Can you tell me how one is supposed to manage the whole pub experience? Ordering at table or counter, getting the drinks, tipping? Do the rules change if you order food there, too? Also, if you walk into a small pub and all conversation ceases, are you supposed to greet people or is that presumptious? Part of the problem is I've never ordered a drink in an American bar either (I'm well over drinking age, just woefully inexperienced). On my last trip I followed the advice from a guidebook but felt like I was frequently doing the wrong thing. Help!

Most pubs don't have waiter service, you order your drinks at the bar and pay for them immediately, cash is the order of the day here though some pubs will accept Switch (which you're unlikely to have) or will take your credit card off you to run up a credit card bill. Then you can lurke at the bar if its not busy or find a table. The drinks cost the same whatever, there's no continental type zone system where drinks cost more the further you are from the bar. If you want food you often have to find a table first, if this is the case they're usually numbered. You order the food at the bar, often with the drinks but sometimes at a separate part of the bar and they'll ask for the table number. When the food is ready they'll bring it to you or give you a shout. Again you pay when you order. If you're a regular or spend a long time in a bar you could offer the barman a drink. Don't be offended if he/she refuses as some staff are forbidden to accept drinks from customers and most are not allowed to drink behind the bar, it depends on the management. <BR> <BR>Ordering 'a beer' doesn't usually get you far here as most pubs serve several beers, lagers and ciders. I think draught is best, from the pumps on the bar, and I like bitter. You'll find lagers and stouts available if there more to your taste. If you want to drink American beer in Britain you'll usually find Bud or Miller or other familiar names available. Beer is sold by the pint or the half pint or a bottle which is usually half pint. You can also buy wine or spirits, soft drinks and nowadays (what happened to the dens of iniquity?) tea and coffee. <BR> <BR>If you walk into a bar and all conversation stops, try it again without the 'we bashed the brits in '76' Tshirt Seriously the smaller the pub the more intimate its likely to be. Folk are just naturally curious about who's walked in. There's no harm in a cheery greeting but you'll probably be ignored after a while. If conversation doesn't pick up again you might take that as a cue to drink up and go somewhere more friendly but mostly life will just carry on around you.

The rules vary enormously from area to area, the whole point being to make you realise that if you are from more than 10 miles away you are a second class citizen. <BR>Most city centre pubs are easier as they don't have a local clientele but those that do tend to be even more fiercely xenophobic, as they have to keep more people out. <BR>In my own town it is difficult to go into a pub without being approached with a greeting & an invitation to converse, but in another town 15 miles away this never happens. <BR>Leave it up to the locals, it's THEIR pub & they will take the initiative.Don't assume what works in one place will work in another. <BR>Few pubs have table service.By default, go to the counter and catch the barman's eye.If crowded, having a banknote on your hand is a good cue.Don't shout, even if you see others doing so.Understand that there is an invisible queue, but that regulars may get priority depending on how well they know the barman. <BR>Take your change & pocket it, don't leave it on the counter as in the US.Pay for each round separately, tabs are never run.Never tip unless you are in a crowded pub in which you plan to spend some time & wish to ingratiate yourself with the barman in order to speed up subsequent service.(this works) <BR>The phrase is "and take one for yourself". <BR>If you still feel slighly uncomfortable, this is what you are supposed to feel, sit down with your beer & enjoy watching others go through the same. <BR>I remember a pub in a tourist area where the barman would watch incomers for signs of nervousness or delay, then ask them what they hell they thought they were doing there.He tried it with me the first time I went in (the place was dark & I was scanning the gantry for my favourite whisky) but I was able to reply robustly enough to convince him we were OK.We then spent an amusing few hours watching red faced tourists backing out of the door.It was a tiny pub & there was barely room for the locals. <BR>Sadly such pubs are getting fewer.When everyone gets the same smile & service it's not really worth much IMHO.

As an overtipping American I still find it hard in England not to leave a tip on the bar or at least the change. But after having several bartenders walk from behind the bar over to my table and tell me that I left my change and return it to me, I have finally given up. At first I thought they were embarrassing me because I didn't leave enough, so I kept trying to leave more and more, just to have it always returned to me. Also, for the uninitiated, and although this is somewhat changing, it is generally regarded that a man should only order a pint and that a woman should only order a half pint. But, as I said, that custom seems to be changing!!

I was thinking about posting something about everywhere being different and just to relax and go with the flow. <BR> <BR>But Frank's posting is a classic of its type. Brilliant encapsulation of multifarious pub life.

Frank, that was truely lovely and inspired. As a woman (at least since the operation) and usually with a disorderly group of American broads with me, the pub thing has always been an adventure. All conversation does come to a screeching halt when we saunter in, but we're a bunch of gregarious dames and we usually get a few questions and comments ("moy brother is in Chicago; do ye know haim?") and then it all settles down. We do order pints (we were told by a French woman once that only Belgians and Americans drink "big beers") and several of them. <BR>The tipping thing is a pain; once in a while, usually in a London pub near tourist areas or train stations, there's a tip jar on the bar which makes me feel sooo much better. I, too, tend to overtip (most American college students have waitressed or tended bar to earn their keep and know how hard work it is) and will offer to buy one for the barkeep (talk about strange looks - American woman offering to buy the barkeep a drink), especially if the gals have gotten rowdy (ok mostly we just laugh as loudly as Americans are rumored to do). <BR>The real pain is when the eating area is upstairs and the bar is downstairs; order food when you walk in, climb the stairs, then climb back down to get the food. Sometimes, the bartender (publican I do believe is the proper term) takes pity on us and brings the food upstairs. <BR>And then there was the pub in Oxford; we went to the bar and ordered food and were given one of those little plastic tents with an imprinted number. In the U.S., you put it at the edge of your table, and the food deliverer brings your order over to you. So we sat, and sat, and finally decided it wasn't going to happen. Ahgeez goes to the bar with the little plastic thingy, and the barkeep takes it from her, turns around and matches it to the tray of food behind him, and then hands her the tray. Again, those wacky cultural differences...

Just loved hearing about the pub experience and eager to see for myself. We are taking the whole family to England in August and wondering what is pub etiquette concerning the kids (ages 14,12,10 ) ?

Pubs in Britain and especially in Scotland are not intended for children. Thos of my generation were brought up on the basis of spending hours in the pub car park witha glass of pop and a packet of crisps. <BR> <BR>It IS better now; some pubs have childrens' licences which means there should be somewher for them to be. Don't count on it tho'

I absolutely do not understand parents who bring their children into bars (or pubs). I see it every time we go out here in the U.S. Bars are smoky and filled with adults who have been consuming alcohol -- is this what you want your children to be around? Are you just trying to give them a head start on smoking and drinking or what? Did any of you out there have parents who brought you into bars and pubs when you were kids? What in the world are you thinking? There are many, many other places to go as a family instead of bars and pubs. What next, take the kids to the all night dance clubs? Or how about a brothel? Have some common sense.

To the last poster <BR> <BR>Fact - all kids/people are going to get exposed to cigarrettes/alcohol at some point in their lives <BR> <BR>By keeping bars/pubs part of the 'adult' world and not exposing children to them - those kids are more likely to dabble to excess when they get the opportunity (to be all 'grown up'). <BR> <BR>The connection you make between alcohol/cigarrettes and 'all night dance clubs' (probably Satanic in some way) and brothels is faintly ludicrous.