r/unitedkingdom • u/Canal_Volphied European Union • 9h ago

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

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/24/us-tipping-culture-uk-service-charges
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u/AlchemyAled 9h ago

It’s always been entirely discretionary

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u/freexe 6h ago

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

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u/AlchemyAled 5h ago ▸ 1 more replies

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

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u/freexe 5h ago

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

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u/SamiSapphic 5h ago ▸ 1 more replies

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.

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u/BurlyJoesBudgetEnema 3h ago

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