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Welcome back, everyone. Let’s get into a little bit of bar stool history.

To look at the history of the bar stool, we must first look at the history of stools in general. It is believed that usage of stools goes back to at least ancient China. Small folding stools were what were mostly used. Stools also played a role in the society of ancient Egypt and they have even been discovered inside of tombs. It is amazing to think that something still exists today that may have one time been used by an Egyptian king!

Society was much more mobile back then and the small size made it easier to move the stools around. Seated chairs eventually became the choice of the upper classes. Over time chairs became more common of course, but stools were certainly the more prominent furniture item for many years.

Now we need to delve a little bit into the history of bars – as in public houses, taverns, etc. There were taverns in ancient Rome and in fact a painting was discovered in Pompeii that showed four men sitting around a table on stools and drinking wine. The arrival of the Romans in Great Britain brought a road network and along with that sprang up inns and such where travelers could gain refreshment. Over time more locals began to frequent these establishments and they basically morphed into alehouses, which is an important historical part of the modern pub scene.

People didn’t want to always have to stand up in these places, so stools naturally offered a convenient seating arrangement. Their size and movableness helped make the stools ideal for public gathering spots.

The years would pass and over time there would be many different types of stools out there made of different materials and made in different sizes. Now in the present time there is definitely a wide variety of stools to chose from.

Bar stool usage would spread to other types of businesses, such as ice cream parlors, for example. Stools can be seen all over the place in today’s world. Many people now even have bar style kitchen countertops in their homes. From ancient times to the modern day, the designs and sizes may have changed but people are still using what we call stools to sit down on. So next time you see or use one you may end up finding yourself thinking of cultures from times of the past.