1954 Practical Bar Management by Eddie Clarke

PRACTICAL BAR MANAGEMENT

be designed to encourage those who favour those famous words, "Let's stand or sit at the bar"—and so planned that it will help the patron to enjoy the leisure moments of drinking with contentment and ease. What is more annoying than to have a congestion of articles cluttering up the drinking space, such as ladies' handbags and parcels ? They are always liable to cause an accident of some kind, and this could be so easily avoided if a little forethought had been given to a"Handbag Shelf Such a shelf should be recessed directly under the counter-top, and should be roughly about six inches deep, or even a little deeper if space will permit, because the bulkiness of some handbags is really astounding. There are many different preferences for counter-fronts, and each type has some things in its favour, but for myself I would choose the smooth, flush flnished, back-fitting variety, mainly for the following reasons: smooth and flush, because it minimizes undue wear and tear of clients' clothing, with another point in its favour, in that it is easy to clean ; back-fitting, meaning a sloping inwards from the handbag shelf to the floor, thus elimina ting to a degree,marks made on its surface bythe countlessnumber of scraping shoes of patrons perched on the stools, or by the riotous, noisy kick of the gentleman who has just heard a good story. A foot-rail is not a luxury, it is a necessity—no bar is complete without one. Is it not the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to state that no drink is ever enjoyed more than when one has a foot firmly lodged on such a convenient resting place ? It encourages the art of drinking, and is well loved by all men. The foot-rail has, of course, other advantages, one being that it enables the fairer sex, and the shorter species of males, to climb with more ease and grace up on to the tall bar stools. The rail should not be too high, no more than about six inches, and firm and solid on its mountings. Under the foot-rail and in flush to the foot of the bar-counter, install close-fitting ashtrays, or better still, a long sweeping one the whole length of the bar. It will be a well worth-while invest ment, in preserving the life of the carpet or whatever floor- covering there is. For no matter how many ordinary ashtrays there may be scattered along the counter-top, so many people

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