When you travel, it’s not just all about the food and culture that you have immersed yourself in, there are instances wherein you would also want to experience the nightlife. One of the main attractions for travelers is visiting local pubs. In Ireland, we are known to have iconic and even simple pubs that surely grab your attention. These Irish watering holes may seem like your typical bar or club, then again, there are a few unspoken rules that you should know about to avoid being taken as rude or disrespectful.
We aren’t all lucky enough to have locals take us to the pub, we would sometimes go there on our own and look like a fool or get embarrassed since we wouldn’t know how to act or move in such a scene. Luckily for you, we have been to a few pubs with locals and on our own, we have learned these unspoken rules and etiquettes and we are now sharing them with you.
Buy A Round
There are instances in an Irish pub no matter how small or big, you will encounter a moment wherein someone buys you a drink. They would buy one round for a specific group of people as a gesture of hospitality and friendship. DO NOT, and we mean DO NOT skip your round. The majority of tourists think that it’s a way to get free drinks, however, it is expected that once you are given a round, you would return the favor. Couples aren’t counted as one person, you each get a drink, you each have to buy a round.
By the end of the night should you follow this practice, you would be leaving with a handful of friends and a stomach filled with alcohol. Cheers!
Guinness Needs Patience
You will notice that Guinness is poured in two stages, there is an ample amount of minutes between stages before your pint is filled to the rim. Allow your bartender to serve the pint to you when it's ready. A lot of tourists tend to complain or start a fuss when they notice their pint not being filled right, or they would reach over and try to snag it earlier. Besides the idea of allowing Guinness to reach its full potential, it’s rude not to let your bartender serve it to you.
Ask Before You Take A Seat
Some cultures allow you to take vacant stools at the pub since it would seem like no one is sitting on it. “Finders Keepers” as some may connote to such a practice, then again, in the Irish Pub scene, you would have to ask around before taking a vacant stool, it’s to avoid looking like an arrogant buffoon. The number of people at a pub and the seating capacity will always vary, it wouldn’t hurt to ask around before taking something to avoid a ruckus or feud over a stool.
Tips
Tipping is arguably one of the most confusing practices in different cultures, it sometimes becomes confusing and tricky. Whether you are under or over tipping the rule of thumb in Irish cultures would be 10%-15% at the end of the night or by the time you choose to leave. It isn’t expected nor required, however, it is appreciated. Some locals or tourists would invite the bartender for a drink or two to thank them for their service. At the end of the day, tipping is all up to you, but if you had a great time, it wouldn’t harm you to give a few as a sign of gratitude.
Drinking At An Irish Pub Isn’t A Race
Irish pubs are filled with laughter, stories, music, and even dancing. To enjoy the scene or to at least have a good time, you would need to drink at a steady pace. There are some tourists that think drinking more and drinking a lot will make them seem cool. Irish people drink as much as they can slowly to enjoy the experience. You aren’t drinking at a pub to get wasted, you drink to enjoy the time you spent. Getting wasted is just a plus.
These Irish Pub etiquettes seem like something that you would practice at your local pub. It’s because we all want to have a good time and we all need to respect and value each other’s practices. One of the things that Irish people cater and nurture is the values that they were taught growing up. Therefore it would be evident that such values and practices are exemplified in places and things that they take part in.
If you have other Irish Pub etiquettes that weren’t mentioned, feel free to leave a comment down below and we would love to learn from your experience and practice.
Irish practices, Irish values and symbolism can be exemplified and expressed through handcrafted, genuine, celtic pieces. Visit our store at Celtic Knot Jewelry & Co. today and get yours to stay connected to your rich Irish heritage.
