One of our traveling companions mentioned that x years ago in England (I’m half-remembering she said “ten,” but am not confident), you couldn’t even GET drip coffee. Now apparently you can, but I don’t know if we encountered that option, because I was so busy ordering the widely-available-and-not-expensive cappuccinos simply left and right. Sometimes the server would ask if I wanted chocolate powder on it, and sometimes they would just add it automatically.
I learned on this trip that an “Americano” coffee is an espresso watered down with hot water. My understanding is that this was an earlier attempt to simulate the drip coffee Americans were accustomed to, before drip was available, which apparently it is now, not that I looked, because I had not realized it was an interesting thing to look for. One tactful description said something about how an Americano was “the delicious flavor of espresso” but “less intense.”
At the hotel breakfasts, it was French-press coffee, the little pot delivered to the table; some hotels offered Americano coffee as an alternative. There were two-person pots and one-person pots; I would say the two-person pot was the amount of coffee I wanted for my one person. My sister-in-law and I found we needed to strategize to get as much coffee as we were used to: either we would drink a cup in the hotel room before coming down to breakfast, or we would get a coffee at our first tour stop after breakfast. One of our hotel rooms had a Nespresso machine, and Paul got into the lovely, lovely, can-we-import-that habit of making me an espresso as soon as I started waking up, and bringing it to me while I was still in bed. I would check email on my phone and sip my little espresso.
I did not drink much tea. I know: I should have! I should have! I’d thought I WOULD; I’m disappointed that I didn’t! But it turns out that if I am offered coffee or tea, I find it difficult to choose tea. I find it difficult every single time. Even when I ordered “a cream tea” (a scone with clotted cream and jam, plus tea or coffee), I went for the coffee option. The only time I drank tea was when we Went For Tea (like, with the tiered trays and so forth); then I ordered Earl Grey. If we ever go back to England, I am going to COMMIT to drinking more tea, if only so that I can SAY I drank lots of tea.
Many, many people told us ahead of time that in England you can’t get ice in your drinks and/or can’t get as much ice as you’re used to. I wanted to offer a personal report, but I am having trouble remembering. I don’t think I ordered soda a single time while we were there; when we asked for water, I don’t think it ever came with ice, but actually I am not completely sure.
I was sometimes puzzled by water choices: we would ask for it at a restaurant, and the server would say “Sparkling, still, or tap?” Well, let’s see. I know what sparkling is, and I WOULD know what still was, except that they offered tap, so now I’m not sure. My guess was that if I said “still,” it would be bottled and I would see it on the bill, and if I said “tap” it would be free, but I did not do enough testing to draw a firm conclusion.
I see no ice
Two of our nights in England, we went to a pub within walking distance of our hotel; going to a pub for drinks was one of my England Trip Goals. I had never been to a bar, let alone a pub, so there was some learning. I knew what “a tab” was, but not how to start or manage or pay one. I knew about people “buying rounds,” but didn’t know how to do that, or how to make it come out right, or how to stop caring about it coming out right. I felt like the most sensible arrangement would be for everyone to pay for their own drinks so no one has to keep mental track of anything while tipsy and everyone can make their own financial decisions in re beer vs cocktails and so forth—but once someone buys a round, there’s no stopping it and you have to join in.
Even though I found pub-round etiquette uncomfy and incompatible with my natural-born temperament, I enjoyed going to the pubs and would want to do that again the next time. And I DID like how “buying a round” made it easier to add snacks to the table that everyone could share: if I’m buying this round, and I also get some chips (I MEAN CRISPS), then it’s clearer that those are for everyone to eat, not just for me to eat. They’re part of the round.
One night we had dinner at a pub, and wanted to order a beer with my meal but didn’t know how. The server brought food menus but no drink menus. At the table next to us, I heard someone say “Do you have a dry white wine?” and the server said “Yes; small, medium, or large pour?” But…how did the person ordering it know how much it would cost, then? Or what sizes small/medium/large were? And wouldn’t you want to know what all the drink options were, rather than asking individually if each option existed? Well, I am sure there must have been a way to do it, because I saw other people drinking beer and wine, but I couldn’t figure it out. Obviously I should have asked—but by the time I realized it wouldn’t be intuitive, it felt too late.
Speaking of pubs: the legal drinking age in England is 18. The twins are 18, so I told them to bring their licenses if they wanted to try a legal drink in England. BUT ALSO: there seemed to be approximately zero carding. At one restaurant, the ordering was done using a device at the table, and we ordered two hard ciders, one for Elizabeth and one for William. Then I went to use the bathroom, and the drinks were delivered to the table of kids while I was gone—and no one checked the kids’ IDs. On another occasional, William ordered a beer; he was not carded. One restaurant brought everyone a little glass of champagne, including one for Henry, age 16; no one even ASKED how old anyone was.
In the U.S., I am more accustomed to card-everyone policies, or AT LEAST to card-everyone-who-looks-under-40 policies. Businesses can get into serious trouble if they sell alcohol to anyone not old enough to drink it. When the kids were trying to buy us a bottle of champagne for our anniversary, the store wouldn’t sell it to William, age 22 and therefore allowed to buy alcohol, because Elizabeth was with him. We wondered if in England there are not such severe penalties for violations, so the enforcement doesn’t have to be so rigid. Or maybe with a lower drinking age, there just aren’t anywhere near as many violations to worry about.
Regarding concerns over legal drinking age – in many European countries, restaurants will serve alcoholic drinks like wine, beer, cider, champagne to teenagers who are there with their parents or similarly responsible looking adults. The assumption is that the parents as customers are king and the teenagers will not consume alcohol in vast quantities while out for a family dinner.
Allegedly, this is also the rule? law? In New Orleans. It’s the rumor anyway. The law is written that you have to be 21 to BUY alcohol but nothing about consuming said booze. I lived there from 18 – 23 but never tested it out. Could be a myth.
As someone who has spent YEARS of her life in bars, I’m fascinated that you, Swistle, had never been to one. Wild. I’m glad you enjoyed your pub experience. Pubs, at least in Ireland and I assume England, are quite lovely, cozy places.
In Wisconsin, children of any age can legally drink when they’re with their parents. At least this is how it was when I lived there fifteen years ago.
(In Germany, the legal drinking age for “soft liquor” is 16, but restaurant can legally serve alcohol to 14 and 15-year-olds when accompanied by a parent. German teens and students in the UK are often shocked by the binge-drinking prevalent among UK teens, one common theory for why that is, is that the UK is more restrictive.)
Instant coffee in the UK is surprisingly not bad. I was skeptical about it when I moved there, but I genuinely didn’t mind it—although I did still have a regular coffee maker and a French press for making coffee at home. Americanos have grown on me over time, too.
You are correct about sparkling vs. still vs. tap water: sparkling and still are bottled, and tap is (you guessed it) tap water.
Pub culture and “buying rounds” took some getting used to for me, too. It’s just one of things where you kind of have to go in assuming it won’t be entirely fair, and (in theory) it will mostly balance out over time. I hardly ever start a tab; I just pay individually each time.
And you’re right, they hardly ever card! The first time I visited the UK I was 20 and could pass for about 15, and also wasn’t there with my parents, so I got carded a few times on that trip. As another commenter pointed out, restaurants and bars often don’t card teens who are there with adults, since they assume the adult is responsible for any minors who are present.
One surprising thing I learned from a British friend recently is that some (all?) British high schools serve alcohol AT SENIOR PROM. Can you imagine?! I can’t imagine.
Oh, and RE: ordering a drink with your meal, restaurants often have drink menus but sometimes you have to ask for them. Places that don’t have drink menus (or a drinks section on the regular menu) would likely only have very limited options: probably something like red wine, white wine, and maybe a few kinds of beer.
Another addendum to the ordering-drinks issue: I missed that you were in a pub and not a restaurant! In that case they almost definitely had a drinks menu. Sometimes if you’re ordering food they’ll only bring you the food menu—if you tell them you’re there for dinner and drinks they’ll bring both. You can also go up to the bar and see what beers/ciders they have on tap and what hard liquors are visible behind the bar, but you can’t always tell what wines/cocktails/bottled beers are available that way, or how much everything costs.
Cocktails are tricky too, because they won’t always know how to make the same types that are commonly available in the US—although they’ll sometimes make them for you anyway if you tell them the ingredients. (My mom once taught a bartender in Scotland how to make a gin martini, which I thought was amusing.) If you order a cocktail that’s just alcohol + mixer (like a gin and tonic or rum and Coke), they’ll just pour a shot of liquor into a cup with ice and give you the mixer on the side. You have to mix it yourself.
I worked at a pub in Scotland about 20 years ago where over 90% of customers ordered beer or whisky (or both) and most of the rest ordered wine or alcopops (the most popular being Bicardi Breezers at the time). I don’t recall ever seeing a drinks menu and anyone who wanted something other than those four things definitely had to explain how to make it. In my defense, I wasn’t yet of US-legal drinking age. :)
My husband (from the US) did a semester abroad at an English boarding school. They had a student pub! (Only for this of legal drinking age but still strikingly different from US schools- we aren’t allowed to have alcohol at parent events on my kids’ public school property
Wow, was that at a high school/secondary school?
When I did a semester in the UK as an undergrad, one of the welcome events for new students was a university-sponsored pub crawl. Most of us were over 18 by that point (maybe a few 17-year-olds), but it still felt odd to me!
Obviously (obviously!) we have all led different lives – but YOU’D NEVER BEEN TO A BAR BEFORE?!!!! I can see how this is theoretically possible, but the probability of this being a thing for someone your age (assuming that one isn’t from an extremely orthodox background) is astounding!
The getting your usual amount of coffee thing is easily remedied – ask for more at breakfast! You’ll also find that most hotels will be more than happy to make you alternatives to their default cafetières – if they have an espresso machine, you can certainly ask for any version of coffee that this would be used for. I often, for example, will ask for a double macchiato to start with and then go on to something else afterwards.
You absolutely can get drip coffee here, but coffee drinks based around espresso are more common (interestingly, after always seeing American films/television shows going on about how important their coffee was to them, I remember being highly underwhelmed when I first went to the US as literally every pot of coffee in all kinds of places was utterly tasteless) – again, just ask.
The accepted thing generally is to ask for a jug of iced water for the table to ensure that it comes how you wish it to. Some places default to serving water with ice and/or lemon, some don’t – just ask!
The mixed drinks thing at bars that someone else mentioned (we would never call a gin and tonic/vodka and orange etc etc a cocktail) is a variable thing. If the mixers are on tap then you will obviously get a finished drink, if they are not, or you have specified a bottle or can for preference, then the bartender will usually not pour it for you as many of them would be too much for one drink so lots of people will simply use half and then order a single or double shot over ice for their next drink and use the other half then. Additionally, I have never once had to tell a bartender in a bar where cocktails are served (not a bog-standard ‘local’ pub) how to make anything!
It’s entirely possible that my experience isn’t universal! I usually just order off the menu, but my parents had a hard time finding cocktails that they liked and that are pretty readily available in the US. (Gin martinis and I think a few others.) Could have just been an anomaly though!
I like being able to mix my own drinks (maybe “mixed drink” is a better word than “cocktail” for the kind of thing I’m describing)—you’re right that it’s nice to be able to adjust the alcohol-to-mixer ratio. I don’t think I’d ever seen them served that way in the US.
Haha, I had sort of the opposite reaction, because while it is not quite literally true that I have “never been to a bar” I have, well, kind of never “been to a bar” and was amused and pleased to see I have Swistle’s company.
I was not raised (noticeably) religious and actually grew up and have mostly lived (including as an adult now in my 50s) in a college town. But I don’t drink much (though I am not a teetotaller, but I basically drink with meals if at all and kind of can’t imagine having a drink that wasn’t consumed together with a meal), and to the extent that I have ever “been to a bar” it’s really only a few times where I went to a restaurant with my husband and because there was a long wait, we went to the bar that was in the restaurant while we were waiting for a seat.
Hunh. Now curious how many other people may be in (or near, as I say, I may not quite be in it) this group?
This is so interesting to me! You mention the waiting for a table at a restaurant bar, which brings to mind eating at a bar when the wait is too long at the restaurant. I’ve done that a bunch. Pool bars on vacations, even if if it’s just to grab a sandwich or get a drink to bring back to the pool. Hotel bars before a show. College bars! That was a bar-going era! Breweries, wineries….those count as bars I think. And I’m not a huge drinker at all, but I somehow am regularly in bars or bar-equivalents.
My bargoing was strongly influenced by the ease of access to a bar — a friend in recovery once said I didn’t have the determination it takes to be an alcoholic, which is probably true. So in high school I went to bars because that was an easy place for all my friends to converge, in college I didn’t because I went in a state that had a higher drinking age than my home town and carded relentlessly, during my junior year I went because the pub was across the street and offered free baked potatoes with cheese when you bought a drink, and in grad school I went a lot because, as in high school, bars were an easy place to converge with friends who lived all over town.
But as an adult with a full-time job, I just didn’t bother. If there was some sort of local neighborhood bar, I wasn’t going there. I’m a lazy homebody.
My guess was that if I said “still,” it would be bottled and I would see it on the bill, and if I said “tap” it would be free, but I did not do enough testing to draw a firm conclusion.
This is correct. Tap water in the UK is drinkable (and in some areas, like where I live in the north-west, actually very nice) – still is bottled water so you would be charged.
In terms of licencing laws – if you’ve ordered for the table, they would be unlikely to check. Usually, in my experience, an 18-year-old would be ID-d at the bar if ordering for themself – the policy is called ‘challenge 25’ so they are supposed to ID if you look less than 25. They can be fined or lose their licence so most places do take it quite seriously.
As for coffee, yes I would say back in my childhood (late 80s-early 90s) you would probably get instant coffee in most places. But I moved to London in 2006 and ‘good’ coffee was pretty standard by then. Pret a Manger (I’m sure you saw about a thousand of those) does a 99p filter coffee (perhaps it’s more with inflation now?) or an Americano or the full range of cappuccino, latte etc.
Ice is a funny one. It’s one of those things that Europeans stereotype about Americans – ‘why are they so obsessed with giant drinks watered down with ice?’ and Americans stereotype about Europeans ‘why do they drink everything lukewaem?’ and I find the reality is… somewhere in the middle. We don’t use as much ice, but it’s usually available if you want it. And lots of places serve cans which are kept super cold anyway.
I believe the rule in England is that they are supposed to check IDs if you look under 25. However, in the three years I lived there, I was only ever carded once (at a convenience store that had recently been fined for not checking IDs). It is also my understanding that it was legal for children to drink alcohol as long as they were accompanied by a parent (except in North Ireland, where parents are only allowed to serve children alcohol in their private home). I didn’t realize this was unusual, since this was also the law in my home state of Wisconsin.
Interestingly, in Wisconsin parents may order alcohol for their children in restaurants when they are under 18. From 18-20, parents may not buy alcohol for their children, since they are legally adults. However, if someone between 18 and 20 is married to a person 21 or older, their spouse may buy them drinks. When I was 20 and my husband was 21, we would carry our marriage certificate with us when we went out, so he could buy me alcohol
Loved this analysis of drinks in England! I lived in Italy for a while and traveled throughout the EU/UK and it’s bringing me back! One thing about drinking age–(huge generalization here…) but I found that while they are okay with serving teenagers, they have a few “safeguards” that we don’t have in the US.
One, you are eligible for a driver’s license at an older age and fewer people in general drive. So there are less drunk driving accidents. Another thing that I think helps–pubs/bars close earlier than they do in the US. So there is less of a culture of drinking all night.
My friend and I visited London several years ago and saved “Pub Crawl” for our final night and it turned out to be a short one, because most of the bars closed before midnight. I think we managed to find one that was open until 1 a.m., but then found ourselves completely screwed by not realizing that the underground would no longer be running at that time. We almost walked across half the city to get back to our hotel, since we had no cash left for a cab (this was pre-Uber, and pre-smartphone), but we did finally find a bus stop and had just enough left on our Oyster cards. I’ve never felt more like an idiot tourist than that particular night.
Tap/still/sparkling is the same in the UK as in US restaurants, just as you suspected (basically bottled still/bottled sparkling/tap). I found it easier to get ice in London than in Europe (where ice cubes are nonexistent). I jokingly said “I’m American” when requesting ice in the UK and that usually got me an American amount of ice for my drink! I liked the americanos I had in UK restaurants way more than the Americanos from US Starbucks, but I don’t generally enjoy Starbucks coffee anyway. I do have a “buying a round” question. Do you mean “buying a round” for the entire pub? I have never experienced that! Or did you mean for your group, like, “I’ll get this round,” and someone else gets the next? I feel like that’s pretty typical in the US when going out with close friends/family. I’ve never encountered “buying a round” for an entire pub/bar, but my group
Does it regularly at home in the US.
No, no, not for the entire pub, just for our group!
Got it! “I’ll get the next round” is very common in my area/with my friends. Like on a girls weekend, that’s how we do it exclusively, pretty much. One person goes to the bar and orders for the group and we take turns.
I’m glad this got clarified because I was also wondering if you were buying rounds for the entire pub, Ted Lasso style! As Beth said, when I’m out with friends/family it’s pretty standard to just take turns buying the next round of drinks for our group!
Loving these England posts!
I’m so sorry you didn’t get a drink with your meal in the pub. They should have explained that drinks are ordered and paid for at the bar if they didn’t take a drinks order at the table. In the past, it was simple as pubs only served drinks (and crisps!) and they are always paid for at the bar, but now that many pubs serve hot food, some confusion has crept in about how much table service is offered.
My observation is that the United States is WILDLY puritanical about alcohol compared to Europe, and I think to mainland Europeans the UK probably seems pretty uptight about it. As a Canadian, I am really flummoxed by 21 as a legal drinking age. (It’s 18 or 19 in every Canadian province. But they’re pretty strict about carding here.) If you can vote and get married and buy guns and die fighting in a war, shouldn’t you be able to order a legal f*cking beer? IMO it just encourages irresponsible behaviour and underage binge drinking.
The concept of buying a round of drinks is not something I remember learning, and yet I feel comfortable doing so. I think this is something most people learn through observing their parents and relatives. The cost has never been something I’ve been overly concerned with because the idea is that the favor will be returned if you’re with peers, and if you’re not with your financial peers then the person with the most wealth (or seniority) should be the only one buying a round for everyone (like when going out to drinks with coworkers). If no one from your group offered to buy a round, that is ok. But say if you were going out to celebrate something for you or one of your family members and you’re not already buying dinner for the group, then buying one round of drinks is a way to be generous and no one should feel compelled to reciprocate. It can be super confusing to learn all these social expectations if you did not grow up in a community with drinking/going out/big celebrations.
I’m Australian and our rounds etiquette is complex and strictly adhered to (in my rural small town anyhow – probably not in the city).
Firstly, we call it ‘shouting’ as in ‘my shout’.
It gets started by a person saying ‘what are you having?’ this signals that they are going to buy you a drink and you are expected to reciprocate. If you don’t want to you have to say ‘ thanks but I’ll get it’ and buy your own to drink with them.
Generally only men shout. When couples are present the men get the rounds. Single women can join a shout but often when it is their turn one of the men will step in and say ‘my shout’ or ‘I’ll buy’. This is sexist but continues as women rarely drink the same quantity as men.
Cost isn’t an issue. Etiquette is that drinks are of similar value. If beer is being drunk then everyone gets beer of the same size. If a person wants to switch to spirits then they seek approval from the round. Others can drop it at that point if they don’t want to buy the more expensive drinks. You only move up in price on your turn to buy. Soda drinkers normally get free drinks but the cost is having to drive everyone home at the end of the night.
It’s very poor form to order something expensive, leave before your shout, add a mate to the round or get others to buy for your girlfriend without evening the stakes somehow. Around here shout etiquette ends friendships and can leave a person a social pariah if handled badly. Overseas visitors get special consideration and a fair bit of gentle testing until they work it out.
Did Henry get to drink the champagne?
I asked him just now, to make sure I was right that he had had some—and he said no, he’d declined it, because he “thought it was illegal.” Well, that’ll make it more special that the twins DID try it!
Europe is much more lax on teenage drinking-at least when accompanied by parents. We took our teens, then 13 and 15, to a wine tasting in Greece (in which we paid for them and they got their own wine). As long as the parents are there ordering the alcohol, they would serve it to anyone adolescent looking.