These words refer to public places in which alcoholic drinks are served. Bar is the general word for that section of a licensed hotel, or a licensed club, in which the serving and drinking of liquor is the primary concern.

• Let’s have a drink in the bar before we go into the dining room.

In America the word refers also to the ubiquitous street bar (often small) which is not part of a hotel but which exists solely for the serving and drinking of alcoholic beverages. Saloon has a much more complicated set of meanings. In Australia, as in Britain, the saloon bar in a hotel is separate from the public bar and differs from the latter in that its appointments are superior and the drinks more costly. (A similar distinction between these tow sorts of bars exists in New Zealand hotels, but in this case the better-appointed kind is known as the lounge bar or private bar .) Drawn from the French salon , the word saloon can also indicate the main gathering place of a passenger ship, reflecting its earliest use pertaining to the room in a home where people gathered for conversation. In any case, saloon originally suggested an elegantly appointed place, one both sumptuous and respectable. As such, it was taken over in America to confer respectability on public drinking places, but with the Prohibition era the word lost favour and came to indicate any sordid, low-life bar , a connotation from which the word, in America, has never recovered.

Cocktail lounge does indicate the elegant surroundings once suggested by saloon . Typically, such a place might be spacious and well-upholstered; it would offer a menu of food and possibly a singer or pianist for entertainment, though most likely it would not accommodate social dancing. The main function, here, is still that of serving liquor. Nightclub suggests a more lavish setting than cocktail lounge , indicating a place where eating and entertainment are as important as drinking itself. Whereas one could frequent a cocktail lounge in the afternoon or early evening, nightclub specifically indicates late hours; furthermore, the entertainment typically includes social dancing, a band (or "combo") of musicians, often with a singer, and the performances of one or more comedians. The entertainment may be on a far more lavish scale, involving an orchestra, chorus girls, etc.

Cabaret also indicates a place offering entertainment as well as liquor. It suggests smaller, more intimate surroundings, however, where singing or dancing acts are presented, though social dancing may not be involved. Recently, satirical revues and even serious plays have been presented in cabarets . At its inception, the recent word discothèque referred to a place where the new forms of social dancing were done to recorded music. Now the word is also used of places where modern social dancing is done to live music. Discothèque is the one word here that need not imply the serving of alcoholic drinks, since many of these places cater particularly to teenagers to whom alcohol may not be sold.