The Golden Hour

In photography, the Golden Hour is a period of time shortly before dusk or just after dawn when the sun is furthest away from either being there or somewhere else. Light has the greatest distance to travel before it reaches where you are standing, and it produces a soft, warm glow that transcends the physical and becomes a mood in its own right. If you are more of a fan of pubs than you are of daylight, you might know that the bar also has its own Golden Hour.

Unlike the sky, which in most places changes throughout the course of the year, the Golden Hour in a pub almost always occurs around 3.30pm. It can only be observed during the week and it doesn’t appear on public holidays. This is because 3.30pm on an ordinary weekday is the furthest point between the last person finishing lunch and the first of the after-work drinkers coming through the door. It is a period when nobody with a ‘real job’ should be in the pub, which is why it is the perfect time for a drink.

The day bar staff have by this point completely checked out. They won’t be recommending you any special offers. They probably won’t even look at you as they keep one eye on the door waiting for the night shift crew to come in and relieve them from duty. You feel a glorious anonymity as you order a drink and then slide into a corner somewhere to blend into an atmosphere that is as soft as lamb’s wool.

Your glass goes down easily in the Golden Hour. You wonder if you’ll have time for another before the office workers start piling in. That period, around 5pm, is the worst time to be in the pub. People bring their work in with them, anxiously jabbering away about what happened during today’s capitalism, with a frantic energy they are desperate to dull with drink. It shatters the afternoon calm, causing the Golden Hour to vanish immediately.

After a couple of pints these newcomers will forget all about their jobs but until they do you will have to hear about them. You look at the clock on the wall, in a room so quiet you can hear it ticking, and weigh up your options. If you drink quickly, you tell yourself, you may just get away with it.