The traditional pub bar is pretty annoying and badly designed

If you were designing a counter for the service of beer would you put a row of posts between the person serving and the customer? Would you also put large display cards on each of those posts, and a charity collection tin to one side, and till on the other? Multiple times in recent weeks we’ve watched bar staff awkwardly pass pints between handpulls, or around one side, only to spill some on the way and have to spider claw the glass back for a refill. Once you notice it, you see it happening all the time and you think, huh, this really isn’t a very good layout. That’s probably why modern craft beer bars and micropubs, built from scratch, with less of an obligation to observe tradition, often have their pumps and taps somewhere behind the bar, on the back wall. That leaves the counter gloriously free for the placing of pints, the dabbing of debit cards, and other little bits of business that accompany the sale and purchase of beer. It even means you’ve got room for even more charity…