GUEST, heric - Whereabouts in Canada were you living? I've never before heard the term "beer hall" used in a Canadian context, although I'm more familiar than I should be with the type of establishment to which you refer. They don't seem to exist in that form any more, which is too bad really; they were far more sociable than the modern set-up.

Anyway, you're talking about barroom brawling, which has a long and honourable tradition in Canada, along with, in some places, street-fighting. I think this yob thing in Britain involves much more than respectable if impromptu bouts of fisticuffs.