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.

Love a 3pm weekend lunch.

Lie in, breakfast around 11, lunch around 3, snack around 8pm, what's not to like?

PIL's insist on booking a weekend lunch at 12pm, hideous!

We've got small kids, I hate it. You end up having to give them breakfast, lunch and then try to manage them at a pub lunch in the middle of the afternoon and then you still have to give them dinner when you get home. You've been up since the crack of dawn because bloody kids don't understand weekends and so by the time you've get to the pub you're either so hungry you could eat a horse or you've already eaten 5 meals and no longer want to consume 1500 calories in one sitting.

I do not like it one bit.

I would find 3 a really annoying time. I’d go along with it as a one off, but if this was a regular meet-up with family I’d request that next time it was 1/1:30 or 5/6. I’d need to eat lunch to keep me going and then wouldn’t be hungry at 3.

It's the start of the day that does it for me.
I'm still waiting for "teenagers sleep til the afternoon" to kick in, so the tween is usually up about 6 30, and the teen by 7. Whilst I no longer need to get up with them, once I can hear them I don't really sleep. And the 7am is a recent "late" start!
8am (at the latest) breakfast, 3pm lunch is too big a gap for me, so I'd raid the biscuits by about 1.30.

It doesn’t bother me. We tend to get up later at weekends and my body doesn’t crave food at set times during day.

@MWNA I really don’t see how it’s cunty at all. OP has two options, loosen up and become more flexible with her daily routine or decline the invite. That’s just the reality.
Which one she chooses to do is her decision.

If I had people who wanted to meet us for a meal at 3pm we'd make it work, but I would think it was very strange because that's not a meal time. However, I'm in the US, not Britain, so if it's a particularly British thing that would explain why it seems so strange to me.

We really don't time mealtimes any differently at the weekends. Breakfast around 7 or 8, lunch around 12 or 1, dinner around 6 or 7.

I have no time at all for this thread. Grow up. People have meals at different times. It's hardly rocket science to adapt.

If you think you're going to be hungry by 3, have a little something to eat earlier on. Or wait a bit and be a bit hungry. How can people reach adulthood and not know how to manage their eating?

@Anonymous48

”We really don't time mealtimes any differently at the weekends. Breakfast around 7 or 8, lunch around 12 or 1, dinner around 6 or 7.”

does this really never deviate?!

I like lunch at 12 pm on a work day (whether office or WFH) but on a weekend I have breakfast later and so I am happy to have lunch later.

I agree with PP who said 2pm is about perfect and wouldn't actually want to be at a pub by 12pm on a Saturday or Sunday.

@Cococomellonn

“wouldn't actually want to be at a pub by 12pm on a Saturday or Sunday.“

why ever not? A day sesh is fab sometimes

Assume a lie in of sorts on a Sunday so breakfast late, lunch at 3pm and only a snack around 6 if it's even needed. Love Sundays and this routine.

I don't have lunch and dinner on the weekend. Only a lunner. I wake up later in the weekends so bigger breakfast is essentially the lunch and then the lunch is more closer to dinner

I like 3pm sunday lunches.

Brunch on a sunday and lunch at 3 if I cook a roast/go out for one.

You either have the whole evening to relax on sunday after cooking/cleaning up - or you have a leisurely late afternoon/early evening wine and pudding in the pub with your family/friends to finish the weekend off. You're still home early so monday doesn't come at you too fast.

When dc were little they would be able to hold out till 3 by having a mini breakfast and a brunch.

Funny, I am not english and find that with English friends, if we're invited for Sunday lunch they seem to want us to come at what i consider to be a ridiculously early time like 12:30!

We sleep in on a Sunday, late leisurely breakfast. If we're entertaining, I'm not starting preparations until at least 11. If we're going out, I'm enjoying sitting around in my Pjs until about 12. So a 2pm lunch is perfect. 3pm is a bit late but if I know it's going to be an all afternoon/into the evening thing, no problem.

I treat such lunches as a combined lunch/dinner, and usually have a mid morning snack so I don’t pass out/get hangry.

I like them tbh. They’re more relaxed.

People would turn down a lunch invitation just because the time wasn't right? Are they actually insane?

3 is too late. By the time you've ordered the food and it's been cooked then served it's even later.

I'd make an excuse.

It's insane to have lunch at tea time
It's insane to do things you don't like

@Toddlerteaplease if it was a typical Sunday roast dinner I would desperately find a way to turn the invitation down. I hate roast dinners. I think they smell horrible and look horrible.
"That's too late for me" would be a great excuse 😂

@crosspusscrossstitcher

”3 is too late.”

why is it too late?

@midgetastic In a group it is impossible for everyone to get exctly what they want. So you either compromise or accept you have few friends and family will see you as the difficult one.

Either some people are really rigid about food and mealtimes or they are just looking for any excuse to not go out (and stay home in pj’s “just me and my little family”) 😉