Archive · 26 Sep 2025
Pub Queueing Debate: Is Lining Up for a Pint a Step Too Far?
Some pubs experimented with making people queue in single file to get drinks.
This caused some people to complain and the rule was dropped.
Some people like queueing because they think it is fair, others think it is bad because it takes away the fun from pubs, like the chaos and community that is a part of the pubs culture.
Queueing started during COVID, but it continues to be seen in some bars, with the people who like queueing, saying it is a way to be fair to everyone.
A Wetherspoons pub scrapped its single-file queueing system after complaints.
The trial was implemented to ensure fair service.
Some view queueing as a threat to traditional pub culture.
Younger pubgoers say queueing ensures fairness.
The debate centers on whether queueing is acceptable in pubs.
- Who
- Pubgoers, Wetherspoons, and commentators.
- What
- A debate over the practice of queueing in pubs.
- When
- Started during the COVID pandemic; debate ongoing.
- Where
- Primarily in pubs in the UK.
- Why
- To provide fair service (according to some) versus disrupting pub culture (according to others).
Pro-Queueing
Anti-Queueing
Fairness
Pro-Queueing
Queueing is seen by some as a way to make things fairer.
Anti-Queueing
Queueing takes away the good about the pub.
Pub Culture
Pro-Queueing
Pub queueing is a means to an end and ensures fairness
Anti-Queueing
The informal system with bar staff ensures that those waiting the longest are helped first.
- Location of Trial
- Surrey Docks pub in Rotherhithe, southeast London
- Type of Queue
- Single-file
- Initiated
- During the Covid pandemic, then by some pubgoers.
- Rationale for Queueing
- Ensuring fairness in service
- View of older pubgoers
- Not understanding of pub etiquette.