A pub is an establishment selling alcoholic beverages such as beer or wine. It also provides food and a social atmosphere. A pub may also provide entertainment such as live music, karaoke, or television shows. It is often a meeting place for friends and neighbors to meet for drinks or lunch. A pub can also be a venue for sports events, such as rugby and football. A pub is operated by a licensee, known as the landlord or landlady.
The word comes from the old English ‘pubess’ meaning public house, but in recent years many pubs have had walls removed to become one large room and are called gastropubs. They serve a wide range of drinks, but are best known for their great selection of craft beers, and good food. A good pub will have a relaxed, friendly atmosphere and is generally quieter than a bar.
Whether they are dark and atmospheric or spartan and modern, they are perhaps the last bastion of a traditional culture that has not been infected by the blight of gentrification and urbanisation. They are a space to celebrate or commiserate, a place where the warm embrace of strangers is as welcome as that of old friends. They are where people go to drink, to play, to sing or listen to music, to eat and to argue.
