market. Obviously, this is a white-middle-class woman in her late twenties1 ideal nightlife and it may not please everyone, but not everyone is included in my daydreams. Coming from a drinking culture focused on the social aspect rather than the drinking aspect, a subtle difference as the frontiers between the two are not only porous but also overlapping, my ideal places reflect what I like. Enough justification, to the bar!
Going out, whether it is for ‘just one’ or more, with friends or alone, to write or socialise, I know what I like to drink, what vibe and atmosphere I want in that very moment and where to go. The same elements can be found pretty much anywhere: a bar serving the best and most creative cocktails, a local pub pouring the basic beers and ciders and the one serving the most curated choice of said beers and ciders, a place to watch sports, a bar I only go to because of the ambience, the places I know to avoid and the ones I will inevitably end up at. That’s before I get started on the food.
Coming from Belgium, as with most places on the continent, I am used to independent bars.2 Each place offers something different and has its own character and vibe. It is extremely rare to land in a bar during a barathon3 and find the exact same menu as a place visited earlier. In contrast to the UK where every town and city is pretty much the same thanks to chains popping out everywhere and buying out independent pubs. What a shame. I have to say, it is one of the things I despise the most about the UK. A constant disappointment, because on top of that, none of those chains are particularly good and the sense of community or personality (of the pub/bar) fades gradually.
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Needless to say, I am deeply passionate about the topic and care a lot about the quality of my nightlife. I may or may not have a tattoo dedicated to my favourite bar in Brussels and the countless nights spent there with friends, it was not the best bar in town but we had the best time. Playing card games until 2 a.m., drinking the cheapest student-price beer on tap and getting the occasional board.4 And those nights may have led to many stages of ebriety, but it was never the primary goal.
I love having good (insisting on the good) options to choose from depending on the mood and the direction of the night. If we are going out to watch the sport, the ideal situation is a place that also serves food for the sole reason that I need food when watching sport. If I am meeting with a friend, I know a perfect wine bar and merchant by the bridge over the water, with shelves full of bottles and the best cheese platter. I am heading out with my book, a cosy pub with a fireplace and candle-lit tables would be perfect, but a modern speakeasy and its fancy menu would also do the trick, I’m not fussy.
To acknowledge my privileged minority status: I have the financial means to go out and the inconvenience of being a woman (for obvious reasons).
Pubs are very British and have no proper equivalents.
Portmanteau of bar and marathon, also known as ‘pub crawl’.
A classic bar snack often composed of dried sausage, cubed cheese and celery salt, nachos or olives, maybe some peanuts and crips. It is a need.