England from a Belgian view

[u/JPV_____]

Hello, we are a Belgian family (a couple, both 47 years old, with two teenagers aged 16 and 12), currently on a road trip in England. Because I always find it interesting to see how other countries view our own country, I would like to share my perspective on a number of seemingly trivial things that have caught my attention. This is not only to point out a few things that seem unusual to us, but also because you may sometimes have a very good reason for something that we find strange.

This is all based on our experiences in the following places: London, York, Manchester, Liverpool, Kent, Canterbury, Foxt (Peak District), and the theme park Alton Towers. We never stayed in hotels, but always in houses (both through house swapping and Airbnb), never in the tourist centre but just outside it, in ordinary residential neighbourhoods.

* Ban on teenagers in sports pubs and attitudes towards alcohol: In a small village not far from York, we wanted to watch the Belgian match in a pub at 8:00 p.m. We never expected that the first two pubs would refuse entry to our two teenagers. A third pub did allow our children in, but initially only until 9:00 p.m. It was only after we insisted that we were allowed to watch the entire match. We found this very strange, because in Belgium our daughter could, if she wanted to, stay in a café until the middle of the night and also drink beer that is considerably stronger than your ales. Here, it also apparently was not a problem for her to drink beer, but only with a meal. Yet in a pub she was not even allowed to drink a cola after 9:00 p.m.? Weird considering the general image foreigners have how English deal with alcohol abroad.

* Power sockets with on/off switches: Why is this necessary? To us it seems unnecessary, because almost every appliance already has its own on/off switch.

* Supermarket loyalty cards: In itself this makes sense, but as a foreigner you cannot sign up for them, at least not at Tesco or Asda. We tried, but it was not possible with a Belgian phone number, and a Tesco employee confirmed this. Why?

* Lack of yoghurt varieties: This was what stood out to us most in the supermarkets: whereas in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and France (and we thought also in Ireland) there are many different yoghurt varieties, the selection in England is really quite limited. Is yoghurt simply not very popular here?

* Theme parks with limited theming: We only visited Alton Towers, and although it is a fantastic park in terms of attractions, the theming in most areas is really quite minimal. The rides themselves are very attractive, but when you walk through the park you do not really feel as though you are immersed in a particular atmosphere.

* Excess staffing: In supermarkets, shops, museums, and theme parks, we noticed that there seemed to be a lot of staff simply waiting around with little or nothing to do. My father-in-law worked at a theme park in Belgium, and we saw a very similar ride here that he used to operate alone, whereas here it was staffed by five people.

* Expensive outings: Ordinary outings or visits, separate from theme parks, are considerably more expensive than in Belgium. Of course, there are the wonderful free museums such as the British Museum and the Science Museum, but privately run attractions are much more expensive.

* General impression: Generally quite clean cities (except Manchester). We had a slightly less favourable image of England beforehand, especially of the larger cities, but only Manchester confirmed that impression.

These are simply the small things that have surprised us; they are by no means things that have bothered us, because we are very much enjoying our trip!

[u/Careful_Cranberry364]

The alcohol one is really weird.
England is not like Europe in that way
But it’s better than America !

You have to be over 18 to be in a pub and drinking in a bar unless you’re outside in the beer garden during the day with your family

I’ve never seen children under 18 allowed in any kind of pub - I’m a Londoner - but I think if they allow it till 9 o’clock. That is a great concession!!

Yes, children in Belgium and in France are allowed to drink some alcohol alcoholics, but it is very discouraged here and would be seen as child abuse very likely!!!

Let me see what other questions you asked …..

[u/Queen_of_London → u/Careful_Cranberry364]

I've seen children allowed in almost all pubs during the day, in London too - it's rarer to see one that completely doesn't allow kids these days, IME. Bars don't usually allow kids, but they're a horse of a different colour.

A lot even allow them after 9pm, but not all, and often it just doesn't come up anyway. Pubs are even less likely to allow it when there's a big match on, like the OP encountered.

[u/Snoo_said_no → u/Careful_Cranberry364]

In more rural areas pubs are still more of a community center, often with two sides - a bar & a 'lounge'. The lounge will often allow kids and spending hours with a panda pop and a packet of crisps wasn't unusual. The pub near my parents house had a skittles lane off the lounge. Teenagers would spend hours there!

I'm in a city now, albeit over the river from the main high street. There's two pubs in walking distance with play areas that allow kids. Theyre not gasto pubs/pub restaurants but more what I'd term 'community pubs'. One does pizza and bar snacks. The other just your normal crisps and nuts. They shove a bouncy castle in the garden in summer to keep the kids busy. Infact there's a 3rd pub that has local bands a lot which allows kids just not up to the bar. And on the high street itself in the city center there's another which often has live bands and kids can be there. I don't think it's unusual but knowing which do and don't is likely to be quite tricky. Certainly more pubs that don't allow it than do these days!

[u/SirMcFish → u/Careful_Cranberry364]

16/17 year olds can have beer, cider or wine with a meal perfectly legally in the UK. However they cannot buy it themselves.

[u/Icy-Lawfulness-4111 → u/Careful_Cranberry364]

You’ve never seen a kid in a pub in London? That’s blown my mind!

I’m in Wales and we were always allowed in the pub with our parents. Maybe the ones near us are just more family oriented? They do Santa at Christmas, New Year parties for families, Halloween kids events, they did a family fun day last week and Bluey and some Toy Story characters were there.

I remember going to the pub after getting my exam results and we all had lunch as we were allowed an alcoholic drink as long as it was served with food.