Last orders
What it really means
The bar's final call before it stops serving, often signalled by a bell and "Last orders, please!" You have a few minutes to buy a final drink. "Time, please" or a second bell means the bar is closed.
Context, tips & common mistakes
'Last orders!' — often with an actual bell — rings out roughly twenty to thirty minutes before a pub closes: your final chance to buy drinks. The sequence completes with 'Time please!' (service ends) and then drinking-up time, a customary grace period to finish what you hold. Staff stacking chairs and wiping adjacent tables are not being subtle, and lingering far past the bell is genuinely inconsiderate to people who want to go home.
Strategy: hearing the bell, one person can buy the group's final round (this is when 'get them in' reaches peak efficiency). Closing times vary widely — traditional 11pm persists, but licensing hours are flexible now, city venues run later, and Sunday hours are shorter — so the bell, not the clock, is your signal. The classic post-last-orders migration is to the chippy or kebab shop, an institution in itself.