再松弛的Home Bar，也洗不掉班味

Author | Ah Meat

Edit | Anfield

题图 | 《老爸老妈浪漫史》

Half of the blood flowing in the veins of urban youth is caffeine, and half is water of life.

During the day, people rely on caffeine to support themselves to dance on the big grass platform of the world, and at night, people begin to take a few "tons" of "tons" in all the places they can find to feel what it means to "be slightly drunk in the best state of life".

Migrant workers can drink anywhere. (Photo/Little Red Book)

Whether on the street, on the sofa at home, or even at the workplace, urban youth can always find a new way to buy drunk.

Workers in large Internet companies are especially keen on this, and some even turn their hobby into a career. In recent years, many 35+ frustrated big factory people have jumped into the sea to start a business and set up all kinds of Bistro, so that the business of "wheat juice" has expanded rapidly in first-tier cities.

And those migrant workers who have not yet "jumped into the sea" also have their own small abacus - such as inviting familiar or unfamiliar friends to their homes in the name of "Home Bar" to participate in a paid social network.

As the name suggests, the so-called "Home Bar" means home bar, and the organizers themselves may also be migrant workers, through social media platforms, invite people to their homes to drink, and charge a certain amount of money from it.

This kind of weird-sounding "paid drinking party" has quietly become popular on social media — and even more bizarrely, among its loyal fans, there are even people who have a natural fear of communication.

"After work, go to my house for a drink. ”。 (Photo/Little Red Book)

"i-friendly" bars, does it really exist?

If you search for "home bars" on social media platforms, it is not difficult to find that they are decorated in a similar style to Airbnb in the early days, and if you look at the positioning, you will find that these home bars are usually found in the city's young people's gathering places - whether in Shanghai's Wutong district, or in the "center of the universe" Huilongguan, or in Hangzhou's riverside area.

In short, this type of home bar is committed to creating a sense of "I miss you very much in xx" atmosphere from the moment it is selected.

The main focus of the family bar is naturally "home style", and the other is "light social".

Compared to the nightclub club, which needs to shout to communicate, this relatively quiet environment is obviously more suitable for drinking and chatting, so it is labeled as "i-friendly".

Can light socialization bring real i-person friendliness? (Photo/Xiaohongshu)

Bar and i-person, this is a rather confusing "linkage".

It is not difficult to understand that migrant workers urgently need to wash off the "smell of class" with alcohol after work. But for a real person, shouldn't he go home quickly after work? Why go out of his way to someone else's house for a drink?

With this question in mind, a reporter from New Weekly came to a family bar in Shanghai's Xuhui District last Christmas to find the answer.

December 25, 2023, this day, for most migrant workers, is just an ordinary Monday. Even in Shanghai, which is the country's "favorite festival", on the streets of Wutong District, far from the commercial center, there are only passers-by in down jackets hurrying by, and there is not much festive atmosphere.

The streets of Shanghai on Christmas Eve. (Photo/Photo: Ah Rou)

"On weekdays, there are five or six more people, and one or two if there are less, which is suitable for (people) who like to be quiet and empty. Before making an online appointment, Aqiao, the owner of this bar, told a reporter from New Weekly.

At 7:45 p.m., when the reporter arrived at the bar, which was located in the alley, it was not yet open hours, and the young Aqiao was wiping the dust off the carpet, a small bar that she and two other friends, Liu Xin and Pickup, all three of whom were office workers.

At around half past eight, a bartender pickup with a laptop and a take-out bag on his shoulder walked into the room, bringing in a cold wind. With the TV broadcast "Home Alone", people began to greet, drink, and be in a daze, and the rising air conditioning temperature accelerated the flow of air, and the small bungalow of more than 20 square meters gradually became lively.

The remnants of the festive atmosphere of the bar. (Photo/Photography DR)

Young people's new lives are always changing, and home bars are certainly not absolutely new.

It's more of a paid party than a new bar. There is no mandatory hot field activity, and it is even possible to sit in the corner and drink silently, acting as a "human observator of confused behavior".

"For example, you, at first glance, you are an i-person. After the reporter took his seat, another boss, Liu Xin, said with a smile as she served the wine to the table - obviously, she is very Xi and good at playing the role of "observation machine".

The Home Bar, which focuses on social socialization, gives social terrorists a safe space to "join in the fun". (Photo/Little Red Book)

When the "party" entered the second half, the pickup truck began to distribute free small gifts left over from the previous Christmas Eve to customers, and Liu Xin picked up his mobile phone and ordered fried chicken and duck neck as appetizers for everyone present at his own expense.

But in fact, the link of "ordering takeout" did not appear on any promotional pictures in the store, but it was just an impromptu activity, "Come on, let's eat together". For a while, the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves, as if they had known each other for a long time.

Hiding in the crowd is also a kind of socialization

Let's go back and look at the original definition of "home bar" as to why young people are willing to "go to someone's house for a drink".

To a certain extent, the meaning of "home bar" to urban young people is like the tea room Zen room to middle-class families, if you search for "home bar" on a search engine rather than a social platform, the results you get are mostly related to home life, this physical sense of "home bar", mainly for a drink after returning home, is a spiritual place to create for yourself.

However, for contemporary urban youth, the "just need" of drinking after work, in addition to a short escape from boring work, there are also hidden social needs, which is no exception for i people.

And this kind of "sense of rigidity" of family-style bars provides a social atmosphere of "no initiative and no compulsion" for urban youth whose lives tend to be atomized, creating the illusion that "there will be a drinking party after work".

"It's all in the wine. (Photo/"Apocalypse")

"I don't have many drinking buddies, but even fewer friends. Xiao He, who rented a house in Yangpu District, Shanghai, told a reporter from New Weekly. He once swiped a Home Bar on Xiaohongshu, which seemed to have a good atmosphere, and it was only three or four kilometers away from where he lived, so he added customer service WeChat to the group, but he never made up his mind to go and find out.

It wasn't until one Wednesday last month, before Xiao He got off work, that he saw someone in the group saying "I went to a small weekend", that he walked into this small bar that he had seen countless times on the Internet for the first time.

"Unexpectedly small, but the atmosphere is better than I imagined", Xiao He even met his peers in this "little weekend", thinking that he did not come in vain.

What makes the migrant workers who don't know each other quickly get acquainted with each other is often a stomach of bitter water saved in the workplace, complaining to each other, telling about the troubles of making money and the difficulty of the industry, which is enough to alleviate the mental internal friction of an I person.

Home Bar is more suitable for social parties for domestic migrant workers. (Photo/American drama "The Romance of My Parents")

Not all i people need to find someone to talk to. But every person who walks into a bar on a weeknight must have an anticipation to find something authentic and light-hearted, whether it's just to fulfill the social KPIs they've recently set, or just to make themselves seem less isolated......

No one knows when they will walk into the tavern again, but every time they visit, that expectation will probably not be disappointed.

Life is not a track, and the Home Bar is open in the "wilderness".

During weekdays, the family bar is generally open from 8 p.m. onwards. This is not only to cater to the customer's schedule, but also to allow the tavern owners to reserve plenty of time to "catch up".

The "owners" of taverns often have a "dual identity". During the day, they often have their own full-time jobs, and at night they travel against the tide from suburban industrial parks to the popular city centers to run their own businesses.

Liu Xin is also such a person, she is engaged in supply chain-related work in a company in Jinqiao, Pudong, but in the Internet industry where talent is gradually saturated, the promotion path of these young migrant workers is not smooth, "The life of a part-time worker seems to have no end in sight." ”

Such an unchanging future, but with no prospects in sight, made Liu Xin determined to open a small bar, hoping to liberate himself from the work of two points and one line. Although this also means that every day after work, she has to take the subway for nearly an hour to the city, cleaning, sorting out inventory, and waiting for the first customer to arrive.

A life of two points and one line is not only trapped by the flesh. (Photo/"I'm Good in Another Country")

Any side hustle requires strong self-motivation, and the same is true for these young entrepreneurs. Some people will hold the playful idea of "drinking anyway, it is better to be happy alone than to be happy with everyone", and some people will hope that a meager side hustle can add a little foundation to their lives out of the pragmatic concept of "earning a little is a little".

It is worth mentioning that many of the owners of these bars have a background in the Internet industry, and many operators use social media as a way to "attract traffic", but they are also more wary than anyone else about the change in this niche social mode.

In response to people's general concerns about safety, most bars will publish gentlemen's agreements on social platforms and reservation groups to stipulate the corresponding clean-up fees and "accommodation fees" generated after getting drunk, so as to serve as a warning and then restrain the behavior of customers.

Young entrepreneurs are more afraid of "getting noticed" than these.

More than one home bar operator politely declined to be interviewed by a reporter from New Weekly, because many of them serve customers in their own homes or homestays, which are not informal bar establishments, "and some home bars have closed down because of this." ”

A home bar closure note. (Photo/Little Red Book)

During this time, Liu Xin also looked at a lot of shops around, but it was difficult to find a house that suited him. In addition to the relatively high rent, time is also the reason why these part-time managers are entangled.

Most home bar operators have full-time jobs, which means they can't "open at any time" like full-time entrepreneurs, and the income of most home bars is not enough to support these migrant workers to "jump into the sea".

They would rather the industry develop "a little slower, a little slower", at least until the day when they have saved enough money.

Proofreading: Yang Chao, Operation: Xi Xi, Typesetting: Li Shuying