A bar is the counter where drinks are mixed by a bartender, mainly in hotels, taverns and pubs. This term is applied as a synecdoche to drinking establishments called bars.

Bars may also be found in restaurants, private homes, corporate offices, cruise liners, and so on.

Bars typically store a variety of liquors and other, nonalcoholic beverage ingredients, and are organized to facilitate the bartenders' efficiency. They may also have areas for the storage of snack foods.

It is thought that the method of serving from a bar was invented by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the great Victorian engineer, as a means of more quickly serving the sudden rush of customers caused by passenger trains arriving at the terminus of the Great Western Railway. Before then, the only method known was to wait at tables. If this is true, then the first bar would have been installed at the Great Western Hotel on Paddington Station, London.

Counters for serving other types of food and drink are sometimes also called bars. Examples include salad bars, sushi bars, and sundae bars. -Wikipedia.org