Smoking in pubs, free speech, having a laugh

[Wannalivewithcommonpeople]

Aibu to miss all this? The relaxed, laid back FUN of the 90’s to maybe maybe late 2010
ish?
I don’t smoke or take drugs anymore, hell I haven’t been able to drink in 21 months, due to long covid, but sat here watching 90’s & 2000’s music videos whilst Dh takes toddler out and thinking of the past.
Aibu to just bloody miss the simplicity and fun and to hate these times?

*being

[quote Narutocrazyfox]@icedcoffees it can't be done anymore. All the pubs I loved serve food now and they're quiet, joyless, sterile places which are designed to cram people in and get them out again as quickly as possible. I wouldn't want to stand out in the freezing cold to smoke (when I was a smoker) and the cost to drink is prohibitive. The type of people I used to love drinking with feel the same and don't frequent these places either!

The 90s was very much a special time and a place for me. There's no comparison now, sadly.[/quote]
See, again this really doesn't resonate with me at all.

Drinks are still cheap - £3.50 ish a pint.
Pubs when I grew up always served food anyway - one or two didn't, but the vast majority did serve something even if it was just chips and nachos.
People still pop out for drinks after work or just because they fancy a drink on a Sunday afternoon.

I've never been in a pub that I would describe as quiet, joyless and sterile.

Again, I think you're looking back on the 90's with rose-tinted glasses. Everyone sees their childhood and teenage years as being amazing and filled with fun and laughter. Our kids will see their childhood's in exactly the same way, just as our parents did too.

It's all part of getting old I'm afraid

I was pondering this the other day. I dont miss the smoking but I couldnt work out if it was the freedom and hopefulness of my youth I remember or if there was a different quality about that time. Im not worried about not being able to say what I want as i dont really hold any offensive opinions! but i do think people are more polarised than ever before and social media has changed how people interact.

People are even more offensive than ever before. That certainly hasn't changed. The only good thing now is being able to screenshot it - send it to their employer and get them fired

I know what you mean OP. I still get nostalgic when I smell cigarette smoke, and that's as a non-smoker. Everything felt much freer. There wasn't a constant competition to find things to be offended by.
You've got a lot of sour people of this thread who seem quite joyless, but I get you.

I'm obviously quite a bit older than you - my drinking and smoking in pubs and clubs days were 80s / early 90s. I gave up smoking mid 90s and since then, and definitely now I would absolutely hate to have anyone smoking next to me. And yet, I can't imagine my younger days not smoking - it was part of a night out.

Someone questioned whether young people today still go out drinking/ clubbing - Covid restrictions aside, my son and his friends (20s) definitely do .

I would also say I don’t miss racism, sexism and homophobia but there’s still plenty of that around

It was much work in the 90s though. In 1998, in sixth form, and it was against school rules to be openly gay or openly supportive of homosexual lifestyles. My friend was gay and not only did school suspend him for three days for giving him boyfriend a fairly-chaste peck on the lips, they rang his parents and outed him to them when they told them why he was suspended. When he got home his dad kicked the shit out of him on the front lawn and threw him out. This was all considered acceptable and when a neighbour rang the police, they dropped my friend off at his aunt and uncles house and told him they wouldn't be taking the matter forwards as his dad had "had a shock and reacted".

I think the 90s drinkers were the binge drinkers. Beers were cheap, cigerttes were kind of cheap and pubs always had offers on. £1 a pint, bogof on Barcardi Breezers etc. People like Zoe Ball and Sarah Cox made it acceptable for girls to go out and keep up with the boys. It was a drinking culture. That's for sure.

@icedcoffees I'm really not. The 90s had its flaws, but I know what I loved and why I loved it. Not sure why you're trying to convince me otherwise when I experienced this for myself.

Also my local never served food - you were lucky to get a bag of crisps. Whereas now it's a weatherspoons, no music, no atmosphere, just a cheap food joint.

No rose tinted glasses here, just many happy memories.

@VladmirsPoutine

People are even more offensive than ever before. That certainly hasn't changed. The only good thing now is being able to screenshot it - send it to their employer and get them fired

[quote Narutocrazyfox]@icedcoffees I'm really not. The 90s had its flaws, but I know what I loved and why I loved it. Not sure why you're trying to convince me otherwise when I experienced this for myself.

Also my local never served food - you were lucky to get a bag of crisps. Whereas now it's a weatherspoons, no music, no atmosphere, just a cheap food joint.

No rose tinted glasses here, just many happy memories.[/quote]
I'm not trying to convince you of anything, I just think everyone feels the way you do about their past.

Your parents would say the same about their youth, and your children will eventually say the same thing about theirs.

Of course you loved your youth, most people did :)

@VladmirsPoutine

People are even more offensive than ever before. That certainly hasn't changed. The only good thing now is being able to screenshot it - send it to their employer and get them fired

This sums it all up.

Another one who misses their youth! Life was a lot more fun when a night out didn't result in a 2 week hangover, mornings weren't punctuated with various aches and pains and I didnt have a care in the world. Massively agree that social media has had a very detrimental effect on social expectations/physical beauty expectations etc. Whereas once we had to physically go out to socialise, you don't have to any more. Some people use social media like a running commentary of their life. Its depressing AF.
I think all the same problems (pandemic aside) were there, I just think we were too young and free to care. I do miss the night scene in Manchester though. Some amazing memories.

@BusterGonad

I think the 90s drinkers were the binge drinkers. Beers were cheap, cigerttes were kind of cheap and pubs always had offers on. £1 a pint, bogof on Barcardi Breezers etc. People like Zoe Ball and Sarah Cox made it acceptable for girls to go out and keep up with the boys. It was a drinking culture. That's for sure.

Yes I agree. Getting hammered on a Friday and Saturday night was the thing.

Drinks are still cheap - £3.50 ish a pint.

I remember my grandad moaning about paying 10p for a pint.

His annual income wasn’t 35 times less than it would be today.

No, because in the 90s or up until 2003 I couldn't have been openly gay and a teacher. The 'free speech' you seem to miss so much was often openly anti-women, racist and homophobic. WaGs were the only women known in football, not female players, judges were openly saying that a girl that got raped on a night out was 'asking for it' and people excepted it and let him keep his job. There were hardly any women comedians seen regularly hosting huge shows (because we all know women just aren't funny). People are so quick to forget stuff like that when they think back to the 'good old days'

@icedcoffees

where do you live where it's £3.50 a pint and pubs are still "pubs" - I want to move there 😂

I know where you are coming from. Life before mortgage. I once bought a bright pink fedora to go out out in, because I just thought it was so cool. It was insanely expensive for a student. Gosh, I LOVED to dance

There are still drinking pubs about, but most turned to food to survive as VAT increased on booze. We go on a Friday after work, just for one, to wind down and have a laugh.

[quote bonetiredwithtwins]@icedcoffees

where do you live where it's £3.50 a pint and pubs are still "pubs" - I want to move there 😂

[/quote]

Rural, coastal Cumbria.

"Me neither, but I saw many a over-hairsprayed fringe lost to the cause"

Yup, someone could cause mass panic by saying "can you smell burning hair?" in a crowded pub.

@Hospedia

Yeah, of course. We miss that. You've hit the nail on the head...

What is it you want to say that you feel was acceptable in the 90s/00s but is now censored?

That human beings can't change sex

I never got set on fire but I did get burned by a cigarette twice in clubs. Once was my own, thrown in the air in a dance move then caught by the wrong end

That really, really made me laugh and sums up exactly what the OP is talking about. Carefree fun.

I bet you wish you hadn’t asked, OP. I can’t believe the number of sanctimonious replies on this thread.

I worked in a pub when the smoking ban came in. I was so looking forward to my hair not reeking of fags after every shift. The first night it smelt of chips instead. ☹️

Dancing with a cigarette is dangerous and selfish. You could set someone’s clothes on fire

Yet nobody ever did. 🤷‍♀️ I don’t smoke any more but I do miss a cigarette with a drink or after a meal, it’s a shame that pubs couldn’t opt to remain smoking establishments so there was some choice. That’s the thing that’s missing - we have no choice left and the more draconian among us want to remove what little we have left.

😬 You're brave Misty. 😂