# U.K. Pubs & orange juice **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739 "2005-10-31T16:42:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/1 "2005-10-31T16:42:09Z")
I was reading a mystery novel set in the UK in the late 60s. People entering a pub, and not wanting alcohol would order orange juice. Is this common? In the US IME someone wanting a non-alcoholic drink in a bar will order a soda (or pop depending on where exactly you are). ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/2 "2005-10-31T16:56:36Z")
OJ is common, as would be Coke, mineral water, lime & soda (unbelievably cheap in some pubs, extortionate in others) and OJ + lemonade (that’s lemon soda rather than the cloudy US style lemonade). ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/3 "2005-10-31T17:02:28Z")
One juice of the orange, if you will be so good. - Charlie Chan Growing up in the 60’s you seldom drank pop. Once or twice a week at most was common, and that book you read was from that period. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/4 "2005-10-31T17:33:06Z")
What the others said - plus, in the context of the OP, the common use of orange juice as a rather clunkly & cliched device to signify sobriety/abstention/policeman on duy/etc. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/5 "2005-10-31T17:42:28Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > clunkly & cliched device to signify sobriety/abstention/policeman on duy/etc. Bingo! In the novel an on-duty cop and an alcoholic were the ones to order OJ, and it was clunky indeed! Thanks all. Back to your lifts and lorries filled with petrol. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/6 "2005-10-31T17:57:41Z")
A lift filled with petrol sounds rather dangerous, if you ask me 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/7 "2005-10-31T18:27:54Z")
OJ in a British pub in the late 60’s? That sounds a little unlikely. [Orange squash](http://www.britvic.com/retail/Brands/Robinsons/Squash.htm), now - much more likely. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/8 "2005-10-31T18:34:05Z")
What would a non-alcohol kind of guy order in a UK pub nowadays ? Ginger Beer? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/9 "2005-10-31T18:39:06Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > What would a non-alcohol kind of guy order in a UK pub nowadays ? Ginger Beer? President Bush ordered a non-alcoholic beer when he vistied a pub with Blair on his state visit to Britain. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/10 "2005-10-31T18:56:14Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > OJ in a British pub in the late 60’s? That sounds a little unlikely. [Orange squash](http://www.britvic.com/retail/Brands/Robinsons/Squash.htm), now - much more likely. And referring to it as OJ even more unlikely (even now) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/11 "2005-10-31T19:31:59Z")
In the book they referred to it as either “an orange juice” or just “an orange”. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/12 "2005-10-31T19:52:32Z")
Orange whip? Orange whip? Orange whip? Four orange whips! ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/13 "2005-10-31T21:52:33Z")
I was in a boozer this very afternoon where a punter asked for an orange juice and was met with the immortal phrase, “Sorry; no orange juice”. Seven different types of real ale (it’s Wetherspoons’ Autumn Beer Festival) but no effing orange juice. I ask you. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/14 "2005-11-01T09:05:16Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > OJ in a British pub in the late 60’s? That sounds a little unlikely. [Orange squash](http://www.britvic.com/retail/Brands/Robinsons/Squash.htm), now - much more likely. If you’re thinking of freshly-squeezed, then yes. Any but the meanest and most contemptable spit-and-sawdust would have had bottles of Britvic or Schweppes orange juice, though, even in the late 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/15 "2005-11-01T09:45:52Z")
Agreed; it would have been a small glass bottle of (what used to be) orange juice - although the product is actually quite far removed from the juice of fresh oranges. It’s worth mentioning at this point that very few households in the UK have a juice press for making fresh orange juice (even fewer actually _use_ the press they were bought as a gift); going back about ten years, it would be true to say that the number of households with juice presses would be almost nil. ‘Orange Juice’ in the UK most commonly refers to a drink that has been reconstituted from concentrate at a factory and is sold in 1 litre UHT/longlife tetra cartons. Frozen concentrate is generally not available; chilled ‘freshly squeezed’ juice in plastic bottles is widely available, but is still regarded as a somewhat expensive or premium item. So the term ‘orange juice’ means, right now to the average Brit on the street, the reconstituted longlife type. Back in the 60s, the term would have meant the small BritVic bottles. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/16 "2005-11-01T10:32:06Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Agreed; it would have been a small glass bottle of (what used to be) orange juice - although the product is actually quite far removed from the juice of fresh oranges. > … > > So the term ‘orange juice’ means, right now to the average Brit on the street, the reconstituted longlife type. Back in the 60s, the term would have meant the small BritVic bottles. Britvic sell “Orange 55”, which is supposed to contain 55% orange juice. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/17 "2005-11-01T11:14:36Z")
Yes, Britvic 55 was launched as a premixed juice drink, but before that (and alongside of it) they sold a range of bottled juices that were just juice in a bottle - the orange was the worst of these, bearing very little resemblance to actual orange juice. ---
**Author:** ![Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fromage_A_Trois)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/18 "2005-11-01T13:58:53Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > What would a non-alcohol kind of guy order in a UK pub nowadays ? Ginger Beer? Well, little old teetotal me drinks lemonade (again, not the cloudy American stuff, the clear, sparkling stuff we have over here), by the pint. Acquaintances of mine, who are, say, driving, will have coke most often. Sometimes they’ll have a blackcurrant/orange/lime squash (coz it’s cheaper than coke). Me, I love sugar. Mmmmmm… sugar… ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/19 "2005-11-01T14:23:08Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s worth mentioning at this point that very few households in the UK have a juice press for making fresh orange juice (even fewer actually _use_ the press they were bought as a gift); going back about ten years, it would be true to say that the number of households with juice presses would be almost nil. Go back another ten years, and I might agree with you. I know for sure I bought my sister juice press as part of her wedding present thirteen years ago, and that they were popular and widely available items at the time. Moreover, while a 60s household may not have had a juice press, most would have had a lemon squeezer like [this,](http://minnamoora.freeyellow.com/pics/10471.jpg) so they could have squeezed oranges if they liked. As I recall, though, most people bought oranges to eat, rather than for juice. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739/20 "2005-11-01T14:23:24Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > I was in a boozer this very afternoon where a punter asked for an orange juice Could someone define _punter_? I’ve never known for certain what this means. The dictionary gives “gambler” as well as someone punting a ball. Is it a slang term synonymous with “bloke”? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-k-pubs-orange-juice/328739.md?page=2)