BARS
The Perfect Bar
August 1, 2005
I always sit behind the bar and listen to people converse about what they would do if they owned their own bar. They love to wax poetic about how “all the regulars would drink for free”. “Last Call” would be a thing of the past, there would always be “free popcorn and pretzels on the tables”, “Doubles” would now be the norm. This is all fine and dandy in some dream world.

Most people have never stepped foot behind a bar in their life, for some reason they feel because they spend so much time in a bar, they must know the perfect way to run the thing. Let's see, I'm a computer programmer for a living but somehow I feel the need to tell you the Bar Owner how to run your establishment, well computer nerd, here's your chance.

Write to us and tell us what you would do if you could build your dream bar. We will reprint the notes we get and hopefully the Real Bar owners will be able to see what the customers are looking for. If Karaoke and Dollar Drafts is your thing let us know. If rare Single Malt Scotch and waitresses in Ruffled Maids outfits is what you want to see (Jonathan B. Pub Style for you old-timers), we would love to hear from you. Let's try to be reasonable, the days of 25 cent beers and 10 cent hot dogs are out of the question, with the average rent in most complexes going for $25 a square foot, this would only last about a month and your newly designed bar would be shut down.

We want to know if the general reader thinks that a Honky Tonk Bar is needed in this area, maybe a good Jazz Club, or a Southern Style Blues Bar. I know I would love to see a great Arcade Style drinking establishment that doesn't charge $8 a drink open up. Bowling Alleys are hard to come by, but some of these bars are big enough to put in a couple of lanes rather than putting in an entire alley. Not a bad idea to generate some income where a few empty tables are just taking up space.

Keep the ideas coming, and you Bar Owners take note to the next few issues when we will tabulate the answers and come up with the general public's idea of the Perfect Bar.

Scott Garner

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