Grog Blog: Drinking Around the World - Great Britain

The thud of darts striking the board, the screams of 180!, the cacophony of the black being re-spotted and the Craic being shared are elements that make up the Pub Culture of Great Britain.  Immersing oneself in this culture is a must for any traveller and once you get over the notion of your beverage being served at room temperature and that the pork scratching still needs a wax, then its time to buy a round and converse with the locals.

Its important to note that beer culture in Britain is as much about the culture of cask ale and the pub as it is the beer itself, and also the banter and the story telling. For instance, A Scotsman, an Englishman and an Irishman are sitting in a bar in Aberdeen reminiscing about their local. "Back in me pub in Glasgow," brags the Scotsman, "fer every four pints of McEwans I order, they give me one fer free!" "In me pub in London," says the Englishman,"I pay fer two pint's o' Newcastle Brown Ale and they give me a third one free!""That's nuthin'" says the Irishman, "Im my pub back in Dublin, you walk up to the bar, they give the first pint fer free, the second pint fer free, the third pint fer free -- and then they take you upstairs and you have sex for FREE!" "Is that true?" asks the Scotsman. "Has that really happened to you?"  "Well, no," says the Irishman, "but it happens to me sister all the time!   

Some basic Pub etiquette you will get you a long way at the local.  For instance, there is no waiter service so you will need to get active and navigate yourself to the bar.  Have your money ready and visible so that it can grab the  bar staff's attention. If your drinking with a group and the shout of it's your round goes up you are responsible to get the drinks and pay for them.  Don't order a Kilkenny or Guinness last as it requires at least three pours and is time consuming.  If drinking in Scotland, don't ask any of the punters or bar staff what part of England they are from. Don't order a Guinness and a Potato and tell the bar staff that you are having a two course meal and don't pass out in the snow on the way back from the local as hypothermia and frost bite certainly will put a dampener on your travels.

One needs to have an understanding that a man's pint is his kingdom and nothing and we mean nothing will get in the way of finishing that pint.  On our travels we have witnessed this first hand on many an occasion.  At the Ship and Shovel in Vievers St  London we consumed a number of Pints and ate some dodgy pork scratchings. (Yes pig hairs were still attached)  and witnessed a man resembling a walking corpse shit himself at the bar, as a result of what seemed to be a TIA (a minor stroke).  There was no way that a minor stroke was going to get in the way of him finishing that pint. And as the paramedics arrived to attend to him and with beer dribbling down his paralysed face and faecal matter oozing to form a pool near the bar he grabbed his pint, raised it in the air and downed it to the cheers of all the locals.  He was last seen laying on the ambulance stretcher with his pint glass still raised to the heavens.

Enjoy the unique pub culture of Britain, enjoy the company, offer to buy a round for a local, and sit back an join in the Craic but most of all feel like a local for a while rather than a traveller.