James May begs pub-goers to cease queuing for the bar as former Top Gear star manufacturers the culprits ‘un-British’ for forming single file queues to get served

James May has begged pub-goers to stop queuing for the bar, branding the culprits as ‘un-British’ for forming single-file lines to get served. 

The former Top Gear presenter, 61, took to X to share his thoughts on revellers waiting for their drinks in the pub. 

Mr May wrote: ‘Please stop queuing at the bars in pubs. I know we have a Nobel prize for lining up, but this is un-British’. 

He signed off with: ‘Anyway, it’s Christmas. Happy Christmas everyone. Peace and love, people’.  

Many people were quick to agree with his comments, with one writing the practice was ‘bizarre’. 

‘Bizarre to have a wide, empty bar, several staff, yet a single queue back to the door’, they wrote. ‘I first noticed this during COVID but it seems to have continued’. 

Another added: ‘Absolutely this. A bar queue starts and ends at the bar. Queueing in a line in any pub is an abomination. Any decent bar person will have a good idea of who is next, and any decent pub goer knows who to point to if it’s not them’. 

And another, a bar worker themselves, said: ‘As an occasional bar worker, I fully agree. If you’re half decent on the bar you can pick out who’s first, whilst being able to serve a few people pretty much at the same time. Especially if you work well with your other team members’. 

Former Top Gear presenter James May, 61, took to X to share his thoughts on revellers making a single file queue to wait for their drinks in the pub

Pubs across the UK are begging customers to learn how to order a pint at a bar (Stock Image)

More commented that ‘good bar staff know who is next in line’, while another user added that the ‘architecture of bars isn’t setup for queuing’, before quipping: ‘That’s why pubs don’t look like building societies’. 

And another added queuing at the bar ‘needs to be eradicated immediately’ as it ‘massively slows down service’.  

But not everyone agreed with Mr May, with one asking ‘how are people supposed to get a drink James? Do reverse musical chairs until we get served?’ 

In response, Mr May wrote: ‘We managed well for centuries’. 

Another said ‘queuing is the most British thing ever’ and is a way for everyone to be ‘treated fairly’.  

It comes after pubs across the UK begged their customers to learn how to order themselves a pint at the bar, with establishments in Leeds, London, Scotland and Manchester resorting to putting up signs with instructions. 

Some pub landlords reportedly think Generation Z have maintained habits picked up during lockdown which were originally designed to ensure social distancing.  

The behaviour has resulted in an Instagram page, called Pub Queues, which is dedicated to campaigning against the recent phenomenon and to educate younger drinkers on how to approach the bar. 

People all around the country have sent in snaps of long single file queues at their favourite venues.

The campaign states its purpose is to ‘end the recent phenomenon of queuing single file in pubs’. It says: ‘We queue for the bus, or for the checkout, not at bars’. 

Some establishments have even started fighting back and have put up signs to discourage drinkers from forming single-file lines.

One notice posted on the group reads: ‘Please stop queuing in a line. Come to the bar.’ Meanwhile, another sign states: ‘If there is a single file queue in front of you, walk straight past it and go to the bar’.

‘This is not a Post Office, there is no need to queue like one,’ another read. While another said: ‘Please come up to the bar for service! Please don’t queue single file!’