A visitor’s Guide to British pubs
Going to a British pub, for a beer or food, is one of those experiences that you have to have in London. Partly because it’s tough to avoid, but partly because you will never have a hope of understanding Britain unless you’ve spent at least a little time in the pub.
Opening Hours
Until recently, pubs closed at 11pm. There were other licensing laws that allowed other types of establishments to be open and serve drinks later (such as dance clubs, etc.), but pubs were limited to 11pm. New law recently came into effect which allows pubs to apply to be open later. You’ll now find that some are open until midnight or 1am, and some have licenses to open around the clock. However, most still seem to close at 11pm.
Ordering drinks & food
It’s sometimes amusing for locals to see tourists at a pub. They’ll sit down at a table, and wait virtually forever to be served. But that’s the thing… there is no table service in pubs. If you want a drink, or even if you want food, you have to order it at the bar. I’ve heard stories of some people waiting nearly 45 minutes before they figured it out, but those people were also engrossed in a football match.
When you order food, the staff will typically ask you where you’re sitting, and/or give you a number to display on your table. They’ll bring it out when it’s ready. (There are very occasionally pubs that do have table service, but these are rare.)
Tipping
Tipping is never an easy topic, except perhaps at British pubs. The general rule? Tipping isn’t done. The staff are paid well enough that they don’t need anything extra, and it’s culturally just not done. That said, if you really feel like you’re being rude by not tipping, just say something along the lines of “… and one for yourself” when ordering. The staff will buy a drink for themselves and charge it to your order. But even this is very rare.
Queueing for Drinks
The British queue (get in line… see here) for everything. This includes a queue at the bar getting a drink. Please be mindful of who was there before you. Typically bar staff are good about keeping track of who needs to be served next, but the last thing you want to do is cut in line. It’s a big offense to Britons.
Pub culture
Pubs are an integral part of British culture. Over three-quarters of the population go to pubs, and over a third are regulars (at least once a week). They often serve the role that coffee shops do in the United States, as a community meeting place. In smaller towns and villages, the pub is truly the center of socialization for the people there. Everyone in the country has an opinion about their “local,” the pub they are closest to or are a regular at. The only problem in London is that the city is so dense that any number of pubs could be your “local.” For example, I live within a ten minute walk of at least 12 proper pubs, and I think of three of them as a “local.”
One of the best things about British pubs is that you can take drinks outside, and there are often tables and benches outside to sit and enjoy your drinks with friends. Walking around London on Thursday and Friday afternoons in the summer you will see pubs with tens or hundreds of people spilling out into the streets outside. Scenes like the photos at the top and below are commonplace.
Summary
Even if you’re not a drinker, you should at least stop by a pub for a meal. Pubs are really at the center of British culture, and you’ll never truly understand the country unless you’ve spent some time at a pub. With around 60,000 pubs across the UK, you’ll always be near one!
[Update]
- Hello, Stumblers! If you liked this post, you’ll probably like this one on translating the “Queen’s English” to regular English, a North American guide to British sports, and a hidden little gem in the heart of London.
[Update 2]
- After the flood of comments in regards to tipping below, I’ve now posted a general guide to Tipping in London. I look forward to your comments there!
38 Comments
What you said is very true although a Pub is a Pub not a restaurant of coarse you dont wait for table service.
Hi, Sam.
You have no idea how many tourists not accustomed to London pub etiquette sit around waiting for everything! (Food and/or drinks.) That’s why I pointed it out. Thanks for the comment!
My name is Ryan Nagy, and when I saw the Pub called, “The Nag’s Head” I couldn’t help but think that would be a great picture for one of my blogs!
It would make a great header.
cheers – Ryan
Hi, Ryan.
The Nag’s Head is actually a nice little pub south of Hyde Park in a posh neighborhood. Maybe you’ll get a chance to have a pint there if you visit London!
Very Interesting!
Slightly off with the website, nice resturants expect u to tip, cheaper ones dont.
No-one expects it in Pubs, but the bar staff are paid minimum wage, nearly always, in fact i dont think i have ever been paid more than 30 p over minimum wage except for being employed as a barman/glass collector/bouncer.
Always tip your barman or maid. Also Tipping well will get you served faster.
About this and queues, we will serve everyone as fast as we can, complaining will usually get at best a polite “sod off”. We will serve mates, regulars and good tippers first, why? cos we evil minded bigots? no cos we do service on familarity if you been at the bar for 3 hours i will have seen you face hundreds of times and it will look familiar and so i will serve you. Good tippers and regulars are quickly recognised and thus served.
Oh and on Drinking outside, be warned where it is ok, its grand. but where it isnt you will be fined. If in doubt ask the bar, who will either know or know someone who does.
Sorry for rant. But get this str8 since i am moving abroad and now am a tourist in france.
Hi, Bungle.
Please note that I didn’t mention anything about not tipping in restaurants! Yes, tipping is done there, but that’s a topic for another post.
Regarding pay, the minimum wage in Britain is significantly higher than the US minimum wage (and most visitors to this site are currently from the States.) In the States, it is legal to pay bar staff as low as ~£1/hour, which is quite different than in the UK. That’s why I made that point.
Thanks for writing!
I’d just like to clarify on the tipping situation. Tipping isn’t a big part of English culture, we tip in restaurants and taxis, but for some reason not in pubs. As such, when someone offers a tip bar staff (such as myself) may often seem uncomfortable. This is not because the offer of a tip is in any way offensive or derisive to us, we just plain aren’t particularly used to it! As you said, buying the staff a drink is a much more familiar means of showing appreciation for service but it is of slightly less financial benefit. £5 minimum wage is not a pleasant amount of money to try to live on in a country where petrol costs £1 per litre and cigarettes are £6 for twenty!
no worries, tho i wasnt having a go.
having said that £5.20 an hour might seem high to people from abroad but when your rent is £500 (london) a month, then bills and food only being allowed 56 hours a week (EU regs) you end up with about maybe £50-100 a month spare (not incl. socials or tax).
I don’t know about pubs around your way, but I’ve never, ever, seen a queue in a British pub.
Also, “They often serve the role that coffee shops do in the United States” – more like “They often serve a role as a social meeting place that is completely absent in most of the United States”.
Hello, jimbo. I have seen plenty of queue in British pubs, though admittedly on Friday/Saturday evenings. My local can get incredibly busy, with a massive queue.
I would argue that coffee shops in the US are the social meeting place for most people, particularly outside cities. To say there is no social meeting place isn’t quite accurate, in my opinion.
Thanks for writing!
I’m an expat, all I can say is Cheers!
Tipping can be a bit of a tricky subject, as you can tell by the varying opinions in the comments. Not meaning to confuse visitors even further, but where I grew up in Manchester there were two recognised methods of tipping.
The first, which has already been mentioned, is to say ‘get one for yourself’ (best to do that on the first visit to the bar so you get in with the staff early on).
The second is to say ‘and yours’, which unfortunately can mean any number of things. In the first pub I worked in it meant the barman should take 10 pence for himself. In another pub it meant 30 pence. In yet another it meant take the price of a drink (usually the price of half a pint of lager).
i dont know about london but i know in liverpool it is considered rude not to tip
Yeah, Ashley’s right. I’m a barman from Liverpool and up here it is the done thing to tip your barperson, particularly for a large order. The funny thing is, the customers see this as the proper thing to do just as much as the bar staff do. This is all probably because drinks in London are so much more expensive than up here, or most of the rest of the country for that matter… Great page though! The rest of the info is spot on!
I live in a small town in Australia & reading tour story on English Pub s it could just as easily been about Aussie pubs
[...] set off a bit of a firestorm here on The London Traveler recently when I wrote about London pubs. Specifically, it was what I wrote about tipping at London pubs; it’s not [...]
Thanks, thats very informative.
[...] Many people associate the British culture with regular visits to the pub – and rightly so. As Jed says in his blog The London Traveler, “you will never have a hope of understanding Britain unless you’ve spent at least a little [...]
[...] English pub, let’s look at modern day English pubs and see what they have to offer. Again, I have Jed to thank for the particulars in this [...]
[...] English pub, let’s look at modern day English pubs and see what they have to offer. Again, I have Jed to thank for the particulars in this [...]
The pub featured in The Beatles movie Help! was none other than The City Barge Pub in Chiswick, London. In the film they order “two lagers and lime and two lagers and lime”.
-Gilan of The Beatles Invasion
Is there anybody know the difference between British and Irish pub?
Traditional British and Irish pubs are in many ways similar. They are usually a community hub, not just a place to buy alcohol. They are informal places ; you can drop in to read a newspaper in the afternoon as well as to have an evening out. They may or may not provide food, but in the traditional pub, the food is definitely the second attraction – beer comes first.
One difference is that in the English pub, the main beer will probably be bitter or IPA, with others. In the Irish pub, stout (Guinness, Murphy’s or Beamish) takes pride of place.
The other difference is that the “Irish pub” has been exported worldwide, in varying degrees of authenticity. It has been decorated with shamrocks, green paint, Irish flags, and all kinds of rubbish. Including, in the case of one Irish pub I visited in Lithuania, clowns!
The ‘Irish pub’ in Barcelona, Tokyo or Paris is a very different thing from a typical pub in Ireland. I’d argue that the traditional Irish and British pub have much more in common with each other than any ‘Irish pub’ elsewhere has with either.
I *am* biased. I’m a great lover of the traditional pub. Come to London and see it at its best!
I wish our pubs were that laid back. I didn’t know about the tipping tip. Thanks!
[...] continue [...]
The absolute most important rule to remember when visting an English pub is to finish every order with the sentence “and one for your good self” this will also enhance you chances of polite and speedy service.
I’m a British ex pat, love your artical. God, it makes me wanna come home!
Hi, I’m a British ex pat. Love the artical, God it make me wanna come home!
And remember, all the words that in American contain “Z”, organiZe, socialiZe etc. MUST be used (as we here in England do) with “S” organise, socialise, just like what Shakespeare done! – you’ll also find irony a little difficult to understand (at first) but then you’ll take it back home with you, like a foreign language and your friends and neighboUrs won’t understand. A little like they won’t understand our coloUrs. Isn’t life just brilliant!
[...] English pub, let’s look at modern day English pubs and see what they have to offer. Again, I have Jed to thank for the particulars in this [...]
[...] English pub, let’s look at modern day English pubs and see what they have to offer. Again, I have Jed to thank for the particulars in this [...]
[...] English pub, let’s look at modern day English pubs and see what they have to offer. Again, I have Jed to thank for the particulars in this [...]
[...] English pub, let’s look at modern day English pubs and see what they have to offer. Again, I have Jed to thank for the particulars in this [...]
[...] English pub, let’s look at modern day English pubs and see what they have to offer. Again, I have Jed to thank for the particulars in this [...]
[...] English pub, let’s look at modern day English pubs and see what they have to offer. Again, I have Jed to thank for the particulars in this [...]
[...] English pub, let’s look at modern day English pubs and see what they have to offer. Again, I have Jed to thank for the particulars in this [...]
[...] English pub, let’s look at modern day English pubs and see what they have to offer. Again, I have Jed to thank for the particulars in this [...]