In Italy, a "bar" is a place more similar to a Café, where people go during the morning or the afternoon, usually to take a coffee, a cappuccino, a hot chocolate and eat some kind of snack like pastries and sandwiches (panini or tramezzini). However, any kind of alcoholic beverages are served.

A pub which offers lodging may be called an inn. However, today many pubs, particularly in the UK and Australia, with the word "inn" or "hotel" in their name no longer offer accommodation, or have never done so. Some pubs often bear the name of "hotel" because they are in countries where stringent anti-drinking laws were once necessary. In Scotland, only hotels could serve alcohol on Sundays; in Australia, this restriction operated all through the week.

The longest bar in the world is 684 feet or about 208.5 meters long and is located at the New Bulldog in Rock Island, Illinois.

Actors Tom Arnold, Sandra Bullock, Chevy Chase, Bill Cosby, Kris Kristofferson, and Bruce Willis, and musicians Dave Matthews, Kris Kristofferson, and Rob Dougan are all former bartenders.