Is it true that British hospitals have "Bars" in them?

[sasquatch]

I was watching a special on Graham Chapman and he said he became a big drinker while working in a British hospital because all of the surgeons were big drinkers. They said he would drink in the hospital's bar till 3 in the morning most times.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. I went to a bar in a church in England.

I think I'd go to church more often, if only they all had bars.

[sasquatch]

2. Me too

:beer:

[sasquatch]

3. Kick

:kick:

[billyskank]

4. First I heard of it

:shrug:

[no name no slogan]

5. A lot of places have pubs (which are different than bars)

and the pubs do serve beer (and many serve wine and harder stuff, too). However, the pub has a different tradition and background than what we Americans consider a bar. It's hard to explain unless you've actually lived in the culture, IMHO.

[Lucy - Claire]

6. Yes....they do have staff pubs or clubs.....

So do many of Britain's public service buildings, such as The Home Office and The FCO. The idea is that is they serve cheaper beer at work, it will stop groups of civil servants talking about confidential top secret matters in the pub down the road when they are rat-arsed on a Friday night!!! And it is less of a disaster is someone forgets their briefcase.
I worked for a local public office with had a pub and a subsidized sandwich bar. For some reason it was on the same floor as the local Councilors offices and the meeting rooms. (It is a very British thing, have a meeting then all go for a liquid lunch for two hours, carry on the meeting whilst watching Sky Sport on the tv in the corner.)
You could get lunch with a drink for less than 2 quid. :wink: And it was the only place in the building that allowed smoking.
The difference between a bar and a British pub even in a hospital or a government building they also have snooker tables, dart boards, fruit machines etc. And though Muslims do not drink, they will often join friends in the pub and drink a orange juice or a Coke.
The pub culture is so vital to the British way of life, that all of our major soaps revolve around the a pub as the main meeting place, in its about drinking for many people, it is a place to make friends in small towns and communities.

[no name no slogan]

8. Welcome to DU!

I used to work at a pub in London, and spent many a drunken evening drinking cheap booze at a certain college's club in Oxford. Until the one night where we drank all their gin. And then finished off their vodka. And then the tonic. And the orange juice. Finally we ended up at a "townie" pub where my friend used to work, where they had overnight guests and we stayed up until the wee wee hours getting legless. Good times when you're 22 years old. :)

[Lucy - Claire]

13. Oh at 22.....

I had my first civil service job. I have never had a job since where I was being paid while getting drunk.
Anyone that left had a boozey leaving do, the higher the rank the longer the party. I have gone to leaving does at lunchtime and returned to work in time to tidy my desk and go home. The Christmas Party was one long pub crawl after a dinner in which people where throwing paper missiles at each other. I had twisted my ankle that morning and I had drunk so much, I ignored it. It was seriously bad the next morning!!!!

[sasquatch]

10. That sounds very nice, thank you for answering

:hi:
Welcome to DU!

[Lisa]

7. there's at least one British hospice with a bar ...

When the weather is pleasant, the patients (almost all of whom expect to be dead within a couple of months) sit out on the terrace with a Guinness or a gin and tonic. The father of a friend of mine spent his final weeks there. He was sick and miserable from the last-ditch chemotherapy they'd tried, and just being able to sit outside with a pint in his hand brought him so much happiness -- for a few minutes, he could pretend that he was living a normal life.

I wish we had that in Canada. We don't even have enough hospices, let alone ones that will go to such lengths to make people comfortable.

[sasquatch]

9. That sounds really nice

We need things like that in this country for sure.

[ChoralScholar]

11. That Graham Chapman special on PBS was great, wasn't it? EOM

[sasquatch]

12. Yes it was

He sounded like he was a great human being.