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.

It’s just not true that it’s peculiarly British to be weirdly inflexible about meal times. Try telling a group of Spaniards that the kitchen closes at 6.30pm (as it did in my hall of residence) and see above about French ladies on holiday in Spain insisting on their preferred mealtime. It’s also much harder to get served anything at all in France outside a recognised mealtime.

I didn't say that I'd decline a 3pm invitation; just that it wouldn't suit me. Obviously if I wanted to be sociable, I'd eat a snack first and then go along. But in my head I'd be muttering ...

How would you all react if I invited you out for lunch at 12noon on the weekend? Would you accept without giving it any thought; or would you think "well, that doesn't really suit my normal eating habits but I shall make the effort to go by eating a smaller breakfast or skipping breakfast"?

All I'm saying is that it wouldn't feel natural, not that I wouldn't go.

So you can have a lie in, brunch and then late lunch. Bliss.

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

Book it at a time to suit yourself OP.

I’d happily go to lunch at any time and work my other eating around it. If a friend suggested 12 then I wouldn’t have a big late breakfast. Job done.

YANBU I absolutely cannot stand this either. Messes up the whole day. Have a massive snack around 11 and cheese and biscuits for dinner but it's still a total PITA. Ignore all the competitive undereaters who don't have dinner, too

I only eat one meal a day, anytime from 4 to 6pm so I'd be happy with a meal at 3pm at the pub

All these people getting up at the crack of dawn busy busy busy…what’s that all about? It’s meant to be a day of rest!

I am the least busy person I know of - no partner, no children - and can spend an entire day doing nothing at all - I still get up between 6.30 - 7 am every day however. You don't have to lie in bed to rest.

Better to actually have a meal when hungry

Just have a later breakfast or small snack to keep you going and a light tea.

@Twinsforthewin

but a lot of people don’t need dinner if they have a big meal at 3pm (or more likely 4pm cos if you book a table for 3pm it’s probs gonna be 4pm or thereabouts when you’re actually eating)

@KatherineJaneway

is it? Why?

@KatherineJaneway

at the expense of a social life ?!

I’d rather just have a small snack earlier!

But a lot of people, like me and OP, do. If I were the kind of person who could skip dinner without becoming a weeping ball of rage, I wouldn't have replied like this, would I 🙃 people are all different 🤷🏻‍♀️

Why not?

@KatherineJaneway

cos it might mean missing out on a lovely catch-up with mates!

@Twinsforthewin

but why would you be hangry at dinner time if you’d eaten a big meal at 4pm?

It sounds like ‘she’ needs to loosen up?

Pub has 2 sittings..... maximise revenue.
First sitting 12/1pm-ish, second sitting 2.30\3pm......

And maybe the first sitting was fully booked

😁😁YABU! Weekends are a time to relax, get up late for brunch, then a late lunch and no need for dinner!

Get with the programme! 😉

3pm lunches are for when you're planning on dropping the evening meal or if you've had a lazy morning and brunch so are fine until mid afternoon.

3pm is too late for my preference. No later than 2pm for me otherwise I'd be starving.

@LolaSmiles

”3pm is too late for my preference. No later than 2pm for me otherwise I'd be starving.”

hence you have a late breakfast/brunch. Or a snack at 12pm.

easily solved!

Agree!
nowt as queer as folk!

hence you have a late breakfast/brunch. Or a snack at 12pm.

easily solved!

But I don't want to add in an extra meal into my day, which is why I'll not book lunches for 3pm.

I'm quite happy with 3 meals a day an a small mid morning snack.

For me booking a lunch at 3pm means not eating a proper lunch at lunch time, so having to add in another meal late morning, or accepting the day becomes 24 hours of endless grazing of breakfast - mid morning snack - then a lunch time snack not big enough to ruin appetite for actual lunch at 3pm - then another early evening snack because I'm not hungry enough to eat a full meal.

It seems like a recipe for getting nothing done in a day, which would annoy me. I 100% accept I'm uptight though, which is why I'd rather make different arrangements than do a very late lunch.