Bars and Hotels in Film

The bar, pub or hotel are at the heart of western culture. Most people have a favourite well equipped bar as a place to relax, meet friends or arrange business, so it is no wonder that they have featured in so many TV and films.

The bar is often central to many TV shows and films that some have become even more famous that the characters that frequent them. Rooftop Bar, hotels and pubs can take on a life of their own and become as dear to people as the places they visit in their real lives.

Whilst there have been numerous bars, hotels and pubs in film and TV, here are my top five:

5. Tiki Bar – Not the most famous bar and most people will never have heard of it but the bar featured in the film Cocktail as at was the only film to have bar-keeping as central theme. The Tiki Bar was where Tom Cruises character juggled bar accessories and cocktail glasses to an upbeat 80’s soundtrack.

4. Rick’s Café Américain – the backdrop for the seminal classic – Casablanca. It was the location for some of the most memorable lines in film history, In all the bars in the all the world,’ and, Play it one more time for me Sam.’ (often misquoted as Play it again Sam.’)

3. Cheers. Perhaps the most famous bar in American history. Sam Malone’s cheers, the bar where everybody knew your name is familiar to a hole generation who watched as the former baseball player and austere bar manager clashed.

2. The Queen Victoria. The East end pub in Britain’s most popular soap opera, Eastenders is the setting for some of the shows most popular story lines. Murder and extra marital affairs were and still area regular occurrence at The Queen Vic.

1. Rover’s Return – The pub on Coronation Street, the UK’s longest running soap opera has been opening its doors several nights a week to audience of millions for fifty years. Landlords have come and gone but the Rover’s Return remains an icon of UK pub culture.