Commercial hospitality is becoming increasingly important for the branding and promoting of cities. Latham (2003) Urb. Studs 40 detects a new form of public culture, based around cafés, bars, and restaurants, and Laurier and Philo (2004) Env. & Plan. A 36, 3 represent cafés as ‘sites where economic, political and cultural matters come into contact and are mutually transformed’. These joyful judgements are shared by Anderson (2004) Annals Am. Acad. Polit. Soc. Sci. 595 and Esperdy (2002) Architectural Design 72.
D. Hobbs (2003) takes a more cynical view, seeing the creation of hospitality as a means of generating customer loyalty, but Bell (2007) PHG 31, 1 argues that it shouldn’t be seen as merely calculative. Jayne et al. (2006) PHG 30 stress the downside of pub culture, and Hobbs (op. cit.) illustrates the affects and effects of ‘the alcohol-fuelled night-time economy’—from boozy matinées to random drunken brawls.