To paraphrase the country music song by Johnny Paycheck, they can take this bar and shove it. And I ain’t coming there no more.
Well, I would have never gone there in the first place but I most certainly would not be inclined to make it one of my go-to watering holes. You see, a bar in Greater Manchester, England called Alibi has a sign on its door with this notice: “After 9pm, Alibi does not permit single entry. If you are with guests already inside the venue, please contact them in advance of entry. This is for the safety of all guests.” It does not state what will happen to you if you are in there before 9. I suppose a doorman will suddenly take away your beer, grab you by the ear, drag to the door and toss you onto the street like a sack of mail.
For the”safety of all guests?” Some bloke named Carl Peters who is associated the the bar (I am guessing he is the owner) put this on social media: “If something happens to that person in a late-night, busy bar environment where people are drinking it’s an absolute nightmare for us to deal with.” He explained further that someone entering the bar alone was “immediately in a vulnerable situation”, adding: “If anything happens to someone, we’re clear, we want to know who they’re with. They fall over and bang their head. They get locked in the toilet. What have they had to drink? Because situations arise where the friend group gives you all the information that you need… If there’s no one with them, we don’t have that information.”
Just how drunk do people get in Manchester? Do they get so drunk they fall over and bang their head against something? How the heck do they get locked in the toilet?
According to a story in The Independent, Peters stated that solo drinkers don’t keep to themselves but “start mithering other groups – because they’re not just going to sit there in a bar having a drink on their own in silence.”
Oh, well that’s just terrible. Keep your mithering to yourself. Peters apparently expects that if you go into a bar alone you should sit there by yourself, sip your beer without saying a word and look rigidly straight ahead as if you’re in class at a military academy. If that’s the case, then why go to a bar at all? It’s much cheaper just to stay home and drink alone. A bar called Alibi seems to making excuses for itself.
Well, as I am sure the solo drinkers in that area know that there are many other bar options in Manchester. In fact, there are more than 2,100 listed pubs and bars in Greater Manchester. If and when I go there, whether I’m alone or with someone else, I’ll be in one of those other one and won’t need to make any alibis as to why I am not at Alibi.
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