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.
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.