New Ideas Regarding a Sober Bar!

New Ideas Regarding a Sober Bar!

By Kendall Worth

As my regular readers know, I often write about the connection between poverty, mental health issues and social isolation in my BLOG. There are lots of solutions to this combination of issues, which I write about.

In today's BLOG, I am discussing a couple of new ideas recently brought to my attention about how a 'sober bar' could help attract customers living in poverty.

For those who do not know, a sober bar serves only non-alcoholic drinks as well as food. They serve non-alcoholic beers, mocktails, de-alcoholized wines, and more.

To give a bit of history, I first wrote about this topic in this BLOG post from March of 2023 where I introduced this idea to my readers.

However, in this post, I questioned if a sober bar would be the best way to bring people out of social isolation. 

There are pros and cons. In the first BLOG, I point out that a sober bar can promote safety while allowing people to get out and socialize. In the second BLOG, I point out that, with rising inflation, the cost of ingredients is especially high. Can the prices be kept low enough so that people living in poverty can afford to go to a sober bar?

Recently, I have had some conversations with people who wanted me to share their opinions about a sober bar as a solution to isolation. Some of the ideas I want to fill my readers in on are great but can also be problematic. 

First, the assumption that people experiencing poverty are better off together is not always true. Here, I have written about some beliefs better-off people have about welfare recipients.

One idea is that people on income assistance could pay a $100 monthly membership fee and treat the sober bar like a soup kitchen. However, the Nova Scotia Standard Household Rate is only $950.00 per month. Subtracting $100 from $950.00 would only leave people on income assistance with $850.00 to pay rent and bills each month. This idea may work for people who are living in subsidized housing and pay less in rent, however this won't be possible for many others. 

I want to point out that, not only does low income prevent people from going to a sober bar, but anxiety issues may also keep people from socializing. 

Anyway, why not offer memberships so people with low incomes could buy a monthly pass for $100? Then they could come to the sober bar and get a free meal, a drink, and make friends.

The idea may sound the same as a soup kitchen, but really it isn't. First of all, a soup kitchen only offers one meal a day, whereas at the sober bar, a person could pick from a menu just like ordering at a restaurant. I personally think that this is a good idea because it may feel more empowering and would also help keep people out of social isolation. 

Another idea is that, if the dream business of a sober bar ever got up and running, maybe the business owners donate some of the profits (like maybe 10% of food and beverage sales) to the new 'Mitigating Social Isolation Project' here in Halifax. 

It was also suggested to me that, by combining the above ideas and getting the word out to the general public about a great cause in the Halifax community, maybe the public would be happy to support it. Maybe people who are better off would even make donations so that people who couldn't afford a pass could get one. 

I will conclude this BLOG post by saying the following: Myself and others agree that the sober bar idea is a good one. The questions are, first, how would you get people in poverty to believe that the sober bar is a safe place for them to go? And secondly, how much support would this idea get?

In other cities with sober bars, research shows that their clientele are mostly wealthy people who just don't want to drink alcohol. 

One advantage to a membership/pass system is that it would provide people living in poverty with an option to go get their meals, especially on weekends when Hope Cottage, a local food bank, is closed. 

It is important to remember that people living in poverty want just as much to attend events like open-mic nights, concerts, movies and shows. A sober bar could be a safe way to give them that opportunity.

This may or may not be the solution, but let's experiment!