The right venue can make an evening out. An errant bar works for an evening of talking and catching up with old friends but an errant bar is not suitable for a first date, somewhere that is the perfect venue for a celebratory drink after a well-deserved promotion suddenly feels wrong when used to host a business meeting. Understanding these differences can help people put together good evenings out rather than forcing activities that don’t make sense into venues that cannot support these evenings.
Celebratory Events and Achievements
Anything that is worth celebrating deserves an exuberant venue with all of the bells and whistles. No worthy achievement should be celebrated in a venue that feels like a Tuesday.
It doesn’t matter if the venue is a little loud. It cannot lack atmosphere. Part of the reason venues are appropriate for celebrating any achievement is that they already convey that something worth celebrating has happened and worthy achievements deserve to be celebrated in venues that enhance the celebration rather than dilute it.
Venues that have charm, interesting design features, and an air of sophistication enhance the celebration beyond the drinks on offer. It is in these locations that people will begin to associate achievements with their celebration. Elements such as whether the venue is too loud, the lighting, the layout of tables can make or break these evenings out.
Service is also crucial on these types of evenings out. Staff that are attentive, notice when drinks need to be refilled, or who don’t make the celebration feel like an ordinary evening out are non-negotiable. Venues that have experience dealing with groups celebrating achievements usually offer this service in abundance compared to pubs with low profiles.
The First Date
First dates require their own type of navigation when selecting a venue. It cannot be too loud. It cannot be too quiet. It cannot be so low-key that it feels like the person has put in no effort in selecting the venue. It also needs to avoid being too high-end so that it doesn’t create too much tension.
Busy enough to have background noise but quiet enough that people still have to talk to hear each other makes a great first date venue. The lighting should be flattering but not so dim that seeing each other is difficult. A cocktail bar ticks all of these boxes provided the focus is on the atmosphere of the bar and the quality of the cocktails and not just the number of customers they can pack in.
A cocktail bar in a central location, such as this cocktail bar in covent garden, boast all of the polished characteristics people need for an evening out to show a romantic interest while avoiding feeling awkwardly uncomfortable.
An interesting cocktail menu works wonders on a first date. It gives people something to talk about. A chance to make decisions without pushing either party in a particular direction. Bartenders with expertise who offer recommendations on the menu calm nervous first daters down easily. It also provides an avenue for conversation while avoiding awkward interactions with the other party.
Business Drinks
Business drinks need a venue that allows people to connect while remaining professional. Any place that is bouncing off crowds vibing hard into their night does not cut it. A strong focus needs to be placed on the conversation and not the other people in the venue or how fantastic the venue is itself.
Venues that fade into the background rather than feel like guests at these evenings out offer the best venue for business networking events.
Venues that are too loud do not work for business meetings out. No one wants to be shouting at all of the colleagues or clients they are trying to network with. The perfect business drink venue has commonality lurking in the blend of professionalism and comfort.
Another quality that business drink venues should have is steady service. Slow service or a staff who make blunders when taking orders are scenarios no one wants to deal with while trying to create an impression of professionalism and competence. Established business with experience dodge these potentially disastrous situations.
Catching Up With Old Friends
The best thing about catching up with old friends is that most venues work for this type of evening out. When old friends gather, it is less about the venue and more about the company. However, different catch-up sessions may benefit from different types of venues.
Small groups catching up after a long time need quiet venues to converse over their drink of choice. Loud energetic venues do not fit the bill for the same group of friends. Larger groups will require a venue that buzzes with energy and also allows them space to spread out.
Friendship groups require venues that are not high-brow. Old friends catching up do not need anyone to make an effort to prove their sophistication. The company beats the sophistication at all costs. The best venues for catching up with friends are those where groups can settle for a while instead of venues that are tailored to giving people a quick turnaround.
Different types of friend catch-up sessions require different types of venues. A venue that suits this type of activity leads to a better evening than just returning to an old favorite out of habit or habit out of proximity to home or work.
Going Solo (To The Bar)
There are occasions when someone may want to go out drinking by themselves. Not in a sad gloomy way but in a manner that makes a little time set aside in their busy schedules to drink with themselves.
Venues that are intended for people who want to go out drinking by themselves have decent bar seating, sweet views, bartenders with skill who can read the cues of customers wanting to speak or not wanting to speak and come back multiple times during an evening instead of just once to get drinks to their patrons.
Quality cocktail bars cater to solo drinkers because bartenders engage with individuals more compared to other customers because creating these cocktails is what they have come for and interacting with other customers gives them a chance to further indulge in this activity.
The common theme among all of these venues is intentionality. Taking chances and randomly selecting venues based on proximity or just habit usually results in evenings out in venues that do not enhance those gatherings. Taking time before an evening out to think about what type of interaction people intend to have in these settings and matching venues accordingly creates experiences far better than those made when using landmarks and habit to guide the choosing of venues for an evening out with friends or romantic partners alike.
