Benchmark

Back in the day, when pubs weren't structured and laid out as they are now, the best room and public bar were usually tricked out in bench seating.  In fact, bench seating was the norm really and poseur tables and armchairs and a lot of modern trappings like tables more suited to a restaurant were much rarer beasts. It allowed a lot of people to sit around the walls of pubs and created room for circulation and standing drinkers. Pubs were then, in many cases I suppose, a little more spartan, along the lines of a "a pub is for drinking in", but rarely uncomfortable.  Many though, were convivial and cosy, even when they were big - and large pubs were then very common indeed - they weren't, in the main, specifically aimed at diners.  I'm talking, probably from God knows when, until I first came to England, so the 1980s and onwards through the nineties, until things slowly but surely morphed into the kind of pubs we see today.

There was then, too, much more standing at the bar.  In fact, standing generally. I'm often amused nowadays, in some pubs, mainly with young staff, who when you are standing at the bar, and can clearly see you have a drink in front of you, ask in that tiresome way "You all right?" It seems they are totally discombobulated, and indeed nonplussed - rattled even - by a punter choosing to stand at the bar and drink their beer on their hind legs. More of this later, as this is what has given rise to this post.

Back then as nowadays, you'd enter a pub, look around and decide where you would consume your beer or whatever your chosen drink. It would be entirely conventional, if on your own, to either stand at the bar and enjoy your pint. Or, if the pub was rammed, find a space on a bench seat and join others, more than likely not of your acquaintance. In both cases, it would be rare not to find a conversation being struck up. Even more common, in a busy pub, if you looked round, someone on a bench would shout "Squeeze in here Son" and everyone would "hutch up" to make room. As an aside, drinking on your own was, I would suggest, much more common then and not remarked on, never mind being looked on pejoratively or askance.

As a seasoned pub goer through six decades, of course I have noticed that pubs have changed - or evolved if you prefer. I have written in the past about house style when most pubs were owned by breweries, but that isn't it exactly.  I suspect the disconnect from vertical ownership speeded internal design changes, as did changes to drinking patterns and customer preferences. That and the march of time plus the accompanying desperate need to attract customers in a declining market.  Pubs we opened out to become one big space. In most cases, public bars were removed for more eating space, or to simply remove the need to have two bars and two sets of staff looking after them.  Tables aimed at four or six people became the norm, with uncomfortable high tables dotted about (not so attractive as you get older and one's clambering is no longer up to scratch) and, importantly, in many cases bench seating was ripped out.

Which brings me back to why I am writing this.  The removal of bench seating isn't universal. In the case of two of my local brewers, JW Lees and Joseph Holt, even in their recently refurbished pubs, bench seating forms a part of the offer.  The problem is, though, that few know how to use it any more.

Last Friday, early evening, I met my wife in the Roebuck, a recent acquisition by Joseph Holt, which has since been extensively and expensively refurbished. It has proved extremely popular and is the nearest pub to me. I like Joey's bitter, so good news.  It has plentiful bench seating of various types. Now, I like the room on the right as you go in. I arrived, and the place was buzzing.  I glanced round and while no tables were free, I noted that in the two large benched areas below the windows, there was plenty of room. Well, if people moved up a bit.  I ordered our two drinks and surveyed the scene standing at the bar while waiting for E. Others were looking for seats too, and I noticed two people approach a group who were using the area on my left. There was room. They asked, "Is anyone sitting there?" and were told that there was, and they were at the bar. Not so, but the enquirers however sought solace elsewhere.

In the meantime, I had been asked "Are you all right there?" as above, despite having two drinks in front of me. Ho Hum. The other area of bench seating had two people sitting there. I should add that each area has a table or tables opposite the benches.  They were sitting opposite each other, leaving three seats to their left and around five on the window bench. To their left, a group of teachers were spread out. (I know this because they later told me.) I approached and as a politeness - as you do - said, "Is it all right if we sit here?" The male, probably older than me, said "Well you can sit there", gesturing in the direction of the teachers. Hmm. I pointed out that the pub was busy and that they were taking up between two, around nine seats, but the teachers said they'd squeeze up, and with some mutterings on both sides, the matter was left there.

Now thinking on, you often see in busy pubs, (like busy trains), coats and bags covering free seats. And these days, unlike the habit in Germany, it is unusual to see strangers sharing a table. I recall last winter, in the Commercial in London, asking a couple if we could sit at a bench, where six could be accommodated.  They thought I was asking them to move elsewhere, until I explained that I just wanted them to shift their arses along to make room, a notion that seemed alien to them.

Oddly, this aspect of pub etiquette isn't really covered much at all in t'interweb. Google is pretty well silent about it, amongst plenty of other advice about how to behave in pubs, but I'll add another point. While seated on a bench, any adjacent table is fair game to rest your pint on, unless someone is eating at that table. 

Moving on, this reluctance to share with strangers is covered by social anthropologist Kate Fox in her excellent book "Watching the English" . It pertains to public transport, but I believe also to public houses, though in that case for sure, it should be overcome.

"The Denial Rule

Our main coping mechanism is a form of what psychologists call ‘denial’: we try to avoid acknowledging that we are among a scary crowd of strangers, and to maintain as much privacy as possible, by pretending that they do not exist – and, much of the time, pretending that we do not exist either. The denial rule requires us to avoid talking to strangers, or even making eye contact with them, or indeed acknowledging their presence in any way unless absolutely necessary."

It need not be so, so here are a few simple rules to follow when encountering bench seating in a pub.

Rule 1:  Expect to share. You are in a pub. A pub is a shared space

Rule 2:  If sitting in the middle, expect to have people sit on either side of you

Rule 3: In a booth style, if sitting at the apex, rule 2 applies

Rule 4: Don't try to fill empty places with coats and bags

Rule 5: Any table adjacent is communal, unless eating

Rule 6: Be ready to hutch up

Rule7: Be welcoming and friendly. 

Rule 8: Remember Rule 1 always

So where does this leave us.  Well, if you are in a pub and someone asks if they can sit adjacent to you, your first thought should be, assuming it is possible and reasonable to do so,  "Of course, I'll hutch up a bit".  If your thoughts are otherwise, either don't go to the pub, or learn a bit of basic pub and human etiquette. It is written down for you now, so if in doubt, cut and keep.

In fact, when out in Manchester yesterday, bench seating was actually common, so maybe I have overestimated its demise. But it was mid-afternoon and quiet.

I recommend, as I have before, Kate's book. The link above is a free download.  Well worth doing, especially if you are clueless about how pubs should work.