Tipping in restaurants
What it really means
Tipping in the UK is more relaxed than in the US: around 10% in restaurants with table service if no service charge is added, and no tip needed in pubs, cafés or takeaways. Nobody will chase you for a tip.
Context, tips & common mistakes
British tipping is low-pressure by international standards, and knowing the local norms stops you either underpaying or embarrassing everyone by overpaying. Roughly: sit-down restaurants, around 10 per cent if no service charge is on the bill and the service was good — and nothing extra if one is; pubs, no tip when ordering drinks at the bar (the occasional 'and one for yourself?' offers the bartender a drink's worth instead); cafés and takeaways, a coin in the jar at most; taxis, rounding up the fare is plenty; hairdressers, a pound or two or a small percentage. Card machines increasingly present tip prompts with preset percentages — declining is completely acceptable and nobody will react. Wages here do not depend on tips the way they do in the US, and since 2024 employers must by law pass tips on to staff in full, so whatever you give does reach the person who served you.