If you were to open your own bar, what would set you apart from all the rest of the bars?

Mine would be a hash bar.

I went to a nightclub once that had a feature I thought was really cool. The men’s and women’s restrooms had a common sink. It was “the latest place to be and be seen” (Not the bathroom, but the bar.) The place was PACKED! It had VIP sections you could rent if you wanted breathing room. There were guards posted to make sure no one crossed the line.

All patrons must pass through the gauntlet of Karaoke before entering the facility.

Each table would have 6 full size beer kegs under them connected to a pump, you pay for a table and that includes all the beer you can handle. On top of this, you are served snaks and tapas each 15 to 20 minutes.

I’d only sell top shelf liquor
There would be a dress code
Tobacco would be prohibited
Marijuana would be encouraged
There would be a jukebox that only played good, old music

It would be an ice cream sundae bar.

I really liked the old Fat Tuesday’s bar—no idea why it went out of business.

I’d have a dance club, not a bar, and there would be at least one night where people over 35 could come and not be pushed out by 105-pound 21 year olds wearing just enough fabric to make a throw pillow sneering at them.
No offense to my 21 year old, 105 pound friends who don’t sneer anyway XD

board games!

I would also have a curse jar.

If you are sitting at the bar proper and you curse, a quarter must be deposited in the jar. There will be a line drawn on the jar indicating when there are enough quarters in the jar to cover a free round for the bar proper. When that level is reached the free round is distributed and everyone must toast with a resounding ”FUCK!”.

The bar proper is the actual bar itself not the surrounding tables.

It would be like a lounge where people could talk. There would be music, but it would be low enough so people can actually hear each other. There would be large plush couches, love seats, sectionals etc. Kind of like this. I’ve been to this place a few times and it is seriously really nice.

Absinthe.
And a nightly burlesque show.

It would be a mix between a reading room and a self-service bar. There would be no table service, but the customers would pick up their drinks at a beautifully carved, central bar and then retire to comfortable, well lit reading recliners

It would have a fireplace for cold weather and serve hot toddies and Tom and Jerrys, besides all thee usual drinks Winter snacks would include cheese fondue.
It would have a shady outdoor patio for warm weather and serve mint juleps, and other tall icy drinks. Bar food would be skewers of fruit, cheese and crackers and salty snacks.
Name? Jo’s Place. (I’ll have to think about the name.)

There are not many gamer bars. I am not talking your normal boardgames; I am talking Magic, Shadowrun, BattleTech… serious games. Trust me, many adults play those games, and many of them like to get their drink on.

AFK Tavern comes close, but leans a little to much towards console/PC gaming and is a bit pricey.

You must be nakey.

Yep… nakey nakey nakey nakey nakey nakey!

Mine would be a horror themed bar, where instead of boring sports game playing on the tube, there would always be some classic B movie running. It would be all decorated like Halloween, and although I’d have ordinary beer and drinks, I’d try to get special mixes with creepy names. Plus the bathrooms would look really cool, with glow in the dark peeping Tom skeletons hanging around.

My bar would be a dance club. Not sure if we are only using bar to mean a place to drink? The term is used differently around the country. Mine would be light colored walls, maybe white. Great use of lighting, possibly lights under the counters, maybe a color like blue. The place would be modern and appear clean. No smoking even if legal in the state. Fantastic dance floor, and also an area to get away from the loud music. Hopefully it is in a warm climate and there is an outdoor area as well with a second dance floor and different music than inside.

@Symbeline, I’d patronize the fuck out of your bar. If you could convince some investors to give you some startup capital, I’m willing to bet a lot of other people would too.

I am still developing my business plan but I’ve worked in this industry for a long time until the economy took a big shit on all of us. Okay, so here we go. I will leave parts of it out as they are secret and totally awesome.
Theme: Vaudeville meets 20’s, 30’s style burlesque with lowbrow art and some gore, gothicesq style decor.
Drinks: Think highbrow cocktails, mostly four and five part classics with fresh ingredients. There will be an option for folks who want to drink cheaply but it will not be encouraged. I would have a dozen bourbon infusions thirteen vodka infusions, several tequila infusions and proper glassware for all cocktails. I would also have a 100lbs. block of ice that served as the ice for the bar. Bartenders would cut what they need for the evening with an old bone saw. Fishbowl style tiki drinks will be served. Bartenders will blow fire.
Interior: Deep red velvet curtains, two foot half oval corner stage for bands, three foot catwalk through the middle. Natural gas lined wall torches and a couple of fireplaces including a large fire pit in the smoking area, lined with bamboo to create private “make-out” areas and social drinking spots. The back bar would be huge old book shelves with a ladder to reach the top shelf spirits. A few chandeliers would hang. Some walls would be equipped with antler hooks. There would be a proper style 20’s powder room for the ladies and a proper water closet for the men. If the space allowed for it I would have a cigar and scotch room, but very small. Only large enough to seat maybe 12 people. The bar itself would hopefully accommodate 125 folks, not comfortably but not overly crowded. High back round booths with one small opening to enter and get out. Old wooden bar stools with filed down axes as legs would line the bar.
Food: I’d got for several different pasta style dishes. Making sure there were equal vegan, vegetarian and meat options. Rabbit red sauce, deer meat and local fish and game dishes. At least one rattlesnake dish.
Music: I would have dj’s nightly. The music would mostly be old soul and r & b from the 20’s and 30’s however there will be the occasional N.W.A. track as well as music from Dinosaur Jr, Pixes and even old Metallica but mostly jazzish style stuff anfd old r&b.
Entertainment: There will be cigar girls, cigarette girls, french style burlesque and the occasional fire dancer and sword swallowing act. I will also have live music from time to time if it is a proper act. By proper act I mean good shit. Think everything from Mastadon to Squirrel Nut Zippers. Some nights will be themed. There will even be a movie night which showcases old horror movies and old black belt theater flicks.
Some theme nights/days: Church of the Cathaholics. This would happen on Sundays and it will be a build your own bloody mary bar. I will also offer shots of bloody mary’s as “communion” if you pay good tips to the bartender for being at the bar early on Sunday mornings. We will most likely watch cartoons and offer a cheap breakfast.
Fuck the Funk Fridays. This will be a James Brown only night from 11pm to close.
Dawn of the Dead party. Zombie themed burlesque night and rum drinks all around.

*The age to get in to the bar will be 25 for women and 27 for men on some nights. I will also have over 30 only parties. Yes this will piss off the younger kids and yes they will want to be in the bar. Yes this will work.

Disclaimer: Please, if anyone runs across this that has the bank to make it work do not steal my idea. I’ve been in bars and clubs all around the globe and I want more than anything to make one my own someday. If I find it stolen and can trace it back to here I will firebomb your club and everyone in it. xoxoxo.
I went homeless trying out my first bar because my partner decided to back out at the final signature. I will get another shot at making this work.
Other ideas I have is a 60’s style Chinese Ultra Lounge. An underground bunker style bar.

@judochop “firebomb”

Great name for a nightclub!

All I could think of right now is a bar with a see through floor and below are hungry great white sharks. And if after an hour after you sat down, you still are not drunk enough according to @Symbeline and @Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard standards, the trapdoor underneath your table opens.

I shall call this bar, The Sober Prey

@mazingerz88 in Portland, there are Shanghi bars. Back in the day when ships would port here for entertainment they would pay the bartender to slip a Micky in the drinks of men and women and sometime children to make them pass out. Someone downstairs would then pull a cord and folks would fall down on to mattresses and be carried through an underground tunnel and on to a ship.
I’ve taken the tour several times through the tunnels. I’ve also worked in a few bars that use their portion of the tunnel as storage.
The tunnels are haunted to boot. Scary stuff.
If there was a place to drink with a see through floor and a shark tank….That would be cool. Can you add a topless mermaid please?

@judochop Boy that was scary about those trapdoors and tunnels. Topless mermaids, check and for the ladies, naked mermen? : )

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard That was actually a plan I ’‘sort of’’ had years ago, opening a bar with a horror theme. I’d have to do this in a place like Montréal though, not this small town. I never pursued the idea too much, but it would be pretty neat. I’d have to take some courses in entrepreneurship or something like that.

@mazingerz88 Lol. That would be pretty cool actually. (minus the falling in XD)

I’m naming mine “My Refuge.”

Mine would most def be the first openly Heterosexual bar in the world. It’s time for the hetro community to have a place to go and sit on their keesters and have a good time.

@Sueanne_Tremendous How would we recognize it as such?

@Sueanne_Tremendous lolololololol you can’t be serious.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard : Serious? Me?
@Sunny2: By the stuffed shirts and bad dancing.