Call it counter-intuitive, if you like, but the way to get served at a British pub bar is not to queue politely one behind the other. Let’s repeat, for the people in the back: it’s not necessary to queue in a single file in a British pub. That’s the message from increasing numbers of pub landlords in the United Kingdom, where a new phenomenon has seen queues snaking outside pub doors because customers refuse to stand side-by-side at the bar, as is traditional.
The British are reputedly fond of queuing and have an attachment to the etiquette of waiting one’s turn, growing (perhaps silently) enraged if someone cuts in front of them while standing in line. But the great British pub was one of the few places where, until now, a different type of queuing reigned.
At the pub bar, it is customary to adopt a position beside the person who was there before, taking up all the room sideways along the bar until there is none left, at which point, a second row of thirsty clientele can form. Although the position (beside instead of behind) might have changed, other aspects of queuing manners always remained intact in the pub. It’s important to be aware of who was there before you and let them order first if possible. That is, until rush hour really kicks in, at which point it can become more of a free-for-all. Still, often British bar staff retain an uncanny awareness of who should be served next, no matter how busy it gets.
Good work
— pub_queues (@QueuesPub) July 3, 2025
Drury Street Bar, Glasgow pic.twitter.com/vMxvU4TUh6
In a new twist, though, bar customers are insisting on queuing one behind the other. The trend is so big that it has its own presence on X, where the account @queuespub, the page has over 14,000 followers, and campaigns “to end the recent phenomenon of queuing single file in pubs. We queue for the bus, or for the checkout, not at bars.”
While some drinkers, pub owners, and bar staff have criticised the formation of long single file queues as a waste of valuable time and space that ruins the cosy pub atmosphere, others have pegged the new behaviour as a long-COVID symptom. Dougal Sharp, founder and master brewer at Innis & Gunn, told Metro about “single file lines forming in taprooms in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and it’s mostly Gen-Z customers who queue like this as they don’t know any better.” Others say they started witnessing single-file queues in pubs as far back as 2015 (which is just as Gen Z started turning 18 and hitting legal drinking age in the UK). It might also be the result of inexperienced bar staff being unable to cope with horizontal queues.
@QueuesPub
— Winston Ingram (@WinstonIngram) December 27, 2025
Fuck Pub Queues. The Angel, Leith Walk pic.twitter.com/mQL9nbeYy5
Other industry voices note the tough economic context for pub landlords. 2025 saw at least one pub closure every day, making the idea of any queue, whether at the bar or out the door, a welcome one. The outlook has been so bleak that the UK government has recently put in place a business rates package to support publicans against what Emma McClarkin, CEO of the British Beer and Pub Association, has called “the immediate financial threat.”
So, how should one best support one’s local and try to get served in a British boozer? Ginjourney blog calls the single-file queues a “heinous act” and points out that good bar staff can cut through even seeming chaos at the bar as they are trained to spot the next punter.
Customers can also help themselves, the blog says, by approaching the nearest available space at the bar and developing their “bar presence,” which involves smiling, making eye contact, and even some small talk. Avoid waving money at bar staff, whistling, saying “Oi,” or clicking fingers at bartenders, the blog advises. Wise words.
The real problem arises when one arrives in third or fourth place at a queue that has already formed in a single file. To ignore the precedent and go straight up to the bar could risk the wrath of some terribly angry British Gen Zs. So, the question is: just how badly do you want that pint?
