Why do so many people seek happiness in bars?

Why do so many people seek happiness in bars?

Ian Malcolm (Bartender) gives expert video advice on: How is a bartender's perspective on happiness unique?; Why do so many people seek happiness in bars?; In your line of work, do you see more happy people or unhappy people? and more...

I absolutely get approached as the armchair psychologist, or in this case the bar top psychologist. Alcohol is a depressant, the reason that people go to bars a lot of the times is to have a few drinks, to loosen them up and they're able to talk to people. There are people who go there for entertainment, sports, pool, whatever. I run a bar, bar - there's no TV, there's no pool table. People come here to talk and meet people. And when people come to my bar they're coming in there to take off these kinds of shackles of being pent up and not able to talk to anybody. They want to loosen up and have a conversation, or let something out, or whatever it is. So people absolutely come in here, say in a happy hour, when its just me and them, and they'll just talk to me about their day. Then they come in here for that, that's the reason they come in. Drinking is a tool for that.