I feel like pubs in Europe are different than they are in the US. If you go to a dive bar in the US there’s a real chance you might end up stabbed or shot.

I mean, there’s some personal choice involved here. My wife and I and a friend, all middle aged, visited a bar recently to hang out and burn some time and it was busy and noisy (like, piped music and chatter noisy). We moved on and found a less busy bar where we could talk.