There are several truths about the ritual of the Friday night drink.
They’ll never make you healthy or help you stick to your holiday or household budget, you’ll always stay later than you say you will and you’ll never, ever, just have one.
And if you’re not among those lucky handful of people whose employer wheels out a trolley of drinks at 5pm every Friday afternoon, then you’ll join the thirsty pilgrimage of office workers making a beeline to the nearest local for a “quiet” drink to kiss the week goodbye. Unless that is, you live in Sydney.
The SMH reports that many harbour city CBD workers have become just a little too good for that lately, with four of the oldest and most reliable post-work drinking holes facing financial ruin after being trumped by the “lure” of glamorous bars.
Peter Walker, a partner with accounting firm Ferrier Hodgson, said the Bligh Bar, the Brooklyn Hotel on George Street, The Pavilion Hotel on George Street and the Ice Bar at Circular Quay have all faced a steady decline in drinkers since the city’s glitzy bar boom and were without the capital required “to adequately compete”.
Capacity is another sticking point and with 20 bars and enough elbow room for up to 4900 drinkers it would be more appropriate to label The Ivy on George Street, an entertainment complex.
But is that really what we’re looking for on a Friday night after work? What happened to the comforting nod from familiar and friendly bar staff when you walk through the door and actually being able to hear the person you’re talking to?
Bigger doesn’t always make something better, so here’s ten reasons why pubs will always win in terms of atmosphere and comfort at the end of a hectic working week. Add yours below:
1. Drinks are cheaper
2. You can be noisy and don’t have to share your conversation with everyone in the room
3. You can relax; you don’t have to dress up or feel like an idiot if you’re not dressed up
4. You can play pool
5. The people behind the bar are paid to actually pour you a drink, not just look good
6. The chips are better and the bar snacks are less fussy
7. You can sit down; there are adequate chairs and tables and that means you don’t have to stand up all night
8. You can make a quick and easier escape, pubs generally have more than one door
9. You can smoke out the front, there’s no winding and narrow little staircase to navigate
10. You can sit outside; there are few things better than a beer garden on a sunny afternoon
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