I have a certain set of rules I like any new pub I’m trying to follow, most of which relate to the loos.
If they have hand dryers invented after 2015, I’m about to get fleeced. If I can’t pick my feet up due to the sticky floor, I risk a fight.
Abstract gender signs for loos can spell a little soullessness; having to ask for the key to the ladies because the pub’s toilets are only really ever used by men (as happened to me recently) is not a good sign.
Other people have different standards. In a recent post shared to r/AskUK, site user u/Affectionate-Ad-4650 asked: “What’s a ‘red flag’ when visiting a British pub?”.
Though some users submitted the signs that reassure them, let’s start with the ones people don’t like to see:
1) “The whole pub turns to watch you walk in the door.”
Credit: u/wybird
Site user u/BobBobBobBobBobDave added: “I swear I went into an old man pub in North London once, about 20 years ago, where there was actually a sing-song around the piano going on and it stopped the moment I walked in, like the piano player in a saloon in a Western”.
2) “It has a flat roof.”
Credit: u/vrlkd
3) “Plastic pint ‘glasses’.”
Credit: u/Doomergeneration
4) “A bouncer on the door at lunchtime.”
Credit: u/Bunnister
5) “Being the only woman.”
Credit: u/Hopeful-Ad6256
6) “Plastic garden furniture inside.”
Credit: u/Djinjja-Ninja
7) “Bar staff vaping behind the bar.”
Credit: u/Doomergeneration
8) “The smell of piss nowhere near the toilet.”
Credit: u/Ketamineandkebabs
9) “Pricing listed as 4.5 instead of £4.50.”
Credit: u/SIXONEATTHELANE
10) ”£20 burgers and £8 pints.”
Credit: u/Whulad
11) “The infamous football vs shopping bathrooms. Or the men’s ‘DO EPIC SHIT’ and women’s ‘smile, you’re losing weight.’”
Credit: [deleted]
As for the positive signs, Redditor u/seriously_oh_come_on said they like to see:
1) “A spaniel or Labrador laid under a table.”
2) “Log fire.”
3) “Specials board with chalk written items.”
4) “Local brewery beers on tap.”
Do you agree with these, or have anything to add? Let us know!