Rule #5: The pub is not just a place to drink
When Samuel Johnson wrote, “There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern”, he wasn’t indulging in hyperbole.
Visitors sometimes assume a pub is simply the British version of a bar. It is not. At its best, the British pub is an all-day living room of shared community: part meeting place, part local institution and part refuge from the weather.
This has an impact on how you need to behave. Conversation is seen as an art form by many locals, with noise levels often lower than outsiders expect. Phones should be turned down and shouting is scowled at by regulars.
In the most traditional of pubs, behave respectfully – almost as if you’ve been invited into a community hall, church or someone’s home. If there is an empty table, but it has a pint glass with a beer mat on top, that’s an indication its drinker has popped to the bathroom or outside for a cigarette. Just as you’d never hijack your host’s seat in their own house, don’t assume an apparently empty table is fair game.
“Etiquette like this holds British pub culture together,” says Schondelmeier. “It’s part and parcel of the whole UK experience, which is why a trip to the pub is such a universal, shared event.”
Rule #6: Pub snacks come with their own code
Visitors should also be aware that pub snacking has its own low-stakes etiquette. You can learn a lot about UK culture from what turns up on the table between pints. The first rule is simple: anything put in the centre of the table needs to be shared. Crisp packets, preferably salt and vinegar or cheese and onion, must be ripped open and presented picnic-style. The same logic applies to salty peanuts – which were first introduced in the 1950s as cheaper substitutes for pickled eggs and oysters.
Pub snacks set in the middle of the table are generally understood to be for sharing
READ MORE ON THE NEXT PAGE…
