Congruity between what is offered with regularity/predictability, and what the pool of potential clientele are looking for in a bar. This could be any, all, or none of the following:
- Empty
- Packed
- Quiet
- Loud
- TOO LOUD
- Great craft beers/well executed cocktails
- cheap taps, bottles and well drinks
- Excellent high quality cuisine for pre-dinner or late night eats
- Bad, or at least bad for you food, that fills the stomach and holds off a good drunk
- Strangers looking to talk
- Strangers looking to be left alone
- Dancing
- Karaoke
- Dark places to make out
- Dark places to buy and sell narcotics
- Photo Booths
- Pinball
- Free Peanuts or Popcorn
- Decor with history and atmosphere – seedy, but comfortable
- Clean and fresh decor – germ free and sanitary
- Giant TVs to watch sports
- Giant TVs to watch cult movies
- Giant TVs to watch random mind-boggling video snippets (including music videos)
- No TVs
- Pool tables and/or foosball
- Old people
- Young people
- Concentrations of people with a given cultural/ethnic background
- Concentrations of people from all over, with no unifying theme
- Locals
- Out of Towners
And that's just off the top of my head. Unfortunately, the main thing that unifies all great bars around the world is dead simple: the ability to consistently stay afloat financially. Beyond that, the specific tactics, atmosphere, decor, food/drink menus vary far too much to give a good answer that is not necessarily based on personal preference.
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