I work in a pub. People come for all sorts of reasons.
We have a regular who orders perhaps one drink an hour and spends his time sitting alone at a table you could fit six people around, reading his book.
We have a number of older customers who live alone who come more to show their face and see somebody else, anybody else, for an hour or so in their day before they go back home.
We have people who drink nothing but tea or coffee.
We have people who come in, drink a pint at breakneck speed and leave again in just a couple of minutes.
And people who can nurse half a pint for three hours because they are really there to have a chat or play snooker or read the paper or watch the sport channel etc.
We have people who like to sit at the table they always sit at and people who could choose from 20 different empty tables but never sit down at all. They have a favourite standing spot instead and stand there regardless of how full or empty the place is.
I don't think having to stand up in a pub is a problem if you are just having a drink. Obviously if it's a food pub or a cafe then you want to sit down with your food. And if it's a busy place they prefer customers to eat and leave if they need the table space. But on the whole, having to stand up in a pub isn't an unreasonable thing if you are only having a drink, so sitting at a table chatting after you've finished your drink isn't unreasonable either.