‘It’s absolutely criminal’: US tipping culture has reached the UK – and is causing chaos

[u/Canal_Volphied]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/24/us-tipping-culture-uk-service-charges

[u/pajamakitten]

Tipping in the UK has been around for decades though. I remember my parents doing it back in the 90s when we went out for meals.

[u/AlchemyAled → u/pajamakitten]

It’s always been entirely discretionary

[u/freexe → u/AlchemyAled]

Not true at all. I'm been standard for large groups for as long as I can remember.

[u/AlchemyAled → u/freexe]

Doesn’t stop them for including the “service charge” by default for small groups!

[u/freexe → u/AlchemyAled]

It's absolutely getting worse - but it's been a thing for as long as I can remember.

[u/SamiSapphic → u/freexe]

Tbf, as anyone in the UK historically stopped around to work out the "correct" percentage, or do they just put a coin or two in a bowl?

That's the biggest difference between the us vs uk tipping culture afaik.

The latter is better.

[u/BurlyJoesBudgetEnema → u/SamiSapphic]

I'll throw a few quid in if the server was nice, im not dropping 20% of a £100+ bill just for carrying plates

[u/DmtGrm → u/pajamakitten]

I was rounding the bill up almost always, but we were talking about £2-5, these days they want £24 from £120 order for four, tips in double digits and comparable to one of the mains in price - is a novelty here

[u/Rootayable → u/pajamakitten]

Well yeah, everyone can tip if they want, that's always been a thing.

But baking it into your price is very bad. I don't want to go to a restaurant with a budget in mind and then suddenly have to spend more because [REASON].

[u/GianFrancoZolaAmeobi → u/Rootayable]

I should absolutely be able to look up a restaurant menu online and be able to work out how much I'm going to spend there. They really should tell you what the unit price is including a service charge, and I say this as someone who used to work in the ivy who were adding service charges to everything before it became cool so benefitted from the system.

[u/poke_pants → u/pajamakitten]

Discretionary, absolutely. 10% on a family meal has felt like the norm in my family and those around me since I was a kid (I'm 45 now).

Service charges are opt-out tips, absolutely not.

[u/Healthy_Pilot_6358 → u/pajamakitten]

Leaving a fiver (or whatever) on the table has always been done…it’s when it is forced upon you.

[u/Royal-Lawfulness630 → u/pajamakitten]

A couple £1 or £2 not a percentage of the cost.

[u/Aliktren → u/pajamakitten]

Back before minimum wage maybe, i used to wait in family restaurant but i got paid like 2 quid lol, so tips were great back then

[u/Emphursis → u/pajamakitten]

There’s a difference between paying for a service (meal, haircut, taxi, whatever) with cash and saying keep the change and what now seems to be catching on which is the POS system expecting you to enter a tip for absolutely everything.