Speaking of queues, I just want to rant for a second:
Queuing in Britain is one of our greatest strengths. Everyone stays chill, nobody cuts in, everyone knows that everyone gets seen in due time.
But what the fuck are we doing in bars and pubs now? Who the hell started the idea that it was socially acceptable to queue at a bar?
It’s one of the few places where the organised chaos of just piling in reigns supreme.
You squeeze in, find a space at the bar when it appears, and the innate understanding between bartender and client turns what looks like abject chaos into a beautiful drunken ballet.
The only time the “crush” at a bar has been acceptable to me is in small pubs. Anything bigger than a neighbourhood/village scale battle and it’s oppressive.
I’m not British, but I’ve been a bartender (in a queueing place) and I’m almost certain they’re glad about the queues. I currently work at a bakery that tends to queue, but when it falls apart, people get unnecessarily pissy with me, as though I should remember who got to the twenty person clump first. I have to imagine it’s worse when everyone is drinking. The reaction to people jumping the queue certainly is.
Kicked in during COVID, and is (like COVID) hanging around unpleasantly.
It’s a fairly good barometer of what kind of pub you’ve walked into. Pubs with a decent regular crowd will wait at the bar as in the beforetimes, with the bar staff working their way through the meta-queue - and the staff will encourage this behaviour. Pubs with a crowd of casuals or tourists seem to tend towards queueing which the barstaff do nothing to correct, and should generally be avoided for any serious drinking.
Speaking of queues, I just want to rant for a second:
Queuing in Britain is one of our greatest strengths. Everyone stays chill, nobody cuts in, everyone knows that everyone gets seen in due time.
But what the fuck are we doing in bars and pubs now? Who the hell started the idea that it was socially acceptable to queue at a bar?
It’s one of the few places where the organised chaos of just piling in reigns supreme.
You squeeze in, find a space at the bar when it appears, and the innate understanding between bartender and client turns what looks like abject chaos into a beautiful drunken ballet.
Fuck queuing at bars. Fucking stop it.
The only time the “crush” at a bar has been acceptable to me is in small pubs. Anything bigger than a neighbourhood/village scale battle and it’s oppressive.
Long live the queue.
Queuing at the bar is fucking stupid.
It makes sense at times. Like at a stadium or if you got outside seating and there just one guy with a barrel outside.
But a proper pub. Never been that way what the fuck is going on.
I’m not British, but I’ve been a bartender (in a queueing place) and I’m almost certain they’re glad about the queues. I currently work at a bakery that tends to queue, but when it falls apart, people get unnecessarily pissy with me, as though I should remember who got to the twenty person clump first. I have to imagine it’s worse when everyone is drinking. The reaction to people jumping the queue certainly is.
Kicked in during COVID, and is (like COVID) hanging around unpleasantly.
It’s a fairly good barometer of what kind of pub you’ve walked into. Pubs with a decent regular crowd will wait at the bar as in the beforetimes, with the bar staff working their way through the meta-queue - and the staff will encourage this behaviour. Pubs with a crowd of casuals or tourists seem to tend towards queueing which the barstaff do nothing to correct, and should generally be avoided for any serious drinking.
I have to admit it surprises me too, but somehow I find myself still queuing up alongside the bar.
It’s nuts and yet makes perfect sense, but I can vouch that no one -no one- was doing it ten years ago.