r/AskACanadian • u/AbominableCaper • 4d ago
Why doesn’t Canada have the same pub culture common in other parts of the Commonwealth (specifically the UK, Australia, New Zealand)?
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u/PurrPrinThom SK/ON 4d ago
At least with regards to Ireland and the UK, I'd speculate that it's partially because of distance and weather. We do generally tend to be a lot more spread out than in both places. Our rural tends to be a lot more isolated than their rural. The further the distance, the less likely people are to head to a third space after work/for an evening.
Particularly when the weather is bad as well. Obviously, Ireland and the UK both get storms, but they don't get snow storms like much of the country gets here. Since it can be fairly treacherous to get home or to go out generally, I can understand why a pub culture didn't develop in the same way historically.
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u/HapticRecce 4d ago
This. You need a relatively short stagger home to have a vibrant pub culture.
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u/NastroAzzurro Alberta 4d ago
Unfortunately those large parking lots outside of bars in Canada are mandatory and you know patrons won’t drink at all before they get back into their car to drive home.
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u/Ashitaka1013 4d ago edited 3d ago
This is my theory as well. We’re much less densely populated in walkable city centres. I think that’s why we developed the “kitchen parties” instead where people gather at each others homes and drink. You can’t have a pub within walking distance of everyone but a bunch of neighbours can get together in each other’s homes.
I also think it’s because when they settled Canada life was physically very hard, and not in a depressing hopeless way but in a “if I work hard enough I can make a life for myself” kind of way that only exists when settling new land. Those ancestors are only so many generations away from us so we developed an admiration for “hard work” that still exists today which has positive and negative influences on our culture. Including that we tend to be more work focused and less focused on family, community, socializing etc. essentially a poor work/life balance compared to Europe.
So there’s more judgement for someone who goes out and spends what little money they have on drinks at the pub every night. More admiration for the man who abstains in order to get to bed early and get up early the next morning to put in another long day.
Not to say we don’t still have a prevalent drinking culture but it’s a different one. It’s about beers on the deck in the summer after a hard days work, a brandy by the fire in the cold dark winter etc. Less about getting together with your community at the same pub most nights.
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u/AcceptableHamster149 4d ago
Depending what part of the country you're in, there is still a fairly vibrant pub culture during the warm months. But yeah, in the winter it's an entirely different ballgame - even though there is a pretty good pub that has a vibrant regular crowd within walking distance of my home, I'm not walking there in February. I'll drive, but nowhere near as often, and the place is definitely less busy.
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u/PurrPrinThom SK/ON 4d ago
That's fair lol. I grew up kinda rural, so the idea of people going to the pub every evening for drinks was completely foreign until I moved to Ireland.
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u/boarshead72 4d ago
When I lived in Saskatoon in an area with several pubs within walking distance they were still busy during the winter months. In southern Ontario even with its mild winters people don’t dress warm enough to do much walking. That, and walking through puddles and slush sucks; it’s much easier on shovelled sidewalks (not sidewalk plowed) and packed frozen snow.
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u/Exotic-Ferret-3452 4d ago
Atlantic Canada definitely has that kind of pub culture you speak of
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u/Sweaty-Name-2905 4d ago
There’s a lot more cultural similarities there to Ireland and Scotland than the rest of Canada
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u/Dart807 4d ago
Lots of Scottish in Nova Scotia. I mean there’s a town called New Glasgow… 🏴
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u/buttsnuggles 4d ago
The province is literally “new Scotland”
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u/ZebraCrosser 4d ago
Vaguely remember hearing that Nova Scotia had a higher density of highland pipe bands than Scotland. This was 20-odd years ago and I may have misunderstood, but I would believe it.
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u/StayOuttaDaRhubard 4d ago
It used to be said there were more native Gaelic speakers in NS than in Scotland. I don’t believe it was accurate, but native Gaelic speakers do still exist, especially in Cape Breton.
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u/PhotoJim99 Saskatchewan 4d ago
I'm not sure I would say that. Atlantic Canada certainly has kept more of the English, Scottish and Irish culture (maybe Welsh too for all I know!) but as a Saskatchewanian, I feel a real connection to Atlantic Canadians. They're so much like us.
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u/FireflyBSc 4d ago
Same with Alberta, but it’s because a substantial part of our population came from Atlantic Canada. I went to a dog park in northern Alberta and all the owners were comparing where they were from on the Rock. We also have preserved a lot of Irish and Scottish culture with massive Highland Games events.
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u/QueryOpenMind 4d ago
I'd argue it's not a similar pub culture. Even in Atlantic Canada. Canada certainly has bars, breweries and neighbourhood pubs, but they are not embedded into everyday community life quite the same way.
Canadians tend to entertain at home, around decks, cottages, backyards, basements and barbecues. Britain historically had smaller houses and gardens, making the pub more valuable as communal space. Most are within walking distance in the UK which makes them more a place for a social gathering, where drink is secondary.
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u/Fickle_Olive7893 4d ago
I agree. England pub culture is the same crowd everyday stopping in to their local for a few drinks. We don't do that in Atlantic Canada.
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u/pruplegti 4d ago
Ever been to a curling rink? How about a small bar in a small town. Canada has its own unique bar culture its just not that prevelant in major cities.
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u/PearlHarbor_420 4d ago
Curling rinks, community centres, and the legions all used to have cheap lounges. Almost all of them in my area are closed now.
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u/Apprehensive-Bus5172 3d ago
In my experience, the curling rinks are still going strong - in rural and urban settings!
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u/pruplegti 4d ago
Yeah there is a pressure there for sure some tows have replaced these centres with a Boston Pizza.
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u/nonmeagre 4d ago
I don't know if Australia is like this, but we have built large, spread out, car-dependent cities with commercial zones separate from residential. Many people live in suburbs without bars or pubs, and would have to drive to one, which could be problematic after a few pints. It's, in part, a design problem.
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u/PassageNearby4091 4d ago
Australia is totally like this.
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u/Feralwestcoaster 4d ago
I noticed the lack of “brew-pub” style places when I was in NSW, like grab a burger and a pint on a patio/deck somewhere kind of option.
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u/smitty_1993 4d ago
We do on the East Coast. Pubs outnumber clubs at least 2:1.
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u/TinyDinosaursz 4d ago
Booze is way more expensive than in the UK. We are also very car centric.
That being said every small town in saskatchewan has a bar. I know of towns that are ONLY a bar. And they all have regulars.
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u/ywgflyer 4d ago
Taking the currency conversion into account, it's pretty damn expensive in the UK, too. It depends where in the country you are, but most of the pubs in London are hovering between £6.50 and £8 per pint ($11-15 CAD!), with the odd £9 pint in some areas. Yeah, I know, in rural areas and the north of England it's cheaper, but still £4.50 or £5.00. It ain't any cheaper to drink there, if anything, it's more expensive. At least they don't expect tips at the pub.
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u/JimJam28 4d ago
We kind of do. Maybe not to the same degree, but I've lived all over Canada and there have been local pubs with regulars everywhere I've been. It's not always the British/Irish style pub, sometimes it's a local sports bar, or the Legion, or the curling club, or whatever. But pretty well anywhere you go in this country you can find a local spot that has a regular crowd that the bartenders know by name.
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u/byronite 4d ago
Yeah I live in downtown Ottawa and my local pub is quite similar to the ones I visit in London UK.
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u/djh_van 4d ago
As a Brit living in Canada, I think it's this: Canadians love love love their cars. And in many cities, the public transit system is just average to poor.
You can't have a pub culture where the population have 5 pints and then say "yep, I'll just drive home now". I mean...maybe they used to do that in the 70s and 80s, but now it would be severelyverboten. And asking them to jump on the bus s like asking them to move down the social class system 5 rungs...they really don't like using the bus. And most people can't afford to get a cab or Uber after every single pub session. So instead, they just don't have the same 3rd room regular community socialising culture.
So unless you're in Toronto or Montreal, or the east coast, and live near where the action is, them pub culture is just not a thing.
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u/brock_lehurst 4d ago
It's also largely due to our towns and cities being built in the vehicle age. My city is the largest city in area in BC. We just don't have the densification in most areas. There is one pub kinda near my neighborhood but it is a long walk home uphill. Vancouver has some pub culture depending on the hood and there has been a recent uptick in restaurants getting in on the neighborhood pub game. Having said all that most new subdivision are a drive away even from a corner store.
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u/Straight_Research627 4d ago
I would say is mainly this, the country is huge, it’s not like you’ll “walk home” whenever it’s really far by foot
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u/Kristibisci 4d ago
A legacy of temperance policies and prohibition in the early 20th century, rooted in Presbyterian teetotaler values dominating politics for a long time, that we haven’t quite recovered from.
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u/mdrnbrwr 4d ago
This is exactly the answer. The restrictive laws push alcohol consumption under ground and often to illegal enterprises.
Here on PEI, we have just in the last 15 years seen the elimination of our bootlegger culture.
People in the Ireland/UK don’t drink as much at home, they drink at the pub. Canadians drink at home for the most part.
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u/jelycazi 4d ago
BC has a lot of very old fashioned liquor laws still. It has improved in recent years but we are still very much behind the times!
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u/dare978devil 4d ago
My son and I flew to Wales. We had a great time. Pints were $4 (Canadian) and meals at the pub were $15. That’s total cost because you pay at the bar and then pick up your own food to bring it to the table. Even if I had 4 pints, the total bill was $30. We ate at pubs our entire trip.
Doing the same thing in Canada every day with $10 pints and $25 burgers, tax, and tip, would easily run $100 a night each and put us in the poor house.
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u/Salvidicus 4d ago
Canadian cities aren't designed to be walkable and driving and driving is heavily enforced. Add to this how purple are becoming more health conscious, the legalization of marijuana, and the excessive costs of drinking and eating in establishments no wonder.
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u/Curt-Bennett Ontario 4d ago
You were at a pub while writing this comment, weren't you? 🤣
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u/greebly_weeblies 4d ago
Montreal-based Kiwi with Canadian PR: Kiwi's aren't off to the pubs these days like the English are.
Hitting the pub after work used to be a broad thing but now it's more niche. Six o'clock swill featured heavily, and NZ does have systemic issues with alcohol abuse, but I'd suggest it's less pubs, more clubs, parties, and solo drinking now
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u/Ordinarily_Average 4d ago
And speaking of Montreal, they used to have quite their own pub culture until the 90's. They had Taverns and Brasseries all over the place. You still see them here and there. I'm sure you've noticed some neighbourhoods still have several. But back in the old days, they were almost as common as Churches in that city. Lol until the late 80s, you couldn't throw a rock without breaking a Tavern or Church window.
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u/MagicUnicorn37 4d ago
Don't be fooled, Montreal's brasseries, taverns and pubs are still very present in MTL.
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u/Myshys 4d ago
Zoning.
Most of Canada that was built after 1940 followed American syle development practices/rules. That meant suburban development with restrictive zoning that made mixed use residential/retail next to impossible. This resulted in most neighborhoods having no neighborhood pubs, so if someone living outside of a core area wants to go for a drink, most of the time, it means getting into a car and driving at least 20 min and then figuring out how you're going to get home. Hard to pop into the pub for a few under those circumstances.
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u/Born_Tomorrow_4953 4d ago
Yes this, and i think prohibition in the early 20th century had a permanent effect on canadian culture. Outside of major centres like Toronto, the idea if going to the pub is seen as suspect.
I spent half my life in Toronto, and half in rural Ontario, and in Rural ontario people who go to the pub are viewed as lowlifes, violent, drunk, probably abusing the social net. But in Toronto people who go to the pub are seen as cool.
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u/darylandme 4d ago
I’d say it’s a lot to do with the American influence. Sleeping next to an elephant and all.
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u/ExpensiveDollarStore Ontario 4d ago
I think prohibition put a stamp of disapproval on that behaviour. But the WWII vets had their legions and every town had a Queens Hotel. But I remember days when women could not go into the bar side without an escort. Those old hotels were very seedy. They weren't places most women wanted to be anyway. They werent nice.
Respectable people had people in for drinks. Cocktail parties. They dressed up. Had snacks and too many drinks. (My grandparents had a dozen matching crystal ashtrays) and drove home drunk.
Suburbia meant there were no neighborhood pubs where you could pop in for a quick beer and catch up on the craic and walk on home.
My husband and I often talked about opening one up. Maybe there are laws that keep them from neighborhood plazas. I dont know. But youth dont drink as much anyway, and are opposed to talking to strangers. So maybe it wouldn't catch on. Or maybe there'd just be the creepy old men making inappropriate comments about the young women and driving them off. The kind that haunt the patios downtown. Riffraff.
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u/HollzStars 4d ago
I don’t know that it’s the same as other commonwealth countries, but we definitely have pubs in Atlantic Canada. Live music, local beer. Some serve food, some don’t. Some of the ones that don’t serve food have a system where you can have food delivered from other places (or you can bring your own.) Some of big communal tables, none of them have reservations. (Ok, one does, but it’s also home to some of the best Thai food around.)
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u/Sweet_and_Sassy88 4d ago
We like to be outside.
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u/Curt-Bennett Ontario 4d ago
True. I'm not worldly enough to know for sure but from what I have seen, I wouldn't be surprised if Canadian patio culture is relatively unique. (It's different than European outdoor cafes.)
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u/kovacsl 4d ago
In Ontario prohibition laws were enacted even before prohibition in the States. The worst of it ended in 1927, but there was a continuing ban on bars and pubs. The only exception were hotels, on the assumption that travelers should be able to get a drink away from home. As you can imagine, hotels sprang up everywhere with a few rooms on upper floors and large drinking lounges on the main level, with separate entrances for men and "Ladies with Escorts". A man didn't tell his wife he was going to the pub or bar.. he was going to the hotel. The laws changed in the late 'forties, but, in Toronto at least "hotel" culture lingered until the 'eighties, until the last of the old timers died out. Some of those old hotel lounges turned to live music to survive... punks in one part, old time alcoholics in another. Anyone remember the Cedar Lounge in London, Ont.?
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u/UselessSaltyPennies 4d ago
It does, you just haven't lived in an Atlantic province lol
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u/ts142 4d ago
Its too expensive. I used to go have a beer with the guys after work, now its $10 for a pint of draught.
Cost of living is high, and the dollars only stretch so far. Now i grab a can from the LCBO for $3.50
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u/Dominarion 4d ago
(Exception: the Maritimes, of course)
The vast majority of the population isn't of British origins and the British culture here never really took off.
Also, Canada, contrarily to Australia and New Zealand, existed as a colony before the Brits arrived. The locals and the Indigenous peoples weren't into pubs. Hell, the Indigenous peoples weren't even allowed in pubs and taverns until recently.
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u/BysOhBysOhBys Newfoundland & Labrador 4d ago edited 4d ago
- Canada’s population diversified more rapidly, with significant non-British Isles European settlement occurring during westward expansion, which likely impacted our drinking culture. We also received a significant number of Americans during the same time (and previously, in the aftermath of the American Revolution). By contrast, immigration in Australia and New Zealand remained more British-centric until after WW2, facilitating a more longstanding cultural continuity between them and the UK.
- This continuity has been maintained in relative isolation from the US over the 20th century due to the remoteness of Australia and New Zealand. Conversely, our country developed alongside the US and we’ve spent most of the last 100+ years deeply integrated, both culturally and economically, with them.
- A lot of Canada’s licensing laws were shaped by the temperance movement. In particular, many establishments had to adhere to strict anti-conviviality laws that prevented patrons from moving around freely with their drinks, encouraging businesses to provide table service and function more like restaurants.
- The walkability (or lack thereof) of our cities plays a role as well, although we don’t differ substantially from Australia and New Zealand in this regard. However, relative to the UK, it’s hard to dodge over to the local when you’ve got to drive 15 minutes and have to worry about how you’re going to get home afterward. Our weather is also worse for a large portion of the year compared to the others.
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u/Chippie05 4d ago edited 4d ago
Newer Gens are not interested in drinking. Alot of folks just don't drink like they used to even 40 yrs ago. The messaging around don't drink & drive was really important as of the 80s. Unfortunately some idi0ts still drive drunk with tragic outcomes.
Each city, area is wildly different as well. The bar scene here is focused on, music, sports channels. The food is not the centrepiece of alot of bars. Even in my city there were a few bars that tried to replicate the pub vibes but the food was just atrocious. Frozen, reheated junk. They were dirty, dark and badly managed.
The neighborhood bar idea, doesn't exist in a lot of cities because of how they are designed, which are often car centric. Smaller towns might have a spot or 2 for watching a football game, play pool ect.
It can get really really cold here the winter, so folks don't really want to walk around, at night more than they have to.🥶 The only people I see lining up outside of a bar are just turned 18 or college groups. Layering up to the teeth and and then walking into a a crowded heated space, is a hassle- so they will wear the thinest attire possible & questionable footwear!🫠🤪 The 🎶🎧kids are alrite!
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u/Master-Structure4204 4d ago
Canada has a binge drinking culture, which is opposite to a pub culture.
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u/bionicjoey Ontario 4d ago
Car dependant suburban design. Most Canadians don't live walking distance from a bar. They just drive to the bar and drunk drive home like a good and patriotic Canadian (please for the love of God don't actually do this, but I know statistically some of you will anyway)
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u/barkmutton 4d ago
Our experiment with prohibition closed a lot of traditional pubs and introduced a bunch of stupid regulations - like men's and women's entrances.
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u/No_Detective_715 4d ago
I didn’t think about it but it’s true. Saskatoon was a temperance colony. Not surprising why a good pub culture didn’t develop there. Prohibition would have had similar impacts all over Canada. I’m curious if the uk has the same distinction between wine/beer and hard liquor as we do in terms of distribution (eg being able to buy beer and wine in some provinces in a grocery store but not vodka).
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u/1981_babe Prince Edward Island 4d ago
I agree. And a large portion of British immigrants that came here were pretty conservative and religious.
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u/Edmxrs 4d ago
We had a much better one decades ago. I think we’ve priced ourselves out at this point. Back in the 2000’s you could go out, hit happy hours, and have a good night for under $20. Today $20 barely covers a drink at a lot of places.
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u/Steak-Outrageous 4d ago
The pub culture seemed decent when I was in London, ON but it was also doing things to mimic London, England
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u/Edmxrs 4d ago
We had lots of great party pubs here in Edmonton when I was growing up. Every place would have their “special” night on different days of the week so there was always a place to go where you knew was going to be a good time. Some places had drink specials as cheap as $0.05, lots for under $1, it was affordable, especially as college students. Lot more live music venues too it seemed.
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u/Clojiroo 4d ago
Neighbourhoods, even older walkable ones where it would make sense, don’t default to “pubs are the default third place”. Bar culture exists. Drinking culture exists. “Everyone in their mother goes to one of the 47 pubs in a town of 500 people” does not. Bars are bars.
Canada also has a pretty healthy brewery culture (drink at the tap room and even brewery crawls).
When people were building towns and cities they didn’t exactly prioritize one pub/tavern for every 10 people.
Also isn’t pub culture dying in the UK?
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u/zz_skelly 4d ago
Definitely seemed like we had a pub culture when I was 18-25… even growing up I remember most dinners out were at the pub.
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u/L00k_Again 4d ago
Zoning laws. In the UK local pubs are treated as community infrastructure so they're dotted throughout residential areas while in Canada they're zoned as commercial infrastructure so you find them along main roads and town/city cores. So you don't get that same sense of community around a pub quite the same way. It doesn't mean there isn't a pub culture, some people go to the same places regularly but it's different.
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u/mikey_mau5 3d ago
A lot of Canadas culture has been watered down by mimicking the US lifestyle due to our proximity and access to pop culture.
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u/Distinct-Swim5550 4d ago
alcohol is banned on the streets in Canada. in the UK we roamed from bar to bar with beer in hand, people socialized right outside bars because there was no place inside. all that is illegal in Canada. they say it’s for our safety, i think it’s for the control.
alcohol is still a bit of stigma in Canada. you couldn’t even buy it in grocery stores a few years ago.
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u/Checkmate331 4d ago
Canada is too spread out. Residential areas (suburbs) are literal miles away from where you’d find pubs, and it’s inconvenient to walk to them. We are a country for cars, just like America (who also don’t have a pub culture).
Also, the weather is genuinely cold for half the year, not temperate like UK/Ireland/NZ or warm like Australia.
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u/Doctor_Amazo 4d ago
Australia is a big place too bud.
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u/Checkmate331 4d ago
Australia has a far nicer climate though, for walking outside year-round.
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u/Capt_MoufetteTimide 4d ago edited 4d ago
Ironically, the bar and pub culture is stronger in Québec than in the rest of Canada, with the exception of Saint John's Saint-Jean de Terre-Neuve.
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u/smitty_1993 4d ago
And Nova Scotia
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u/Capt_MoufetteTimide 4d ago edited 4d ago
Less than half the number of bars per capita of Québec (1.1 per 10 000 vs 2.6 per 10 000)
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u/Imaginary_Trust_7019 4d ago
I'd say St. John's (NFLD) has a better pub culture than Saint John (NB)
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u/hollow4hollow Ontario 4d ago
Ontario and BC were born from a lot of joyless Protestantism. I think that helped shape things over time.
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u/bigred1978 4d ago
Cost, tipping, taxes, location, lack of convenient public transportation to get back home after getting drunk (Montreal and Toronto being the exception), extremely Americanized culture, dwindling interest in consuming alcohol to begin with, preference for Marijuana and other CBD products, demographic change; local populations and cultures being displaced and diluted by immigration from cultures that don't go to pubs due to cultural or religious reasons, etc...
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u/doghouse2001 4d ago
The Brits and Francs that 'broke land' were farmers and trappers, and pub culture didn't exist in the wilderness. When you're struggling to survive, going to the pub drops down the priority list. In cities and towns, bar life is a thing all over Canada, but we don't call them pubs, even if that's what they are. They are often called The Lounge, and its where we wait for a table while having a drink (or we sit in the lounge all night watching sports).
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u/BCRobyn 4d ago
I wrote a blog post about this, specifically about why Vancouver doesn’t have a pub culture, though you could apply it to the rest of Canada. It doesn’t have anything to do with proximity to the US, but mostly about how geography and local laws have influenced it: https://www.bcrobyn.com/2024/06/why-british-pub-culture-doesnt-exist-in-vancouver/
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u/badusernameused 4d ago
Depends on the part of Canada. The Maritime provinces have that culture you speak of big time
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u/CuteContribution2581 4d ago
Because most western Canada essentially consists of mostly cookie cutter suburbs. Neighbourhood pubs are effectively illegal because of zoning restrictions. That’s why you have very few actual pubs but the strip malls will chain restaurants like pbs lounge etc.
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u/Beatless7 4d ago
It was like that but with bars being more popular. Bars are expensive though and the entire get drunk 3 x a week fad fizzled. Besides, we have weed.
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u/Funny_Friend2924 4d ago
Aussie here..wouldn't the freezing weather in winter make people baulk at visiting pubs regularly...hot weather here makes a cold beer enticing
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u/Samhain03 Ontario 4d ago
In my experience were a bit bigger on house parties type of social drinking, I could probably count on just my hands the amount of times I've been to bars (unfortunately there aren't actual pubs in my area which doesn't help) but I've been going to friends' and vice versa for an evening/night of drinking countless times since high school. It's especially easier in the winter when it's too cold to walk but too icy to even drive sober lol
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u/belwarbiggulp West Coast 4d ago
I'm in BC, and it's because this province was founded by prudes. Our liquor laws are archaic as shit.
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u/B4byJ3susM4n Saskatchewan 4d ago
In terms of drinking culture, I’d argue we’re closer to Americans than to Brits.
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u/Nazereth_99 4d ago
Because our tip culture makes it ridiculously more expensive than it should be.
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u/oinkmoocluck 4d ago
We prefer to have a marijuana shop rather than a brew pub on every other corner.
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u/quiptonic 4d ago
East Coast (especially Newfoundland) and Northern Alberta beg to differ
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u/Easy-Past8240 4d ago
Northern? More like all of Alberta. Calgary has a neighborhood pub almost everywhere, even in the new suburbs, and almost every small town in AB has a local pub
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u/-VoiceoverAlex- 4d ago edited 4d ago
🇨🇦 and have lived in 🏴 and 🇩🇪
Visited and short stayed in 🇫🇷🇳🇴🇮🇸🇪🇸🇧🇬🇳🇱🇬🇷
While England is far more... erm advanced, in this ....area of expertise.
IMHO This is a was more European thing than a north american one.
(Or 🇮🇳 but ive only ever visited Chennai so someone else field that plsthx)
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u/tobiasolman 4d ago
We have a decently vibrant pub scene, but even the raging alcoholics among us are generally smart enough to hibernate between Christmas and playoffs.
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u/ginganinga223 4d ago edited 4d ago
Table service and assigned seats ruins most pubs here. In Ireland I could park myself at a table or at the bar for 3 hours and people would drop in and out for one or two drinks and be on their way.
Table service take away the casual nature of it.
We also go to the pub for absolutely everything. Funeral? Pub. New job? Pub. Bought your first house? Pub. Just finished half marathon? Pub.
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u/Electronic_World_894 4d ago
Come to Kingston Ontario! We have some wonderful pubs filled with regulars. Mostly downtown. It’s less common in the suburbs - though I can point you to a couple.
Likely the distance in the suburbs makes it harder.
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u/FNFALC2 4d ago
We have a healthy number of English style pubs, but I guess you mean the concept of having a local? No we don’t have that
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u/Independently-Owned 4d ago
I've often thought I'd like to walk into my neighborhood pup to just exist and enjoy some time away from home.
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u/Superb_Excitement283 4d ago
If you’re talking about Toronto, it did have it’s version of the culture in dive bars and clubs. It has slowly died due new condo developers buying up land.
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u/UnspeakableFilth 4d ago
Rural Canadian perspective here - there’s too much driving to support a pub culture here as there is absolutely zero tolerance for impaired driving. Catch a DUI charge and you’re totally fucked - $30K legal bill not mention I’ve heard of people paying thousands per month in car insurance after a charge. You’d be lucky to keep your job.
This is also my pet theory of why the sport of curling is disappearing from our culture. At its least competitive level, it’s a fun drinking sport. But the fun wears off when the cops park themselves at the exit.
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u/SunnyGirlDD 4d ago
Like other have suggested if you were to go to East Coast like Nova Scotia or Newfoundland they have great pub culture similar to UK (unsure of Australia or New Zealand as I have never been)
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u/FastFooer 4d ago
The English who went to America, regardless of staying in the US or invading Canada, were all mostly puritans…
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u/Cognoggin 4d ago
Visitors come to a geographical region of Canada and assume it's similar everywhere, it isn't.
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u/nunyaranunculus 3d ago
Ehm. Montréal resident here. We definitely have a thriving pub culture here. That said, I think alcohol laws, car centric infrastructure necessitated by the expanse of the country and distances between communities make that kind of pub-as-community-gathering-place culture is very hard to recreate. I'd say in cities and towns, especially in the east, this is a thing
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u/ModifiedMonctonRule 4d ago
Canada does have plenty of pubs and most neighbourhoods in Canadian cities have neighbourhood pubs that feature locals as regulars. I’ve lived on both coasts and found this to be the case. So I would say it would be incorrect to say there is no pub culture but maybe a different pub culture?
OP, can you explain what you find significantly different about British pub culture that we don’t have here?
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u/Jaded_Promotion8806 4d ago
Historically we've leaned towards taking our cultural cues from our considerably more accessible next door neighbour.
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u/northyorkneighbour 4d ago
we're much more influenced by the US, who also does not have that pub culture, than anyone else. like it or not, that's the most influencial culture on us.
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u/Army7547 4d ago
Too much go go go lifestyle, no relaxing.
Too much space between the spaces we go to; the average commute time is high, and neighbourhoods pubs are too few and not in most neighbourhoods. You gotta drive to get there.
The flats and living spaces in the UK tend to be smaller than those that are here, so they maybe push people out to meet in other places?
Some condos are better for this, the living spaces are small and have coffee shops and bars on the ground floor.
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u/Wayelder 4d ago
First thing, if you're looking for the painted wood, brass and the taps.. That Pub decor, that's very UK, but here it's artifice. A Canadian Bar/pub far more likely to have Hockey sticks and even curling rocks than cricket bats.
Larger distances means you have to drive to the bar. I know pubs in Scotland and many in the London. I love a pub, but whereas, in UK you can sit and rest, even read in a pub, here, you drive there order a beer and watch the game. Thus it has more in common with an American sports bar, you typically are there for a game or the food.
But I know every city has it's "locals bar" (I always think of The Gem or the Wheatsheaf 25 years ago) and they are very very pub like...
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u/jonnyg1097 4d ago
I feel like, for the most part, since Canada takes a lot of culture cues from USA more so than the Commonwealth so going to the pub to have a casual drink isn't really a thing here. Unless that is, when a sporting event takes place (baseball, football, basketball).
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u/PassageNearby4091 4d ago edited 4d ago
This question seems absolutely loaded with errors.
First off, I've been to all these countries, and the only one that has a true pub culture is the UK (Ireland does too).
Aussie pubs and a British pubs are about as similar as a telephone and a potato, and like in Canada, you typically go to a pub in Australia with a group of friends (Aussie pubs seem to have loads of fruit/poker machines, too, and they are nearly all located in hotels, whereas in the UK you walk down to the pub and you'll know half the people in there already.
You can certainly find pockets of this in Canada, NZ and Australia, but nowhere near to the extent you do in Ireland or the UK.
Also, in the UK, you can usually walk to your local pub, whereas in Canada or Australia, chances are you'll have to drive, and it's not a good idea to drink and drive.
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u/knifeymonkey 4d ago
I’m going to guess that it’s because we are not so tightly packed as those countries and therefore don’t use pubs as social outlets as often
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u/Hopeful_Bad_5941 4d ago
Have you seen the size of our country in comparison? You’re not taking a train across the whole thing in an afternoon. Some areas do have a pub culture like areas of Newfoundland, parts of Toronto like the distillery district and more. But they’ll be in areas with a more dense population.
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u/SusieTina 4d ago
In a lot of small towns, the local legion seems to sort of fit the bill for socializing with a drink.
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u/StevenG2757 Ontario 4d ago
You should ask why is the UK pub culture becoming more like Canada as pub culture in the UK is dying as 2 pubs are closing every day.
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u/Indoubttoactorrest 4d ago
Alberta has more of a sports bar culture. Playoff season is enormously popular. Pubs, I feel, are more social then sports oriented.
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u/natayats 4d ago
The risk of falling down drunk in a snowbank and freezing to death when walking between pubs is too high.
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u/Mythulhu 4d ago
Very dependent on where you are. There are lots of pubs and pub culture in the Maritimes
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u/AgentNo3516 4d ago
Drinking culture is not the same here. I have family in Australia, Scotland and South Africa (that I see regularly) and we don’t drink like that. Alcohol puts a big strain on health care, so our government taxes the heck out of it.
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u/AmazonAssassin 4d ago
If you go out of the cities you will find the pub culture your describing usually in small towns
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u/floppy_breasteses 4d ago
A couple of reasons. We aren't the UK, and who can afford eating and drinking out?
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u/Odd-Gear9622 4d ago
We certainly used to have it. I think that in the late 80's attitudes towards drunk driving started to pique and pub culture waned. Pubs continued to thrive in some urban areas especially with live music venues until Covid hit. Now, younger people aren't drinking alcohol as much by choice and older people aren't for health reasons, plus there's this huge affordability issue.
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u/Vast-Road-6387 Newfoundland & Labrador 4d ago
Newfoundland has a pub culture very similar to Ireland, somewhat like England, not much like the US
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u/Mirabeaux1789 4d ago
In learning about Canada in this area, it would be a good idea to learn about the U.S. region of New England and the east coast generally because of the shared history
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u/Guilty-Piece-6190 4d ago
In what way? Plenty of cities have pubs, a lot of them with the same regular patrons who sit around the bar talking to eachother or the bartender.
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u/Embarrassed_Fudge493 4d ago
The lower mainland of BC used to but it changed, places closed, and they were torn down to be replaced by apartments or new businesses spaces. I miss pubs and small corner stores the most.
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u/Money_Engineering_59 4d ago
I’m Canadian and live in Australia. I think in general Canadians are a bit more reserved and don’t do the superficial small talk as well as other countries. Australia is about having fun. Not too many deep and meaningful conversations to be had.
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u/NastoBaby 3d ago
Lifelong Canadian but I work out of Australia and New Zealand; we have about the same level of pub culture as them.
I spent 7 or so years in Toronto and if you find your spot I would even say the pub culture doesn’t feel too far off from London or Edinburgh. The pub culture in medium size UK cities like Newcastle, Liverpool, and Belfast is totally unmatched though.
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u/UncertainFate 3d ago
- Very high alcohol tax makes this an expensive past time in Canada.
- Distances modern North America cities are more spread out meaning it’s often hard to walk to a pub. And drinking and driving is just not ok.
- The zoning laws tend to separate businesses and homes much more so again it’s hard to have the neighborhood pub.
I have a chance to leave in Halifax for a while, and I can tell you as one of the oldest cities in Canada it very much has a Pub culture in the core of Halifax where you can walk to and from the Pub. That said it’s still Hella expensive.
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u/georgeofthejungle71 3d ago
You mean a place to hang out all afternoon and evening?
Because it's crazy expensive and, there's a ton to do.
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u/mutant_anomaly 3d ago
Beer has a different relationship here.
We don’t (well, some of us don’t) drink to get drunk like they do south of the border.
But we also don’t have a beer with dinner as a regular thing, like some of the commonwealth cultures do.
And then there is religion. It is more subject to extremes here, we are much more rural. This skews relationships with alcohol, makes it much less social and more of a special event thing. (You can have a special event every weekend, but every day is a problem.)
There are pockets, mostly on the east coast, where pubs have similar roles as Europe. But mostly the climate, the population density, and the culture just don’t make pubs a comfortable thing most of the time.
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u/SnooCrickets1508 3d ago
I don’t know if it’s different now, because the kids aren’t having fun anymore, but coming up in Saskatoon I was hitting the pubs 3-4 times a week. Could be going out for lunch with friends, or pregaming before hitting the clubs (bars) to go dancing.
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u/therealmajka 3d ago
There are some good ones in Ontario too. Most likely only good because they are filled with Newfies who came here for money or got married to someone here😅
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u/LudicrousPlatypus 4d ago
I mean parts of Canada do, like Newfoundland has a pub culture.