August 26, 2026 — 5:00amA summer’s day in England is a thing of beauty. The temperature nudges 20 degrees, the parks fill up with sunbathers, everyone seems to be able to manufacture some time off work.The most obvious sign of that is the pubs spilling out onto the street, these gleeful overflows of drinkers enjoying the warmth of a sunny evening that stretches well past 9pm.When the weather warms up, London’s drinkers will spill out on to the streets.iStockFor an Australian visitor there’s an extra sense of glee to this ritual, because it’s something we’re not allowed to do in our own country. You can’t just take your pint glass and go stand out on the street because it’s nicer out there. Someone in a reflector vest will come and usher you back inside, telling you to stay inside the rope.But things are different in Europe. Summer is a season to break the shackles, to spend as much time out on the streets or in the parks as possible, whether you have a drink in your hand or not. Take your pint across the road if you want. Bring the glass back when you’re finished.England is one of the great pub countries, which is no doubt one of the reasons so many young Australian travellers have traditionally flocked there. You’ll always have fun in an English pub. It’s a bar, it’s a lounge room, it’s a restaurant, it’s a place to while away an afternoon or toast a sunny evening.Sign up for the Traveller newsletterThe latest travel news, tips and inspiration delivered to your inbox. Sign up now.Only, things could be changing. There’s a proposal from Westminster City Council in London that suggests limiting “vertical drinking” (standing up drinking, often outside) in pubs in the likes of Soho and the West End, encouraging more seated, table-service-style venues than traditional spill-out-onto-the-street establishments.A proposal aims to end “vertical drinking” in some parts of London in favour of table service.Getty ImagesAfter a public outcry when this proposal was released a few weeks ago, council member Tim Barnes tried to calm everyone’s fears, saying, “We want people to go out in the West End and have a good time. Our guidance is simply about encouraging venues to manage their customers so people don’t pack onto pavements or excessive drinking doesn’t disturb others passing by.”Which, to be fair, sounds exactly like the thing everyone was worried would happen. Packing onto pavements is what British pub goers do. It’s one of the great joys of being there in summer.But is this a sign of the coming apocalypse, or just a few misguided councillors getting things wrong? I would like to think it’s the latter, but there are other signs that British pub culture isn’t all that it once was.Just last week a London brewery made headlines after begging its customers to stop forming single-file lines at the bar. “It’s not a post office,” the pub’s representative said, noting large sections of the bar were remaining empty while everyone lined up sometimes out the door, waiting for their turn to order.In London, the iconic backpacker-friendly Walkabout venues – Shepherd’s Bush, Covent Garden, Temple – are all gone.You see this happening in Australian pubs now too, and it baffles me. Have you all forgotten how pubs work? There’s a big, long bar to stand at. If they wanted people to line up single file, they’d just have a single booth for ordering drinks.English pub culture is wavering, clearly. The pubs themselves are struggling, closing at a rate of nearly two a day in the first half of this year.There’s also a widespread “Wetherspoon-isation” of pubs over there, the loss of independent venues, which are being sucked up by large chain brands. Some organisations are predicting the extinction of independent pubs by 2041.All of this is obviously a great shame for people who live in England, but also a real downer for those of us who love visiting the country for all sorts of reasons, including the pub culture. The public push-back against the vertical drinking sanctions is encouraging, but the collapse of pubs as a whole, and the loss of knowing how to behave in them, isn’t great.You have to feel for young travellers. I really hate this fashion of looking back and saying, “Ah, it was better in my day.” Because that’s really not helpful, and plenty of times probably not even true.But in this case I think it is true. Pubs really were better back when I was 18 and only just beginning my travelling life, hanging out in old-school British boozers, drinking these gigantic beers and standing outside on the street as if I were doing something very wrong, and just loving life.The culture is changing, and young travellers’ habits are changing. Maybe they won’t miss British pub culture as sorely as some of us old fogeys, but we will know they’re missing out.In London, the iconic backpacker-friendly Walkabout venues – Shepherd’s Bush, Covent Garden, Temple – are all gone. The Church, a legendary daytime drinking establishment in King’s Cross frequented by Antipodeans, disappeared long ago. The idea of just grabbing a pint from your local pub and taking it across to the common to drink in the sun may eventually disappear.And now people are lining up single file?Maybe we really did have it better back in my day.Ben Groundwater is a Sydney-based travel writer, columnist, broadcaster, author and occasional tour guide with more than 25 years’ experience in media, and a lifetime of experience traversing the globe. He specialises in food and wine – writing about it, as well as consuming it – and at any given moment in time Ben is probably thinking about either ramen in Tokyo, pintxos in San Sebastian, or carbonara in Rome. Follow him on Instagram @bengroundwaterConnect via email.From our partners