What is the importance of the Bearskin Pub in the novel, Us Against You?

The pub creates a common space for Beartown townspeople to commune and talk. The pub offers a place for the old and young to meet and relate to one another. As owner, Ramona serves as a pseudo maternal figure to all Bearskin customers. The pub is a space in which Ramona is allowed to nurture the physical and emotional needs of her friends and neighbors. The Bearskin is also the setting for many intimate conversations between characters. Everyone in Beartown, from Peter, to Teemu, to Benji, come to the Bearskin to seek advice from Ramona, or to vent in a safe space. Later in the novel, the Bearskin also shelters Benji, offering him a job and keeping him out of trouble.