I don't go to many pubs but when i do, it's usually to meet up with friends, have a chat and catch up on how everyone is. Most of the pubs play music so loud that it's difficult to have a proper conversation. Is it just me? What do you think?

Don't you know it is to let you know that you are enjoying youself?

It's irritating. But you can always choose pubs that don't play music. IIRC Wetherspoons (although cr** in many other ways) has no music. Out my way, the Sheaf View is music-free. I'm sure there are others.

Music is almost always too loud in pubs.
The main complaint I have is that pubs should have loud areas and quiet areas, so that you can chat in one end and sit in loud music at the other. At the moment all pubs have lots of speakers all over and they are all on full.
When you start to have hearing problems [like I do] due to excessive amplified music. I often find loud tinny music in pubs extremely painful. And I'm only in my mid 30s.

................EH?.................. PARDON? ...................

Originally posted by Hels
I don't go to many pubs but when i do, it's usually to meet up with friends, have a chat and catch up on how everyone is. Most of the pubs play music so loud that it's difficult to have a proper conversation. Is it just me? What do you think?

If the music was ever any good you wouldn't need to talk.

There was a programme on recently where they surveyed the noise levels in several pubs in Leeds, and found the noise level were similar to standing next to a pneumatic drill with no ear protectors on. They were concerned that there is going to be a whole generation of people with severe hearing problems.

I hate it when the music is that load, what's the point? Yuo would maybe expect the music to be a bit louder on the dance floor, but in a bar you can't even talk to the person standing next to you, let alone a group of people.

At the same time, it is nice to have a bit of background music - as long as it stays as background music!

Prehaps people who are unable to engage in meaningful conversation (because music is too loud) ... spend more time drinking ......

Prehaps people who are unable to engage in meaningful conversation (because music is too loud) ... spend more time drinking ......

I think you've got it there.

Research by Notts Uni back in the 80s showed that the less seating there is available, the dimmer the lighting & the louder the music the more people are likely to drink in pubs.

Originally posted by Siân
I think you've got it there.

Research by Notts Uni back in the 80s showed that the less seating there is available, the dimmer the lighting & the louder the music the more people are likely to drink in pubs.

I think that makes sense. If your mouth isn't preoccupied with talking then it can drink without being disturbed. I've noticed that myself, if I'm not talking I'll guzzle beer. Think it's a nerves thing.

So take a small bottle of something a bit stronger from Tescos in your pocket to refill your glass.

This has been a personal bugbear of mine for a long time, it's not that I mind music in pubs, jukeboxes are fine and the occasional DJ is no problem. But when it seems that the management are trying to drown out conversation in favour of making people drink more, that sticks in my craw.

A prime example of this was The Harley on new years eve. On the night a DJ was playing from about half an hour after the doors opened. Now this was a bog-standard DJ who stood out in no way as anything special and was so loud you had to shout to make yourself heard to the person standing next to you. All this wouldn't have been so bad but for the fact that the ignorant so and so played right through the countdown to midnight and all present missed the moment that defines the whole experience of new year!

Go to a different pub ? There are plenty, not just fashioable theme pubs around you know!!!

all to make more people drink. you cant talk so you might as well just drink.

nuts at bar (to get ur thirst back) not many stools and i hear that they are trying to get rid of any surfaces where you can put your drink down!! haha. its like being treated like a bunch of cattle.

background music is fine. no music is rubbish. too loud is awful

Originally posted by Jamie
Prehaps people who are unable to engage in meaningful conversation (because music is too loud) ... spend more time drinking ......

Yes, Jamie that is true. I also sets a kind of pace that makes the adrenaline flow and makes you reach for your drink more frequently.

Originally posted by MTheo
i hear that they are trying to get rid of any surfaces where you can put your drink down!! haha. its like being treated like a bunch of cattle.

Why does that not surprise me... The trouble is that it is sometimes hard to chose which bars you go to. If you arrange to meet a group of people you don't always get that much say.

God what a truck load of namby pambies! If thats what the booze does to your brain you ought to give up pubs altogether!

Blah blah blah (slurp guzzle) blah blah blah (etc.)

Originally posted by MTheo
not many stools and i hear that they are trying to get rid of any surfaces where you can put your drink down!! haha. its like being treated like a bunch of cattle.
Not been in there myself, but this is exactly what 'Sharkeys' bar on Regents Street (up from Boots on West Street) appears to be doing! Spooky :o

Originally posted by Geoff
Not been in there myself, but this is exactly what 'Sharkeys' bar on Regents Street (up from Boots on West Street) appears to be doing! Spooky :o
Are these the type of places now called Vertical Drinking Establishments, which the government and new licensing rules are trying to put a stop to, with much more expensive licences?

And with respect to music volume. When the Casbah reopened I quickly realised that the extremely loud modern sound sysem they now had downstairs, which they refuse to have on anything but full blast, meant that I couldn't go in anymore unless I wore earplugs, due to the pain it gave me in my hearing, and resulting tinnitis afterward.

Dulo just off London road, manage to have a great sound when they have their DJ sets on. It is quite possible to sit in the room near the DJ and have a conversation. I applaud this approach, and find it welcoming and much less aggressive.

It wouldn't surprise me if you get more trouble with louder music. As how can you relax if you have to shout in your friends ear to hear any conversation.

Another thing with drinking satnding up (certainly in my experience) is that the booze slips down more easily anyway.

The natural posture enables the drink to 'lie' more comfortably inside you, hence more is consumed.

Lots of pubs now seem to find it necessary to play music at ear shattering volumes which I personally hate but then in pubs that cater to the younger age range it's probably a good idea as they seem to lack conversational skills and sound as thick as piggy poo. Or maybe that's just me generalising!

Just thought I'd make this post after another night of ringing ears. Don't want to put any names into your heads, but I find my ears are increasingly ring'y after nights out in certain venues.

A friend, who worked mangement in a Sheffield bar, told me they turn the music up, so people talk less and feel uncomfortable. This results in them drinking more. Quite simple logic he said. I go out alot, and I've noticed certain bars getting louder and louder and louder. Some are pretty unbareable. I'm more than up for partying when I go out, but I find having a conversation is just not worth the effort involved in SHOUTING.

Even the smaller bars now are getting too loud, especially on a Friday and Saturday. MATRIX bar, is one i'd like to point out as being *the* loudest bar I have EVER EVER been in. On a "quiet", empty midweek night I swear if you listen carefully enough you can just about hear the DJ in Crooks :gag:

Some clubs are worse than others too. Maybe I just have sensitive ears!

Anyone else think of any clubs/bars that need to be told to keep it down abit..

?

I dont mind loud music if I go to a club to dance - in fact that why you're there - and a decent system should leave you with ringing ears - but I really object to loud music in pubs or bars!

Your just getting old hehe.

But to be honest I don't even walk into places that you can't hear someone without a megaphone.

This is a good thread. I finally feel absolved of the title "Old Fart" - And I'm only 28!! - I've refused to go to some of the places in town where they've got music so loud it shakes your fillings out and have suggested a quiet pub where they keep a good pint and you can have a chat.

This undeserved title was earned one night in old corp where I spent the majority of the evening in the chill out room and on the sofas opposite the bogs nattering away punctuated by the occasional mosh. A bit of balance is always needed, quiet for people like us and blaring, unrestrained volume for thems that want a boogie.

I'm 21 by the way! :P

Yes, it's all true.
Espcecially with the reasoning behind getting people to drink more. Like free peanuts, or turning the heating up.

well i was sayin this when i was 18...27 now...and it just gets worse...i dont think a good nite is spending it nodding to eachover while you pretend you know what they are saying!! lol

As my signature says.....Rock and Roll ain't noise pollution.

Crap speakers and poor equalisation IS.

And a lot of these 'trendy bars' and pubs insist on making you queue (fire regs reasons fine but they're not all doing it for that)before you can get in - only to then find you can't hear yourself think!!??!! ;)

Originally posted by MTheo
well i was sayin this when i was 18...27 now...and it just gets worse...i dont think a good nite is spending it nodding to eachover while you pretend you know what they are saying!! lol

Miserable old sod :P

Hush is usually impressively loud

It's all about going to Weatherspoons ;)
(and then Tequila if you want a late bar)

Originally posted by D2J
Miserable old sod :P

deaf young sod :rolleyes:

Originally posted by 2c4s
I'm 21 by the way! :P

Yeah, you're too old :hihi:

the louder the better in bars n clubs,but a pub shouldnt be loud

definitely not.....No good for chatting up young bird's is it.:heyhey:
or maybe it's my techniqe that's the problem :(

WE LIKE IT LOUD AND PROUD....well as long as its ROCK that is and not some slimy R and B rubbish......

nah,gotta be some stompin drum n bass or dub

bars should (in Rob's world) play unobtrusive chilled out background tunes at a level that you can claearly here but you can talk over.

I agree, some places are just too loud. There is no good reason for it.

casbah on a saturday night, music downstairs is just far too loud, won't be going again on sat night as my ears have taken a bit of a bashing recently

Loud music in bars is a particular bug bearof mine - whats the point - if I wanted loud music I'd go to a club or live gig - people usually go to bars with their friends for a chat and not to compete shouting at each other all the time - the sooner this craze for loud music in bars dies a death the better .... hopefully it will?

An example is that student pub in Ecclshall road whats it called Nursery Tavern - giant speakers deafening you at sunday lunch time when you go in with friends for a quiet sunday lunch and then the idiots behind the bar turn it up even louder - no matter where you move within the pub you can't escape a speaker at your back or over your head blasting out Oasis or SCLUB 7 or some sort ... or maybe I'm just turning into an older cranky git but does anyone else agree with me - if we boycotted all those type bars in Sheffield they would soon stop ....<FUMES>

Am I seeing double, sure I have seen this before... by Carborundum you are fuming; but I agree, what is the point in a pub, a place where we go to chatter. Very annoying.

Am I seeing double, sure I have seen this before... by Carborundum you are fuming; but I agree, what is the point in a pub, a place where we go to chatter. Very annoying.

You're right so I've done a little merge.

So other than Wetherspoons, can anyone suggest a bar/pub in town where on a Friday at 7:30 you can actually have a conversation? I'm thinking Green Room may be a possibility, but not sure it's still there?

Am I seeing double, sure I have seen this before... by Carborundum you are fuming; but I agree, what is the point in a pub, a place where we go to chatter. Very annoying.
It's an old thread from 2005 that Carorundum has resurrected. :)

The Bath - really great little boozer, they do Laphroad and Aadbeg too. Red wine not too bad.

Ivory - great cocktails, but the music is sometimes cranked up

The Greenroom - drinks choices limited

The Washington - ditto

Devonshire Cat - spoilt for Choice

Platillos Bar - lovely place, expensive though

Wig and Pen - great place

Sanctuary - great cocktails - can be too loud

i've been saying this for the past few years, and i'm by no means an old fart! :hihi:
i don't mind when the music is loud at a gig or club, but it's getting harder and harder to find a nice bar to meet friends in if you don't want to have to shout everything in their ears.
Went in the sanctuary last weekend and thought that was perfect, not too loud and some gorgeous cocktails :)

^^^^What she said. :)

I was in Newcastle last night to watch Maximo Park at the arena and before hand we stopped off at a little bar just near the station. The football was on cos Newcastle were on the telly. It got to half time and it suddnely became very apparent that the televisions were on unbelievably loud. It was only adverts and it was piercing my eardrums! Could not hear a thing.

You would have noticed this particularly because I think for adverts the TV companies turn the volume up even more thus being amplified more by the already loud television .. correct me if I'm wrong ..... dont forget we are all sheep who should buy what the media advetise to us and drink more under the stimuli of having to stand up, not talk, hold our drinks in our hands all the time cos no tables or chairs, lets all be good little consumers then and empty away our money into the coffers of the big drinks companies ...

This happens on satellite tv a lot. Theoretically they are not supposed to do this, but what they do is record at a different pitch to get around the regulations. I am not very technically minded, but this was what I have been told.

So other than Wetherspoons, can anyone suggest a bar/pub in town where on a Friday at 7:30 you can actually have a conversation? I'm thinking Green Room may be a possibility, but not sure it's still there?

To be honest I can not stand Wetherspoons as all you can hear is everyone talking and it echos around the place reminds me of an aviary!

I cant stand it I have to leave after 10 mins would much rather listen to some good loud Rock music in a pub gets you in the mood for a good night:love:

More live pianists are wanted at the Ivory, we have a great live musician this Friday from 4pm in the main bar playing the baby grand.

So other than Wetherspoons, can anyone suggest a bar/pub in town where on a Friday at 7:30 you can actually have a conversation? I'm thinking Green Room may be a possibility, but not sure it's still there?

red lion on charles street, pool table, heated & covered smoking area, 5 hand pull beers, sensible music levels.....and great bar staff.

and i start at 8 so if you do come in on friday, you can get me a lemonade in! ;)


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