The front bar is the customer area, it is the meeting point for the customers and the bartenders where the customer’s order for their drinks and are served by the bartenders. The front bar should be functional and have adequate space for pouring the drinks and serving them.
The height of the bar is normally 42-48 inches. The width of the bar is 16-18 inches with the surface of water proof and alcohol proof material and should be easy to clean. Most bar surfaces are laminated plastic or made up of high quality granite. It may or may not have armrest running from one end to the other. If provided, around 8-inch space must be added up to the width of the bar and the armrest should be padded for comfort. The waiters pour the drinks along with the mixers, such as soda, water, etc. into the appropriate side.
Glass arranged in the glass rail (drip rail) which is recessed for about 3 inches at the bartender (George and Chatterjee, 2008). The vertical structure supporting the front bar, known as the ‘bar die’ is like a wall that separates the customers from the working area. The customer side may be padded, decorated with carving, or left plain.
A footrest runs the length of the counter on the customer side from the floor of about 9-12 inches. If sit-down bar is designed, it will have high stools, tall enough to convert the bar to table and each stool will have the space allocation of 2-feet length of bar. The stools should be very comfortable with proper height with rungs for footrest or the footrest of the front bar should be within the reach.
On elegant mahogany bars of the 1800s the footrest was a brass rail, and underneath it every few feet were brass spittoons. The prohibitionists made the brass rail a symbol of the wickedness of drink, along with swinging saloon doors .
The elements of the front bar- the surface, die, armrest, footrest and stools are part of the public perceptions, so their look must be carefully planned in conjunction with the total décor.