British "lunch" times at the weekend - why so late?

[Howdoyoulikeyoureggsinthemorning]

Riddle me this, MN. (I'm British myself btw).

Been invited to yet another pub "lunch" with the family. What time have they booked? 3pm!!!!

I just don't understand this tradition.

At school, lunch is usually 12ish, if not 1ish.

At work, lunch is usually 12ish, if not 1ish.

For this reason, most of us have been pretty conditioned to get hungry around the same time of day.

So whenever I'm invited to one of these super late lunches, I end up either:

• Making a pre-lunch for myself anyway because I'm too damn hungry to wait (which often leads to overeating that day...)
• Waiting until I'm so weak that I barely feel like socializing by the time I'm in company (morning ruined) and just counting the seconds till food is in front of me...

Oh, and these late lunches always ruin my appetite for dinner as well!

What gives?

YABU: Weekend lunches are not, nor should they be, like weekday lunches.

YANBU: You're correct and the standard for all pub lunches/roasts/buffets should be brought forward a couple of hours.

I like a late lunch at the weekend, I tend to have breakfast/brunch at 11 which keeps me going until mid afternoon, then maybe a snack at 8/9pm if I’m hungry.

It’s really not a big deal. Don’t go if you’re so inflexible with your day.

Most people sleep in more on a weekend or at least have a more leisurely start to the day, often with a later and bigger breakfast compared to a 6am bowl of cereal in the week.

Why do you need dinner if you’ve had a big meal at 3pm?

It sounds like you need to loosen up.

This wouldn’t have bothered me until I had a toddler who gets up at the crack and need routine.

I think 3pm is a tad late but 2pm would be spot on. Means a leisurely, relaxed morning. I’d decline an invitation for 12pm (unless the others were elderly and needed an earlier lunch).

If I have guest for lunch at the weekend, I say anytime from 1pm arrival, lunch served around 2-2.30pm but there would be a cold ‘help yourself’ starter of antipasti etc from 15 mins after they arrived.

I always have lunch around 1pm regardless of the day of the week. I may skip breakfast if I get up late at the weekend (but not often...).
Mind you if I was having a pub lunch at 1, I wouldn't have dinner in the evening anyway, just something on toast, or cheese and biscuits.

Sunday lunch is usually later isn't it? I always assumed it was because you'd historically start cooking it (= a roast) after church and so it wouldn't be ready until early afternoon.

I have not eaten lunch at 12pm since school. I usually eat lunch at 1:30pm and dinner around 7:30pm.

At the weekend I will tend to have a larger breakfast at about 10-11am so no way would I want lunch at 12pm.

I would consider 3pm perfect and would then eat a light dinner around 8pm.

There is no set time for lunch in Britain. You have it whenever it's convenient or you are hungry. Perhaps that was the only time they could book a table.

Sunday lunch is usually later isn't it? I always assumed it was because you'd historically start cooking it (= a roast) after church and so it wouldn't be ready until early afternoon.

We always left the roast in the oven before going to church so only had to veggies when we got back. My DDad was sent home several times when DMum suddenly remembered during the sermon that she'd forgotten to put the oven on!

YANBU. We have breakfast around 7/8, lunch around 12/1.30 then dinner around 6pm. We have a pre schooler so brought our meal times forward when he was weaning.

On a weekend we’d always have lunch around 1ish, after church on Sunday. Then “tea” around 5pm ish in place of a hot evening meal.

I can see why some eat “lunch” at 3pm if they’ve had a lie in and a full English breakfast at 11am, but it wouldn’t do for us!

Breakfast/Brunch about 10/11
Late lunch - then no need for dinner. If I go out for a weekend lunch, it's usually a full meal not a sandwich and then I don't have dinner at night and you get to relax and chill over lunch.

Saturday, our only day together.

DH finds hard to sleep in, so usually up his usual time of 5.45am. I'm up at 7am as want to get things done before my online exercise class. DH goes to gym. We both eat lunch around noon-1pm.

On the other hand, my SIL and her DH wake up around 8.30am, eat biscuits in bed and then have breakfast around 11-11.30am. They're happy to do a very late lunch, which we really struggle with (especially as we've both exercised) so we eat usual time and have a drink and snack with them.

Sunday lunch at 3pm sounds perfect imo. Lazy morning, time for a trip to the park or whatever, get any naps out the way, breakfast stretched to about 10am, then a massive pub meals rendering me unable to walk, let alone cook, for the rest of the day.

It's normal if you're having a big, late breakfast to want lunch to be later as well and then people will just have a smaller dinner.

Not so practical with small kids but great for adults!

If I know we are having a late lunch I do either a bigger breakfast or a later breakfast. I tend to do a late lunch at Christmas and then a snacky tea. It can be nice if travelling to have a later time as well

We often do a much later lunch on a Sunday as we get up later and then have brunch.

I teach primary so have an earlier lunch in the week at 12. At home I'd have it around 1 normally.

When dd was smaller, if going out for a late lunch, I'd just amend her meal times accordingly - or feed her and give her a small start type sizes at the restaurant/pub. She was, luckily, pretty flexible with routine anyway.

But at the weekend, breakfast is more like 9/10am, whereas in the week it's 6/7am...

I have a toddler and this timing works great for me, because we normally give him his 'lunch' at the same time as nursery (11:30ish) and he naps from 1215ish to 2. By 3pm he'd be ready for another epic snack, so we could turn up with a well-rested toddler who'd be happy to sit in a highchair and eat yet more food (probably all my roast potatoes) while we enjoy our lunch. Meeting at normal lunchtime would involve all sorts of nap engineering and be quite stressful!

Oo okay so a lot of people are saying it works because it means you don't have to have a big dinner (or dinner at all) afterwards.

I can't even fathom going to bed without feeling nice and full from a recent dinner meal! If I'm even 1% understuffed then I can't sleep. Maybe that's why it doesn't work for me.

At the weekend we only tend to have two meals: brunch at 1130ish then dinner around 7pm. Obviously we have a snack if we have been to the pub are hungry. But so far, I haven't seen the sky fall in because we didn't eat set meals at set times. Unclench OP 😀

I usually have lunch at weekends earlier than 3 but it's not that late if going out!
I would much rather have a late lunch than a 3-course meal at noon.

Late lazy breakfast mid morning
main meal at 3
sandwich or something else light in the evening.

Anything later than one is pure torture. Half one might be just about forgivable on Christmas Day, but not ideal.

It's easy to manage

Decent/late breakfast

Lunch at 3

Light/small/no dinner, whatever you feel like at the time.

A kindred spirit!