The Third Place

There's possibly a few cultural notes that people might miss.

1. In the UK suburbs we have what's commonly colloquially called a "flat roof pub". The Wikipedia article has a decent intro paragraph that mentions the classism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat-roofed_pub

Flat-roofed pubs have been the subject of derision in media and popular culture, often being presented as "rough", in a manifestation of British cultural class-based stereotyping of those in lower-income groups.[1] Their architecture has also tended to be viewed unfavourably, and they are more vulnerable to demolition than traditional structures. The conservation body Historic England has a project to record the public's interaction with post-war pubs, which includes many flat-roofed establishments.

2. He mentions Weatherspoons. This is a very large chain. It's problematic for a few reasons. Tim Martin, the boss, has some weird views about workers rights, benefits of Brexit, etc etc. It serves cheap food and alcohol, and I need to be cautious to avoid class based criticism, but cheap alcohol is a force for evil. It causes great harm, and Weatherspoons certainly plays a part in that. There are some good things - they tend to take over old buildings that would possibly deteriorate into delapidation; they spend a lot of money on carpet made using traditional techniques. But in general "weatherspoons" is coded to "low class, unpleasant".

In England suburbs they used to try really hard to create these 3rd spaces, and they often just don't work that well. I feel there's something a bit like "desire paths" going on - there's a pub in a location because lots of people pass that location. If you do it the other way round - make people go to a location because there's a pub there - it had better be a bloody good pub or a great location.

Anyway, I love this person's content.