[title]
Ah, eating and drinking. Arguably two of the best things to be doing in London. Restaurants, pubs, bars. Can't get enough of them. Of course, the way you behave in these establishments has changed. Possibly forever. Yes, all the rules and regulations are changing on July 19, but the unspoken post-lockdown laws will remain in place. The conventions. Here's the rules of eating and drinking out in London these days.
1 Unless it’s chucking it down, we dine outside now. And whether we’re eating in a tent on a bike lane (as was the trend in Stage Two) or in a very average beer garden someone must always say how ‘Continental’ it feels.
2 Time to channel the brutal friend-curation skills you honed editing your MySpace Top 8 in 2006. The modern diner must curate their Rule of Six dining group with care. The friend who has started using every social occasion to pitch their lockdown start-up? OUT. The mate who will probably bring their lockdown puppy? IN.
3 The biggest post-pandemic taboo? Opening a bag of Kettle Chips and offering them to a pal without performatively sanitising first. So, a small-plates sharing menu? Edgy! Don’t avoid. Just treat with the hushed reverence of doing something bad but good.
4 When it comes to post-work restaurant selection, it’s no longer a simple choice of ‘Soho or Shoreditch’. Our meal booker must now use the equation ‘distance between diners’ home neighbourhoods v whether they own a bike’ then have a life crisis trying to find a nice bistro on the semi-suburban retail park that ends up working best for everyone.
5 It goes without saying that you now must tip and tip heavily. Restaurants are struggling. Waiting staff have spent a year either locked at home or risking catching an awful virus to bring you snacks. Even pints have to arrive via table service. Stretch to 15 percent or be cursed with the descriptor ‘tight’ for eternity.
The new rules of taking London public transport this year
Five things to know about clubbing and gigs in 2021