Publicans call last orders on single-file queuing at bars and warn the Covid-era quirk is 'sucking all the joy' out of the Great British boozer

Published: 15:57, 20 August 2026 | Updated: 15:59, 20 August 2026 Publicans have called time on single-file queuing at their bars – warning the post-Covid phenomenon is hurting business and 'sucking all the joy' out of the Great British boozer. Owners say increasing numbers of drinkers, particularly younger punters, are forming long, orderly lines more suited to a Post Office than spreading themselves along the bar in traditional fashion. Queues often result in longer serving times, as multiple staff are forced to serve one punter at a time – and give an awkward feel to pubs as they snake through venues – and in some cases onto the street outside. It is a practice that has annoyed many a drinker – including the Prime Minister in a recent social media Q&A – after having emerged as a safety measure during the social distancing of the Covid era. Hamish Glenn, 41, owner of Hackney Church Brew Co in east London, has become so frustrated with the phenomenon that his staff put up signs urging customers not to queue. But he says even that has failed to break the habit – so he is banning it completely and has even considered charging extra for queuers. He told the Daily Mail: 'No one's really striking up conversations at bars anymore and having a chat and going, oh yeah, no, he was next or whatever, which is the way it's always been. 'Which is a real shame, but from a financial standpoint, it's a killer. It's not doing anyone any favours. The busy outside seating area at Hackney Church Brewery with a queue spilling out on to the street Punters queue at the Hackney Church Brewery waiting in single file to order a pint of beer  Owner of Hackney Church Brewing Company, Hamish Glenn, 41, (right) has grown frustrated with people queueing  'We've experienced it for a couple of years now and despite my staff's best intentions of speaking to people and informing them not to queue, people still do it. 'I've had signs made, posters printed and stands done, so when people come in it says, 'Don't queue, use the full length of the bar.' People still do it. 'It's frustrating for us, it's frustrating for the staff and it's frustrating for most of the people in the queue. 'But I think a lot of people are too scared to walk past the queue because there's this misplaced British attitude towards queueing. As soon as someone forms one, everyone else just joins it.' Mr Glenn believes the habit could be part of a generational divide. He said: 'I think it's a mixture of a hangover from Covid and certainly from a lot of the feedback I've had, people think it's a generational thing and people not knowing how to behave in pubs. 'I think part of it is Covid and then just forming queues rather than the way pubs have always been, which is you go to the bar and use the full length of it.' The publican said the problem becomes particularly obvious on Thursdays, when his bar sells £3.50 pints and can become packed with customers. People queue in disorganised lines on their phones waiting to order drinks at the pub's bar Mr Glenn and Hackney Church Brewery employees pictured ahead of a collaboration with a Mexican brewery The Fore Deck Bar at Tattershall Castle in Whitehall is congested with people waiting for a drink But rather than four members of staff serving four customers simultaneously across the length of the bar, he is faced with a line stretching out the door. 'Ultimately for us, it means people are getting served slower because it's a single queue. We've got four people behind the bar, so four people can be serving at the same time,' he said. 'The other thing is that people stand in the queue and they're in their own world or they're on their phones. They're not looking or thinking about what they want. 'Then when they get to the front of the queue, they still don't know what they want to order, so it slows things down again.' He said the consequences were far from just aesthetic for pubs, which are already battling soaring costs of operating. Mr Glenn continued: 'From a brewing perspective, since everything that happened in Ukraine, all the cost of ingredients have gone up. 'Our rent has just been doubled. Everything is against us as a small, independent business, and the one thing we can do is serve people as quickly as we can. 'Some people just walk out because there's a queue.' He added: 'This Thursday, I fully expect it to happen again. But I'm going to do my best to discourage it.' The row even made the front page of America's Wall Street Journal in an article from last year titled 'The queue: pub culture's mortal threat'. It wrote how the British, who have a 'famously strict etiquette for queuing' are facing a cultural upheaval in pubs due to the practice. It continued: 'For centuries, getting a drink in Britain has meant going straight to the bar, finding a gap making eye contact with the bartender. No more.' Meanwhile, in Worthing, West Sussex, pub owner Greg Grundy is equally unimpressed by single-file queuing. He said it would not be tolerated at his pub of 13 years, The Egremont. Publican at The Egremont, Greg Grundy, is annoyed by single-file queuing at his pub Pubgoers sit outside the Egremont pub in Worthing, Sussex, during a summer evening Mr Grundy said: 'We don't condone it at all. Queueing just doesn't work. It's as if you're in a bank or a Post Office. They're just sucking all the joy out of life. 'We have really busy weekend music nights and host lots of parties where we can get packed out. On these nights we've always put plenty of staff on the bar to minimise the need to queue.' Mr Grundy said he had seen the practice first-hand at another venue on Worthing seafront, where he said queues could snake through the building and even reach the door. 'I would ban it. It wouldn't be allowed in here. It couldn't work. Why would they want to do that,' he said. 'Part of the British experience of going out is that you stand at the bar and then you let someone go in front of you if they've been there first. It's doing the right thing. It's the British sense of fairness, isn't it?' And for Mr Glenn, 41, the traditional scrum at the bar is about more than simply getting a pint faster. He fears something sociable has been lost as drinkers retreat into their phones rather than mingling with customers beside them. He said: 'No one's really striking up conversations at bars anymore and having a chat and going, 'Oh yeah, no, he was next,' which is the way it's always been. 'It's a real shame, but from a financial standpoint it's a killer. It's not doing anybody any favours.' The trend has been brought to a national debate, in part through the work of campaign group Pub Queues, which looks to end 'un-British' single file queuing in pubs. People pictured queueing half-way across the Betsy Trotwood pub in Farringdon, London People waiting in line for a pint at the Hunter S in Dalston, London, a practice campaign group Pub Queues is looking to end Rod Truan, the man behind the initiative, has shared dozens of humorous photos of the practice on Instagram. Mr Truan, 41, told the Daily Mail: 'Pub queuing has become a thing recently, certainly since Covid. No one has directed people to do it. It has organically started despite it being distinctly un-British. 'We queue single file for the post office. There is a reason for 40 foot long bars. Standing at the pub bar is a social activity, speaking to strangers, acknowledging who is next, and meeting new people. 'Queuing single file is also slower, as decent bar staff can manage multiple orders, customers on phones in a single file are slower to work the bar as well. 'What is most irritating is for people sat at tables in the pub who have customers snaking their way past their seats thus standing above people eating in the rest of the pub. Single file queues need to go!' The practice appears to have left the nation divided. In a YouGov poll of 6,000 Britons in September, 40 per cent of adults said they preferred queuing at the pub, 39 per cent were against it – and 21 per cent were undecided. When the Mail spoke with customers at the Hunter S pub in Dalston, east London, this week, customers were divided on the topic. Marketing executive Molly Walsh, 23, said standing in single file is 'fair' – and allows her to get served without someone 'butting in'. She said: 'I have to say I'm a bit of a fan [of queuing]. I'm pretty short and I can get overlooked at the bar when it's really busy. 'I know I could get flack for saying that, but I don't think it's too bad.' But for Alice James, 33, who worked in pubs throughout her twenties, queuing is 'irritatingly modern'. She added: 'I'm not a fan. It's got a cold, clinical feel to it. It's not the way we do it in England. I'm definitely against it.' Even PM Andy Burnham has weighed into the debate – commenting on the trend in a video shared on TikTok. Shortly before entering Downing Street last month, Mr Burnham took aim at single-file pub queues in a light-hearted video about modern habits he disapproved of, grouping them among behaviours he suggested were holding the country back. In the clip, he says he is 'vehemently against' single-file queuing at pub bars and tells people: 'Stop it immediately'. Downing Street also intervened this month in a separate row over Westminster City Council's proposals to discourage so-called 'vertical drinking' in parts of central London in favour of more seating and table service. A spokesman for Mr Burnham said standing around sharing a pint was part of 'British life' and urged local leaders to work with the industry so pubs could thrive.