Bar Star vs Pub Loyalist: Where I stand

Many of my friends and I love our pubs and bars. Thusly, we are not to be confused with the bar-stars of the club scene. This entry was inspired by the debate between the bar-star or club hopper versus the pub loyalist.


I have been an avid party go’er since the days of cake and loot-bags. Nothing excites me more then a bunch of friends with same mentality to have a great time and create some memories to look back and laugh on. However, as we all have to grow up in life, partying shifted from the house, park, parking lot, field, etc, to the bar and other establishments that legally sold beverages without the threat of the cops putting a kibosh on the whole shebang.

Like many of my friends in the same age range, I was introduced to the bar scene quite early in my life. The days before dealing with ID scanners and where the simplest of drivers license modifications, along with an uncanny ability to grow some hefty sideburns, allowed one to slip past security with relative ease. The bar scene was a learning experience from the get go. No longer were you at a venue where you might have known more than half the people or at least was connected to the majority in some way or another; at such a young age, a bar merely provided somewhere where you and friends of age, or friends lucky enough to have slipped in with you, could find a secluded corner and drink together all the while glancing around at the talent the opposite sex provided (not that you had a chance anyways but you were still too naive to know that). The bar, club or pub, taught you that partying would no longer be cheap, the best company derives from the friends that you attend with and to always prepare for the worst. Over the years, it is safe to say these lessons are some that can be applied to any drinking establishment. However, as the locations frequented would become more diverse as you grew in age, a clear distinction could be made between the particular “scenes” that make up your local nightlife.

I can’t particularly pinpoint my first club experience but I do know that after a while, they all blended into a general feeling towards them. Vancouver’s club scene, from my perception, was… interesting. Being in a city where people are used to thinking they are the “shit” because we are constantly told how great it is to live here, etc, you can find a direct link between that notion and the feeling in any of the major clubs downtown or in the surrounding areas. Not being a character to judge first and experience later, I have attended clubs on and off with friends throughout the years even giving some numerous chances to impress me. Saying that, I’m going to try my best at describing an average night out at a club from the perspective of a guy like myself:

Going to a club usually requires a dress code; collared shirt, no runners and nicer jeans are usually the go-to’s for gentleman (or at least that’s how they want to be perceived) attending. Although dressing up has never been a problem for me, dressing for a club has always made me feel like someone I’m not; as if one has to put on a show to prove their place in the social hierarchy. When you finally show up to the club, you are quick to realize that every guy is dressed the same with a few variances to differ themselves from the dude next to them. You learn to quickly shrug this off as a necessity because this is a “classy” venue you’re about to attend so you should look the part of how you, and those around you, are the “shit”. After waiting in line for the seemingly endless wave of assholes that get in before you, your groups enters the club and scopes out a place to settle as a “home base”, so to speak. The club itself, although doing its best to be perceived as classy, is really just like any other bar but with varied seating, colour schemes and lighting setups. Half your group ventures off to acquire drinks for the rest, while the remaining hold the fort and begin the ancient art of people watching. After buying a round or two of ridiculously priced and weak tasting high-balls (because no one drinks beer at the club), you decide its time for some loser-laps and begin to contemplate dancing. A few more glasses of liquid courage and lack of fun finally builds you up enough to try your hand at the flood of people who have engulfed the top 40 dance floor. You head out with a buddy and a smile in hopes of finding a partner to get down to the beat with and make the evening compete with the pace of your drinking. Here’s where you learn another valuable lesson in Vancouver’s club scene; when you ask a random girl to dance, not only are you asking her to get her groove on, but apparently this also means “and by dance, of course I mean have sex tonight”. The defensive stance of women in Metro Vancouver is easily observed at this point but that concept is a blog entry all on its own. You finally duck and weave your way out of the hoard of awkwardly grinding bodies and decide its time to take your aggression out with a few shots and let the night take care of itself. This, unfortunately, usually ends with one becoming much too drunk, making some stupid decisions in the form of random hook-ups, inducing vomiting, terrible food-choices and/or a lack of a ride home.

This experience could be argued to be the same at any nightlife establishment, not just pertaining to Vancouver’s club scene. However, the major difference between the club and pub is the concept of expectations meeting outcome. Club’s are so riddled with hype, starting from the moment you undo the top button of your collared shirt, that ego replaces fun as a priority; therefore, a battle for who is perceived as the “coolest” (or douchiest depending on your perspective) takes precedence. People going to clubs show up with expectations of partying like a rock star and that’s exactly how they act. Regrettably, rock stars or partying celebrities are some of societies most egocentric and narcissistic members and the club is another outlet displaying their ridiculous influence over us.

Finally we can discuss why the pub is a much friendlier approach to nightlife. When one prepares for a night out at the pub, personal expectations are lower because the pub provides a much more forgiving atmosphere. Dress code no longer becomes an issue and for the most part, people are truly able to express themselves through their clothing without having to resort to bells and whistles. This attitude carries across the board while one is a patron at a pub. Food being served until late, larger seating areas, live music and smaller but spirit filled dance floors present a down-to-earth mentality; a mentality that prioritizes inclusivity not exclusivity and where one’s desire to befriend an entire bar is prized over their ability to be better than the person next to them.

In the end, this entry boils down to what type of person you are. The experience I have described, although not necessarily applicable to the masses, seemed to be more or less the same for a majority of the social circle I am incorporated with. Furthermore, this is not an entry putting down those who frequent the club and have acquired “bar-star” status by their peers, because I know and call many of you friends. Hopefully this will simply provide some insight as to why your friend preemptively canceled on plans to go hit the freshest club downtown.


Keeping his collar down and pint glass full,

Matias M. Barchman