What is it with drinking in the UK?

Just read this whole post from beginning to end and found it very interesting, there is certainly a big divide in the drinking cultures between US & Uk.  Last time i bought "liquor" ( i love that term  ) in the states the store had blacked out windows and my purchase was put into a Black thick carry bag.  It felt like prohibition was back! 

Drinking in the UK is a very social thing, its not really about the alcohol its about going out with your friends to relax, socialise and have some fun.  Yes you get people out for "A Session" as we brits like to call it but that is in no way the rule, pub culture is just that, part of our culture, it will never change as its who we are.  As it happens I had "A Session" yesterday, first time in months, but does that make me an alcoholic? ofcourse not, but people who saw me yesterday would probably have thought so, its easy to jump to conclusions.  Also Just because someone is a little tipsy doesnt mean they want to do you harm.

So yes im not feeling 100% today, but i am working 100% and not causing other employees to "take up the slack", i'm a resonsible person and know the results of my actions, I did discuss my antics with colleagues as its what we do, they had similar stories to tell too. I dont see it as being big, clever or something to be proud of but  i had fun and had great time with some good friends of mine.  I personally dont see any harm with that, if it makes me a bad person so be it!

Simon

EDIT: ****im posting this during my break by the way, before you get ideas  ****

mojito - not something I like, but a very popular drink in the hispanic restuarants around here. Minty and not sweet.

I'd like a big mango margarita, frozen.

I'm looking forward to hopping over the road to our local pub once or twice a week, my brit bf and me, so we can chat w/o having the tv as a distraction.

The age limit has more to do than just being able to buy the alcohol...it is putting 18 year-old girls into nightclubs with older men etc...hope this doesn't sound prudish because I am definitely not (and when I was 18 I used to go to clubs...with the man that became my first husband...and LOVED strutting myself around and getting lots of male attention) but I have a teenage daughter now and do NOT want her out having ''fun'', feeling ''sexy and desirable'' (which is what so many teenage girls are looking for) under the effects of alcohol. Tell me, have any of you made horrible mistakes because of being drunk, decisions that you wouldn't have done if you were sober? I sure have.

The loud dance music, the getting dressed up, the provocative dancing, the attention...mixed with alcohol...can, and does ,put young teenagers in a position where they have to make life-altering decisions...and their minds are too f*cked up to make level-headed decisions at the time.

Yes, they can be drunk at the local park or at a friend's house and do something dangerous...

enough!

I have too many kids in my front garden running in and out to make a coherent post. It's been like this for days!

We had quite a few clubs where I came from where the rule was 18 to get in, 21 to drink.  Or even better, you could get in if you were FEMALE and 18 or over, but if you were MALE you had to be over 21.  I never did figure out the logic in that.    It was asking for trouble, in my opinion.

It's posts like this that are getting people's backs up.  They just simply aren't our experiences living here, so when they're phrased like absolute truths or something, then it's a bit upsetting or even insulting, really. 

And very very misleading to those not living here in the UK who are thinking of making the move.

I'm not being misleading at all. I'm just sharing my experiences and observations. It's fine that a select few of you have adjusted perfectly well and don't see any faults whatsoever with anything about your new home in the UK, but the majority of us aren't going to have the same perfect adjustment. It seems that the people who post the most on this forum are the ones who get angry if anyone says anything slightly negative about their experience with life in the UK. I'm sorry, but it IS possible to enjoy living here and not think it's perfect and better than the US in every way. I don't think either country is perfect.

I think, especially on an expat site, it's important to share a variety of experiences from all different perspectives. It's even more misleading if a person deciding to make the enormous move from one country to another only hears positive things.

If people say negative things about the UK i maybe get a little defensive but not angry, one thing i learnt is that alot things said on forums such as these can be misconstrude.  No one is going to like everything about the UK or the US for that matter thats a given, having our differences is what keeps life interesting 

Simon

I'll just add that for someone contemplating moving to the UK and reading this thread, that honeybee's observations are worth mentioning because the attitude towards drinking (whether it is an attitude you embrace once you move here or one that really bothers you, doesn't matter either way) is going to be one difference in the two cultures that you will notice once making the move.

"In my experience..."

"I have found..."

Those are things that show its a different perspective.  But to say things in absolute terms is different.

I have never said there isn't a binge drinking problem.  What I have said is that it has not been part of my experience.  There's a difference.  I'm not saying absolutely that you have to admit there is no drink problem in the UK.  I'm saying that I haven't experienced it.  I'm not in denial - it simply is not an issue in the life that I lead.

I'm not being misleading at all. I'm just sharing my experiences and observations. It's fine that a select few of you have adjusted perfectly well and don't see any faults whatsoever with anything about your new home in the UK, but the majority of us aren't going to have the same perfect adjustment. It seems that the people who post the most on this forum are the ones who get angry if anyone says anything slightly negative about their experience with life in the UK. I'm sorry, but it IS possible to enjoy living here and not think it's perfect and better than the US in every way. I don't think either country is perfect.

Yet another sweeping generalisation.  Yes, all of us who are sharing our experiences of 'the drinking culture' in the UK see it as a little utopia and find it all perfect and we all adjusted perfectly in record time  .  ALL I said was that it was different here, and it's not been my experience that 'the drinking culture' in the UK is any more pervasive than in the US, but that it's more hidden in the US - except for drink driving statistics, that is.  And yet here were are:  us v. them again.  

It's an old, old chesnut.

Changed my mind, Aimiloo, gimme a virtual mojito, please.

If people say negative things about the UK i maybe get a little defensive but not angry, one thing i learnt is that alot things said on forums such as these can be misconstrude.  No is going to like everything about the UK or the US for that matter thats a given, having our differences is what keeps life interesting 

Simon

Just to add, the thing that may not be clear from my posts is I actually really love living here, especially the longer I'm here. The only thing that really matters is where you're happiest. And I definitely don't think the US is perfect either!

Yet another sweeping generalisation.  Yes, all of us who are sharing our experiences of 'the drinking culture' in the UK see it as a little utopia and find it all perfect and we all adjusted perfectly in record time  .  ALL I said was that it was different here, and it's not been my experience that 'the drinking culture' in the UK is any more pervasive than in the US, but that it's more hidden in the US - except for drink driving statistics, that is.  And yet here were are:  us v. them again.  

It's an old, old chesnut.

Changed my mind, Aimiloo, gimme a virtual mojito, please.

Well, I don't really know you or how well or quickly you adjusted... but in my personal experience, drinking IS slightly more pervasive and part of life. You seem very defensive about that. The fact is, the Brits even admit to their "drinking culture" and see it light-heartedly. I'm sorry my posts have driven you to drink, expat.

I don't know...I've given a lot of thought to the whole drinking age debate over the years and am still not sure where I stand on it. When I was younger the legal drinking age was 18. Growing up in the "bar culture" of New Orleans, I didn't find that I spent more time in bars after turning 18...just spent more LEGAL time in bars!  

Of course, by the time I had a teenage daughter, the legal age was 21 (for which I was extremely grateful!) except that it didn't mean that she spent any less time in bars than I had, just spent more illegal time in bars!  

Then, she came to the UK to visit friends when she was 16. She called me one day to tell me that they had gone to the pub the night before. I, of course, went nuts and wanted to know what the hell she was doing risking getting arrested in a foreign country yada yada yada! She delighted in telling me that it wasn't illegal for her to go to a pub at 16! (Shut me up but good!) She also told me that, knowing she could come back whenever she wanted, curbed any desire to get sh**faced!

So, is it smarter to thwart the teenager's natural inclination to "taste the illegal fruits" or to rigidly control the availability of liquor in hopes that they grow out of the desire? I think if you read the numerous posts on this thread alone about how people drink, we'll see that people are gonna do what they're gonna do...maybe we should try to teach our kids how to be smarter drinkers...not to over-indulge but be sociable about their drinking?! This is what my family has chosen to do, knowing that growing up in New Orleans, our kids will drink long before it is legal for them to do so. We "teach" them to drink sensibly by having a couple of beers/wine/whatever with the family at get-togethers. Almost all of us have gotten drunk at some time or another...I'm glad my daughter's first time was with her uncles and other family rather than a bunch of teenaged friends where anything could happen!

Not saying this is the right way for anyone else...just our way!

Well, I don't really know you or how well or quickly you adjusted... but in my personal experience, drinking IS slightly more pervasive and part of life. You seem very defensive about that. The fact is, the Brits even admit to their "drinking culture" and see it light-heartedly. I'm sorry my posts have driven you to drink, expat.

You seem very defensive as well, when posters actually state that this hasn't been their experience.  The 'fact' is, like Mindy, the times I've been most inebriated has been out w/other Americans, not Brits and the vast majority of British friends I have here are only light drinkers.

P.S., I don't allow people I know, much less strangers, to 'drive' me to do anything.  If I enjoy a drink now and again, it's b/c I just enjoy it. 

Sorry if my posts have driven you to possibly see another viewpoint, honeybee.

I'm certainly not defensive about UK living and pointing out things that are different to the US...like I've said before "I'm a guest in the country" there are things here that get me pissed off about the UK and there are things that get me pissed off about the US..it's the way things are phrased that gets peoples lather up..that's all.  One thing that does nig me is the comparing one against the other...this one is better than the other sorta thing.

but that being said I've seen some people that get extremely defensive on here if something negative is said about the US

There is a different drinking culture than in the US that is true but not the rampaging menace to have people bolting their doors because they are too afraid of walking home at night sort of thing...I used to live in Tooting , Whitechapel , Merton and other parts of London ...I worked late nights as well both in the UK and US ...I just see that the level of excessive drinking is pretty much the same the only difference is the manner that is portrayed by their respective societies...I'm personally don't agree with either styles.

I don't know...I've given a lot of thought to the whole drinking age debate over the years and am still not sure where I stand on it. When I was younger the legal drinking age was 18. Growing up in the "bar culture" of New Orleans, I didn't find that I spent more time in bars after turning 18...just spent more LEGAL time in bars!  

Of course, by the time I had a teenage daughter, the legal age was 21 (for which I was extremely grateful!) except that it didn't mean that she spent any less time in bars than I had, just spent more illegal time in bars!  

Then, she came to the UK to visit friends when she was 16. She called me one day to tell me that they had gone to the pub the night before. I, of course, went nuts and wanted to know what the hell she was doing risking getting arrested in a foreign country yada yada yada! She delighted in telling me that it wasn't illegal for her to go to a pub at 16! (Shut me up but good!) She also told me that, knowing she could come back whenever she wanted, curbed any desire to get sh**faced!

So, is it smarter to thwart the teenager's natural inclination to "taste the illegal fruits" or to rigidly control the availability of liquor in hopes that they grow out of the desire? I think if you read the numerous posts on this thread alone about how people drink, we'll see that people are gonna do what they're gonna do...maybe we should try to teach our kids how to be smarter drinkers...not to over-indulge but be sociable about their drinking?! This is what my family has chosen to do, knowing that growing up in New Orleans, our kids will drink long before it is legal for them to do so. We "teach" them to drink sensibly by having a couple of beers/wine/whatever with the family at get-togethers. Almost all of us have gotten drunk at some time or another...I'm glad my daughter's first time was with her uncles and other family rather than a bunch of teenaged friends where anything could happen!

Not saying this is the right way for anyone else...just our way!

I definitely agree that making drinking illegal until 21 makes people more tempted to drink underage in the US and go waaay overboard simply due to lack of experience. I think in families or countries where drinking is NOT forbidden at any age, kids don't feel the need to go overboard with the "forbidden fruit" because it's always available for them and not locked away in mom's liquor cabinet.

I think the US and UK have similar problems, regardless of the difference in age limit... there's ALOT of underage binge drinking, and it's not healthy... because it's seen as the "adult, cool" thing to do.

You seem very defensive as well, when posters actually state that this hasn't been their experience.  The 'fact' is, like Mindy, the times I've been most inebriated has been out w/other Americans, not Brits and the vast majority of British friends I have here are only light drinkers.

P.S., I don't allow people I know, much less strangers, to 'drive' me to do anything.  If I enjoy a drink now and again, it's b/c I just enjoy it. 

Sorry if my posts have driven you to possibly see another viewpoint, honeybee.

I think we're both equally defensive... shall we call it a draw?