These 'factory look' restaurants ,with high ceilings with all the pipes and ducts exposed, can fuck right off. Then they pump in music so everyone has to shout, adding to the 'ambiance'. That shit is the laugh track of social interaction.

So just drinking with friends at home then?

No… wait! Charging strangers to drink at your home 😏🤑

That is called a "pub".

Remember kids:

Oak and brass, A touch of class. Pine and chrome, Get yourself a six pack and drink it in your garage.

My personal conspiracy theory is that bars have bad acoustics so that you have to shout, so that you get a sore throat, so that you feel like you need to drink more.

it'll go bankrupt quick. people drink less when they can have other stimulation

if the place has a dancefloor, it also has to have shit music in between so you return and buy a drink to pass time

Sound panels. They're insanely effective. I put up a few at home, and now I complain about every place that doesn't have them.

BILLION DOLLAR IDEA: A BAR, BUT YOU CAN HEAR THE PEOPLE YOU'RE WITH

One of my personal gripes with TV and movies is when the main characters go to a dance club, or a strip club, and have a conversation at a normal volume level. You can always tell from the look of the places that they're the kind where you have to shout into the ear of the person next to you to have a hope at being understood.

Back in the late 90s, at a seedy bar with my tech-head buddies, we snagged a booth/table with a crappy half blown speaker that was pumping music so loud you couldn’t hear ANYTHING. My buddy whips out his multi tool and proceeds to stand up and snip the wire going to the speaker. An amazing idea that I’ve really never had the chance to replicate, but inspired me to carry a multi tool a lot more.

WHAT?

That's called a "lounge".

I'm at an industry get together right now at an event space that is all concrete walls and has music. Taking a break coz I'm tired of shouting

So not a bar.

Where my tinnitus homies at?

A pub?

Like my local pub, then. That's how I like it.

Spoiler: they're not ranking it in and aren't millionaires, though.

Part of the reason why I hate going to bars. Another part is that the drinks are overpriced. I can get a decent handle and drink for a week for the same price as 3 drinks at a bar. No, the shitty music and oppressive atmosphere does not make the experience worth it.

Music should be loud enough for you not to hear the next table conversation but be able to listen to yours

Speakeasies were still a thing last time I checked.

I mean, there's some personal choice involved here. My wife and I and a friend, all middle aged, visited a bar recently to hang out and burn some time and it was busy and noisy (like, piped music and chatter noisy). We moved on and found a less busy bar where we could talk.

Why, I don't want to hear them complaining about the current state of the world, I'm already depressed because all of it, I just want to drink my beer in peace and overwhelming conversation-canceling noise, with my friends close to me, where just a glance at each other saying "I feel the same" is enough.

Grogan's Castle Lounge on Dublin. No music, live or otherwise. Only drinks, conversation, and legendary toasties.

I've never been to a bar that plays music too loud. Did oop a club instead?

Soundproof booths with a touchscreen for ordering drinks.