Having played a lot of Dwarf fortress in ascii mode as well as with tilesets, I agree with you. It’s not especially difficult to make a successful fortress. However the game is definitely obtuse, even more so with the ascii graphics. Just figuring out what is happening on the screen and which combination of buttons to press to do what you want is quite difficult.
The steam release does some work to remedy the situation though.
I’m not British or anything, but I always thought that in the UK the local pub filled this function? A place to gather socially, eat, drink. I understand most people would go and drink beer there but do they not serve coffee? Tea, at least?