Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Understandable English Podcast.
I'm Oliver and I am back from my holiday with another episode.
So hopefully I can make some more consistent episodes going forward, as I have already had my wedding and holidays.
So today's episode of the podcast is something a little bit different or a different topic that I've never really talked about before, but I randomly thought about it and decided it's quite an interesting topic.
And that is British pub culture or British drinking culture.
So I'm going to talk a little bit about why pubs are so popular here.
If you've ever been to the UK or maybe you have a stereotype or image about the UK and Britain as having lots of old pubs and lots of people like to go to the pubs and drink, then of course you're actually correct.
This is a true stereotype.
So we're going to look at the history of pubs and a little bit about how they are important in the UK.
So a pub is like a bar or a tavern.
So a bar where you can also maybe stay overnight like a hotel and get food as well.
But really, I think of it as a bar which often acts as a community gathering place.
So it's not just to have drinks and watch sports.
You can also eat lunch, drink beer, play some games with friends sometimes.
And even in many pubs, book a room if you're traveling and you need somewhere to stay.
And of course these exist in almost every country around the world.
But in British culture they have a very special spot, in sort of the heritage or the culture of the country.
And so many things from English literature to poetry play an important role, or pubs play an important role in the history of many aspects of British culture.
Pubs here are very old.
The tradition of pubs is very, very old.
And they have been around for thousands of years, just in different names and appearances.
Even as early as when the Romans were here in the UK, there were lots of pubs built along the roads that they constructed.
Constructed.
Built.
So the roads that they built.
And, from what I found online, even by the year 1577, just England and Wales alone already had over 14200 pubs, or ale houses as they called them, which at the time was one pub for every 187 people.
That's pretty crazy when you think about it.
So most people, or lots and lots, the majority of the population went to pubs regularly.
They loved visiting pubs. and today there are so many different types of pubs they are all not the same there are modern pubs there are chains of pubs so when a company opens lots of different pubs or buys pubs and there are traditional pubs too And there are also what people call gastropubs.
So these are pubs that are more focused on food.
So they have a higher food quality and some can even be Michelin starred.
So like very fancy food.
In history, pubs and this kind of culture around drinking houses we could say is very related to entertainment.
So there was lots of singing, gaming or sports.
And that is still even the case today.
A lot of pubs actually have their own sports team, like sports teams for traditional pub games like darts or pool or snooker and various other games as well.
It's very popular that people play quizzes or bingo or different kind of games in pubs.
And they'll have various or lots of different nights with different activities.
And because of that, pubs are used to gather local communities.
And they're an important socializing tool, particularly in more rural areas.
So areas in the countryside, not in the city, and it's a way of seeing sort of friends and family from the local area.
Pubs are a popular and great place for people to talk about sports, family politics and really openly about everything.
They're also popular here even at lunchtime.
So, particularly in the city, people can pop around to a pub on their lunchtime break, have a quick drink and a social meeting with friends.
And this is usually quite socially acceptable here.
So it's normal.
You might be wondering what are the most popular drinks at a pub?
Usually at a pub, they're not the place for fancy cocktails.
You go to a bar or a cocktail bar or somewhere a bit fancier to get those types of drinks.
But it is a popular place to get lager.
So some kinds of beer, maybe some wines, cider or some mixed spirits like vodka and whiskey, that type of thing.
But usually most pubs won't, unless it's a bit fancier, won't serve cocktails.
But of course, you don't have to drink.
You can also get soft drinks or like Coke or fruit juice or anything like that.
And even just get food.
Not everyone drinks at pubs.
Some people just like to socialize there with friends.
The drinking culture in the UK can be a little bit strange for foreigners sometimes.
I think they are quite surprised sometimes at how much British people like to go to pubs and drink.
Of course, not everyone drinks or goes to pubs.
But I'm speaking generally about the population.
And it can be associated with just this cultural link with pubs and bars throughout history.
And it's become a very common trend.
But I feel like this trend is changing and statistics also say that.
So with younger generations, they are drinking less and less.
And, as a result, pubs are having some difficulty, both because things are more expensive, but also because people are drinking less in younger generations.
So it will be interesting to see how this affects the future of pub culture.
But currently around 15 million people visit a pub at least once a week in Britain.
That's still quite a lot in my opinion.
So lastly, i want to talk about an interesting feature of how people usually buy drinks here in the uk.
So the most popular system with groups of friends and is called rounds, and i noticed that it's quite different in many countries when i visited.
In most countries people just buy and pay for their own drinks.
In the UK usually we buy rounds of drinks.
Let's say you go with three friends to a pub.
First, one friend will buy three drinks for everyone.
So they'll buy a drink for the two other friends.
Then the next friend, once everyone has finished their drinks, will buy three drinks and share them with the other two people.
And then the final person will also buy a round of drinks.
And this can keep continuing.
And it's a nice system, but it can, in my opinion, be quite bad, because usually what happens is the people who start first end up paying for more rounds.
So more drinks than the people who buy drinks later in the order.
But this is how a lot of people do things here.
It's very, very common and usually seen as the norm or the normal way of doing things when you're out with friends.
So that's everything I want to talk about today around pub culture and drinking culture in the UK.
I hope this was interesting and if you haven't already or you're not already watching this or listening on YouTube, please check out the channel which is in the description below and follow or subscribe for more and share with your English learning friends.
Thank you and have an amazing day.
