Bars by serving people, serve cultures.
Café de Flore in Paris served Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.
Max's Kansas City (NYC) served Lou Reed, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry. Velvet Undeground had their last show there.
The Cedar Tavern (NYC) served Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko
Café Louvre (Prague, Czech Republic) served Franz Kafka, Max Bord and Albert Einstein.
The advent of marketing, of buying ads, winning media awards, google reviews have stolen what it means to operate a bar. No longer is it about serving culture, it is about manufacturing attention.
Attention is fleeting, you will see a jump in revenue, and you might even get features on a magazine.
But what is more important to you? Being mentioned by GQ, Tatler, William Reed? or serving people who change our culture for the better?