Some day I’ll fulfill my life-long dream of quaffing a few pints with the locals at a British pub. I’m aware of a few differences between UK pub culture and American bar culture – no tipping, pay cash, go to the bar to order, don’t wait for a server, etc. And of course, the most important thing: you people don’t do tabs; rather, it’s expected that everyone will order at least one round.
OK so it’s a Friday night and some Dopers have agreed to meet me at the Pig & Poker. Being the host, I offer to order the first round. Do I ask what everybody likes, or is it just assumed that everybody wants a pint of beer? Is it OK for one patron to have This Beer, one to have That Beer, and one to have This Other Beer? Or does the principle of Not Pissing Off The Bartender require that we all order the same? And when it’s time to pay, is exact change preferred? Or is it OK to break, say, a 50 or a 100?
The round consists of whatever each person wants to drink. If it’s a little busy you should wait your turn - generally the bar staff are pretty good at figuring out who is next to be served. If it’s REALLY busy, it’s more a case of who can elbow their way to the bar and get their attention.
If you’re ordering a lot of drinks you might want to recruit a second person from your party to ferry the drinks back to the table while you stay there and order.
The bar staff usually want you to tell them everything you want, rather than ordering one drink after another.
When it’s time to pay, many people just tap a contactless card nowadays. If you need to pay in cash, it’s best to hand over an amount that minimises change; £50 notes are rare and some places used to just refuse them. £100 notes exist but I don’t know anyone who has ever seen one.
“And one for yourself” is not an uncommon way to tip a barkeep, especially if you’re there all night and/or if your order is complex; don’t actually expect them to pour themself a drink in response - they will probably just take a £1 tip or something.
If you’re not eating a meal, you could also buy a few bags of crisps and/or nuts and open them flat on the table for everyone to pick at (British Tapas).
Wait, what? checks
Huh, yep, bank of Scotland. Despite years of retail- including working at one of the few places that would accept Scottish £1 notes when they were still a thing- I’ve never heard of it.
I can hear the terrified cry for the manager from here, and the counter cry of ‘It’s legal tenderrrr’.
Drinks are what people would like. They’re expensive enough without getting something unwanted. If someone wants a Guinness, ideally say that first cos it’s a really slow pour, and don’t order a complicated drink unless it’s obviously that sort of pub, but don’t overthink it.
Mine’s a cider, if they’ve got anything other than strongbow.
Also, the selection of draught ales will be different wherever you go. Most pubs will have on tap at least:
One real ale or bitter
One lager
One stout (usually Guinness)
One cider (often Thatchers)
But often there will be multiple choices in each category and it might not actually be obvious what is what. Some of the pump badges are more about branding than information.
Some of your party will just ask for ‘a pint of lager’ or ‘a pint of bitter’ - you might want to check if they have any preference, because the bar staff might ask you that question when you order.
If you don’t want to end up very drunk and you are with a good few people, fight to pay for a round first (or early). That way you avoid the awkward situation where you and others don’t want to drink any more or you want to leave, but you haven’t paid for a round and you don’t want to be a cheapskate.
I’ve never quite figured out how to avoid this problem reliably.
ALL pubs take cards these days. There’s no need to take cash. Tipping used to exist (back when I was doing bar work as a student, it was typical for regulars to say ‘one for yourself’ as an indication of a tip), but tipping seems to have fallen out of favour. You may get table service in a pub which leans heavily on its food service but as a general rule you go to the bar and pay when you order. If you are served at table for a meal, you will pay at the end, in which case I would tip 10% on the bill at the end.
Everyone drinks whatever they like. There will be numerous different beers on offer, so just ordering ‘a beer’ won’t get you very far. Non alcoholic drinks are also totally fine, and many people driving will opt for such things. Most pubs even serve tea and coffee!
The bartender would not expect a round to consist of one type of drink.
Just on this, on first sight it might look like the bar in a pub is the one place where our habit of forming an orderly queue has disappeared, but everyone crushing around the bar will be vaguely aware of the correct order - it’s very common to graciously say ‘actually this lady was first’ if the bar tender has lost track of who’s next and jumped your turn.
I can’t remember the last time I went to a pub with a large group of friends, so my experience of ‘a round’ is usually just like four or five drinks including my own. From memories of past times though, In some cases, and unless everyone is specifically drinking at a pace to keep up with the others, the order of the whole thing falls apart and sometimes someone will offer to get the next round and some people will decline, being only halfway through their existing drink.
I’d say that unless you are explicitly aiming for fairness where everyone buys one round consisting of one drink for everyone, it’s maybe impolite to let someone else buy you another pint when you already have 3/4 of a pint in front of you.
I’ve long ago given up on the idea of a round. I go to the bar, order what I want and decline the offer of anybody in my party buying me a drink. It’s much simpler and you don’t get the point where you need to buy more for fairness even though you’ve had enough or you’ve been lumbered with paying for too much.
My ‘drinking in large groups’ these days tends to be with work colleagues. As such, I’m usually the most senior person there and so feel obliged to buy the first round. I’ll only do it for the group I walk into the pub with though - like 3-4 people - not everyone in the company, and I don’t expect anyone to buy me a drink in return (someone usually does, but I don’t the the hump if they don’t)
This has become really common in Europe, to the point that some places don’t even take cash any more. Last time I was in London, our hotel did not and neither did a couple restaurants we went to.
