In big cities small things like bars can get lost among the noise so easily. They slip down small alleys and vanish into local obscurity or a one-off review from some nobody online. Occasionally a big name will go there and throw the obscure into public view, trampling the locals out in favour of more big names and their big stacks of cash.
When this happens more changes than just the clientèle and it starts with the little things. That dingy lighting that gave the room that warm, cosy glow becomes several shades bluer, throwing the atmosphere into something sharper that sets the hairs at the back of your neck on edge. Slightly grizzled, roguishly charming bar staff take on an angrier tone, their attitude snappier and eyes gleaming with something feral barely held back by social courtesy.
It's the locals that make the place safe, keep the staff in check and remind them to be human. Not that they're any more human of course but they remember what being human was like much clearer. It's what keeps them in front of the bar for the most part. When they go it's like kicking a hornets nest and throwing it through the nearest open window. Sure there might be nobody inside and no trouble the first few times but eventually you'll throw it into somebodies house and all hell will break loose.
This goes for all small bars, all partially forgotten, everyone's a regular, faint smell of blood and bleach in the air bars that exist globally but are so very rarely touched by humans on a regular basis. You've probably been to a few, or at least one small bar somewhere you're visiting without so much as a second thought. Did they stare at you in there? Where the patrons shiftier than normal people? Was the atmosphere so inviting you couldn't resist a quick drink or two?
What made you leave without so much as a second glance behind or a mention to anyone you know years down the line, even when you're back in the same area and looking for a place to drink?
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