The price on the label is the price you pay, which is a relief after North America. Tipping is modest and the service charge is usually already on the bill.
- VAT is already in every advertised price - a GBP 10 item costs GBP 10 at the till and a menu price is what you pay.
- Contactless works up to GBP 100 without a PIN, and cash is genuinely optional - many cafés, buses and even some pubs no longer take it at all.
- Always choose to be billed in pounds when a terminal offers your home currency, and avoid airport bureaux de change entirely.
- Bank ATMs are free; machines in corner shops and pubs often charge GBP 1.50 to GBP 2 and warn you on screen first.
- Tipping is modest: 10 percent in a restaurant, or nothing extra where a service charge is already on the bill. You do not tip in pubs - you order at the bar and pay there.
Prices are honest
VAT is already included in every advertised price. A GBP 10 item costs GBP 10 at the till, and a menu price is what you pay. Visitors arriving from the United States or Canada find this disorienting in a good way.
- Cards work everywhere, and contactless up to GBP 100 without a PIN. Above that you insert and enter the PIN.
- Cash is genuinely optional. Many cafés, buses and even some pubs no longer take it at all.
- Use a card with no foreign transaction fee, and always choose to be billed in pounds when a terminal offers your home currency. That offer is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is bad.
- Avoid airport bureaux de change entirely. The rates are the worst you will see in the country.
- ATMs at banks are free. Machines in corner shops and pubs often charge GBP 1.50 to GBP 2, and they warn you on screen before you commit.
Scottish and Northern Irish notes
- Scotland and Northern Ireland issue their own banknotes, and you will get them as change in Edinburgh or Belfast.
- They are valid throughout the UK, but they are not technically legal tender in England and some English shops refuse them out of unfamiliarity. Spend them before you leave, or swap them at a bank.
Tipping, briefly
Tipping in Britain is modest and never aggressive. Nobody will chase you down the street.
- 10 percent in a restaurant is normal, or nothing extra if a service charge is already on the bill. 12.5 percent is the usual discretionary service charge in London.
- The service charge is optional and you may ask for it to be removed. Since October 2024 the law requires that tips and service charges go to staff in full, so leaving it on is more meaningful than it used to be.
- You do not tip in pubs. You order at the bar and pay there. If you want to be generous, the phrase is "and one for yourself", which historically buys the bartender a drink.
- You do not tip in cafés, at counters, or for a pint. Round up a taxi fare, tip a hairdresser if you like, and that is broadly the whole of it.
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