A word for old-fashioned, dirty bar/place (spit-and-sawdust)
Is there a (common) single word for an old-fashioned, non-modern, simple, dirty, untidy bar/place ?
A noun would be preferable.
Details:
There is an informal British term:
spit-and-sawdust Used to describe an old-fashioned or simple pub or bar, of a type whose floor was originally covered with sawdust.
First of all:
- Is this word only used as an adjective? Can it be used as a noun?
- Is it a common word? Can it be used for places other than pubs/bars?
Secondly:
- Is there any AmE equivalent of this word? or a common word both in BrE and AmE?
- Can we say that "shabby" is an equivalent?
The usual term for no-frills bars or pubs in America is dive bar. Many people simply call such a bar a dive. They are not all shabby or run-down, but many are.
I think the most common term in America for this is saloon. In westerns the cowboys would be drinking at the saloon. Surely its floors weren't better than sawdust.
Saloon usage can vary between Old Western to your corner pub that is a little old fashioned, to a retro microbrewery. It is still very common in the Midwest US to open a bar with the name Saloon in it - or refer to your bar as a saloon. Some are dirtier than others obviously, and the type you are pointing at would normally be found in rural areas or in the South. Fort Worth has a famous section of town called the Stockyards that has pretty much exactly what you are describing and they go by saloon or honky-tonk.
However I do remember a phrase from my youth in the south - a honky-tonk. My grandma actually ran a honky-tonk. Pizza place by day and bar/concert place at night. Half of the flooring was concrete though. Other half was dirt/straw.
a cheap or disreputable bar, club, or dance hall, typically where country music is played. "country bands at highway honky-tonks"
A great example (of a rather large honky-tonk) was Gilley's, seen on the movie Urban Cowboy. Not all honky-tonks had a bull but it wasn't uncommon.
Also via Patrick (see comments) I missed probably the best example I have seen so far via Blues Brothers clip of Bob's Country Bunker.
Consider "dump," "roadhouse", and 'juke (house/joint)."
roadhouse: a tavern located on a road outside of a town or city.
juke house: Southern US: a cheap roadhouse.