First Time to UK since 2001
 

Just back from two weeks in the UK for first time since 2001. What’s new or different?
1. Sunday shopping
2. Credit cards are now accepted everywhere; not only that, they are now ahead of the U.S. with chipped cards. “Oh, yours is still a swipe card”.
3. Internet cafes have become ancient history, a victim of Androids and iPads.
4. Fewer British beers and more foreign beers in the pubs, including (gag) Budweiser.
5. A new generation of modern pubs that are bigger and more open, more food oriented, kid friendly; sort of a hybrid of a U.S. chain restaurant with the traditional local pub.
6. Public restrooms, especially train stations, greatly improved and most of them are free now (some locally-run public facilities still charge 20p for use).

Hi GARYBEAR,

Interesting observations.

"3. Internet cafes have become ancient history, a victim of Androids and iPads."

That's for sure. I do have an IPhone but emailed from the hotel lobby for convenience. These computers were pretty available, unlike in past years when the lines were long. Mostly now women of my vintage also waiting to email. :)

So what were your highlights in London? Love that city and am always interested in hearing about what others experience there.

I spent only a weekend in London to visit some friends as I had been there 3 times before and seen the major attractions. Saturday enjoyed a walk along the south bank of the Thames starting at the Museum of Gardening near Lambeth Palace (in a former church; Captain Bligh of the Bounty is buried in the churchyard). Sunday we went to the markets in Spitalfields and wandered around the East End area. Lots of great ethnic foods.

I'd never heard of the Museum of Gardening before - so thanks for that, gary! Di

It's the complete opposite of the truth that there are "Fewer British beers". It IS true that there are more foreign beers (within which American Budweiser is hardly a pimple) than 15 years ago: pubs just offer a far, far, wider choice of beers.

That choice revolution is greatest in draught beers - the kind that dominates beer drinking in pubs, and where till recently a ton of logistics problems and monopoly abuse by brewery chains drastically limited choice. Its greatest effect has been a huge increase in the choice of proper British beer on draught (once pretty much limited to whatever dishwater the chain owning the pub brewed), with a secondary effect of more European beers now also on draught - something practically unheard of, apart from boring old Carlsberg and Heineken, 15 years ago.

There has been no change since 2001 in the extent or popularity of Sunday shopping, or in the restrictions it operates under.

I'd strongly disagree about pubs becoming more child-friendly. In most town centres, changes in pub design, booze choice and promotional policies have created pubs that are dramatically more binge-drinking friendly, so in the evenings few will take children to them - and publicans ban them anyway.

Oddly, in many pubs food availability has declined in the past 15 years, mainly because of the rising costs of more stringent (and arguably pointless) hygiene requirements. Whereas in 2001, it was common where I live to see families having dinner in town-centre pubs, that just doesn't happen any more.

The child thing DOES vary a lot though. Britain's 48,000 pubs really are far too complex for any generalisation based on two days in one town to have any value whatever.

It's always interesting to read a visitor's impressions of one's own country, however much one might agree or disagree with them.

Flanner is right about no change of legislation regarding Sunday trading since 2001, but I think it is more a normal part of life now, and the generation who may have disapproved have died out or stopped doing their own shopping. I seldom visit town pubs, but country pubs make a lot of their money from food sales now, and the range available has improved and changed, even if a lot of it is bought in from big wholesalers like Brakes and 3663. In contrast, some pubs and restaurants list the names of their suppliers, on the basis that they are local, honest and good.

It would be rare now to find a pub or bar without at least one draught beer from a local small brewery. Even the supermarkets have a wide selection of similar beers in bottles.

Another change is the decline of large supermarkets on the edge of town. In their place has come convenience stores run by the large chains like Tesco, Sainsbury and the Co-op. These are allowed longer Sunday opening hours than the big stores, and people seem to prefer frequent small shopping trips to infrequent big ones. Combined with this is the rise of the delivery to your door of an online order. On quiet suburban streets late at night, you still see the Tesco and Sainsbury vans doing their rounds, and you can equally find them deep in the country. I understand that this type of service is still unprofitable.

Card payments are now much more common, and some people use cards for everything. You will still need cash in open air markets, for much parking, and in making donations in churches and to charities.

What Gary didn't notice was the explosion of coffee shops. Starbucks has stalled here, but Costa is everywhere and there are lots of independents. The other development is the ubiquity of tapas. Not just Spanish tapas, but middle-eastern tapas, Thai tapas, Caribbean tapas and others. I was in the small Somerset coastal town of Portishead the other evening, and there were two tapas places opposite one another on the High Street, one part of a chain of converted pubs now specialising in tapas.

I actually did notice the explosion of Costa Coffee shops everywhere, Chartley, just forgot to mention it. Another thing I observed and forgot to mention is that several restuarants that I ate in (not pubs) have added a line for a gratuity to the bill when they present it. This goes against the axiom that service is included and tipping is not necessary except to recognize exceptional service. Sorry to see this export from America gaining ground in the UK.

Not sure when shopping laws were changed or if it was a local or national decision. But I can say that in April 2001 in Nottinghamshire, there was no shopping on Sunday. Only pubs, restaurants, cinemas, gas stations, etc. and maybe the corner convenience stores were open.