Differences between restaurants, bars and pubs: Basically pubs have that old English architecture. They usually serve food in a base “ask at the bar”. If they don't, you're going to find a welcome note saying “bring your own food, we provide the beer”. While restaurants have table service, and an architecture according to the cuisine. The majority of bars only serve bar snacks and have a huge list of cocktails and wines, while in pubs you'll find beers, soft drinks, spirits with the respective mixes and some wine.
In London kids are usually allowed in pubs until 9pm, and in some bars they're not allowed. In restaurants, there's no law. Teens over 16 and under 18, accompanied by a responsible, can drink one pint of beer with a whole meal, not more than that. If not in these conditions, it's extremely prohibited to sell any kind of alcohol to under 18. Bartenders are going to ask for ID.
Pubs usually close at 11pm, 10:30 on Sundays. These hours apply for almost every pub in London. The last orders happen at 10 to 11pm, and after 11pm, you'll have half an hour to drink up. After that, please, go away because the bartenders and the manager have to clean up and go home. Thank you!
Bars close later, from 12am or around 3am.
Restaurants close at 11pm or 12pm most of the time. Only a few stay open after this time, most of them very posh and expensive. Others turn to be a night club and stop serving food after a stipulated time.
Depending on the quantity of people dining or having drinks, some of these places have license for after the time they usually close, which means that, if it's too busy, the manager can decide to let the place open until later. On the other hand, if it's too quite, like on special dates as Christmas and Easter, or that rainy winter day, they can choose to close it earlier. So, don't be surprised if your favourite pub closes before or stays open later.
Here goes a list of the most common drinks that we sell in London restaurants, bars and pubs, with tips of how to ask for them.
Beers
There are types of beers: Lager, Bitter or Ales, Wheat beer, Dark beer, Fruity and blond beer.
To know exactly what do you want to ask at the bar, you need to taste each of them, and choose your “best one”.
The most common beers are shown below:
Lagers
Dark Beer
Wheat Beer
Fruity (Strawberry Flavour)
Most Famous Bitter
Blond Beer
You can ask or be asked to serve a “shandy” which consists of half pint of lemonade and half pint of lager; or a lager top, which is the pint of lager with a dash of lemonade.
They can be on draft or keg (in the case of Ales), but also in bottles. In busy pubs and bars, what usually can happen is that there's no place in the fridges for so much sale, what can make the bottles be warm, because they were just put in the fridge before you buy. Beers on draft and keg can have the same problem, either if the glass is hot or even the draft system is not working properly. You can always argue about the temperature of your beer, but do if the bar is not busy, if it's extremely busy, you'll probably wait a long time and can be ignored by the bartenders. You can also call the manager, but, come on, a warm beer is not worthy such a fuzz.
Spirits
The most common measures are 25ml for single shot and 50ml for double. Some generous pubs have measures of 35ml and 70ml instead.
Whiskey
You can drink them with: Coke, Diet Coke, Ginger Ale, Bitter Lemon, Lemonade, Tap water, on ice, as shots, or alone in a rock's glass.
Famous whiskeys and whiskies of London entertainment places:
Vodka
It's usually asked with tonic water, slim tonic, soda and lime cordial, juices, coke and diet coke or lemonade.
There're vodkas with flavours as the Absolute Collection:
Gin & Tonic
Nothing else to say. This is the English drink. Have it with lime or cucumber.
Rum
Most common served with Coke, on the rocks or as shots.
Brandy
They can be served alone, or on the rocks. It can be asked with Coke as well, if you don't want to get drunk easily. It's better in very cold days, to warm:
Shots
Some places do a mix of spirits in a shot glass, usually 3 different ones. Thought the most common “single” shots are:
Tequila, Served with Lemon and Salt
Sambuca, Black or White
Others
Served on ice, as shots or with soft drinks:
The summer's favourite: Pimm's with fruits, mint and lemonade:
Wines
There's a huge variety of wines to sell. They're usually from Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France, Italy and Argentina.
Most common grapes:
Red: Rioja, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz/Syrah.
White: Grenache, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Rioja Blanco.
Prices
Average prices for London most touristic pubs, bars and restaurants:
- Pint of beer: £3,30
- Single spirit mix: £3,20
- Shots: £2,40
- Small glass of wine (house): £3,50
