Milk bar

Milk bars are traditionally a place where people buy newspapers, and fast-food items such as fish and chips, hamburgers, milkshakes, and snacks.

They are essentially a smaller-scale suburban form of the convenience store but are more likely to be "mum and dad" small businesses rather than larger franchised operations.

The concept soon spread to the United Kingdom, where it was encouraged by the Temperance Society as a morally acceptable alternative to the pub, and over 1,000 milk bars had opened nationally by the end of 1936.

[citation needed] By the late 1940s, milk bars had evolved to not only sell groceries, but were also places where young people could buy ready-made food and non-alcoholic drinks, and could socialise.

Milk bars often had jukeboxes and pinball machines (later upgraded to video games), with tables and chairs to encourage patrons to linger and spend more money.

[3] In the UK, corner shops serve a similar function to milk bars in modern Australia, providing everyday groceries, sweets, newspapers and such.