Tales of a PubFly: My First Impression of English Pub Culture

 Since I’ve moved to England, I would have to say that I have spent about equal parts of my time in my bedroom, at Sean’s house and in various pubs. I live in a small town and there is pretty much one pub to every person here. There are no restaurants, so if I don’t feel like cooking, I have two options: buy a ready-meal from Tesco (roast chicken soaked in red wine and loneliness reduction) or go to a pub and eat some underwhelming but affordable grub. 

I often partake in the latter. The food may not be fantastic, but it’s better than cooking for myself and setting off my smoke alarm, which doesn’t have an off switch. (It’s now hanging by a wire in the middle of my living/kitchen/dining room, after I yanked it out of ceiling in a fit of rage while trying to remove the battery – as a friendly yet relentless reminder that I should never cook again. It makes a good story for whenever I have guests.)

Now, most of the pubs and bars I’ve been to in Toronto (and there have been a lot of them) seem to inherently incite an uncontrollable urge to get sloshed in all of its patrons. In British- and Irish-style pubs in Canada, patrons want to ‘drink like the Irish’, but that isn’t the case in actual British pubs.

Pubs aren’t just places where people go to get trolley’d and pissed. They’re gathering places, local social clubs. From couples enjoying time together to coworkers on a break, pubs are a place where people go to chat and connect in a friendly way. Maybe it’s because I live in a small town, the population of which consists of about 20 elderly people and a few stray cats - but the pub culture here is very community-oriented.

The pub I frequent

About half of the tables are taken when I enter the pub, as couples, friends and coworkers congregate. They’re all there separately, but at least one person from every group knows someone from another table. They proceed to get up and greet their friends, crossing paths and weaving community-driven webs. Everyone knows everyone else and it’s really lovely to see people connecting in such a personal way.

Don’t get me wrong, though. They drink, too. This week, a man sat down at a table next to me, holding a pint for himself in one hand and in his other, balancing an empty wine glass and a bottle of wine between his fingers. It was for his wife. They were over 60. I thought it was pretty gangsta.

You also get a few teenagers and young adults milling about, playing fruit machines and gossiping. But, I’ve never seen anyone act out of line or get belligerently drunk at a pub. And, I like that.

As such, I can get quite a lot of work done at pubs here (the big pubs have free WiFi!). It’s fun to people watch as I meet my daily deadlines, and listen in on very British conversations about toffs, ponces, scousers and nutters.

I’m actually at a pub right now, and Chelsea is playing Arsenal, so I’m going to turn my attention to that! 

Similar Posts

St. Patrick’s Day in the UK