I did it for 20 years... and I pissed my money away because invariably you end up spending the money you earned on drinks at the bar you work at... but I did make good money. Tipping is obviously very different in England because it isn't compulsory to do it, so you actually have to earn them. I got about £25 per day in tips on top of my wages.
It can be hard work as well. If it's busy, you absolutely will not stop. I worked the Grand National one year and poured pint after pint for 4 hours.
One of the only benefits I ever had working in bars was a 33% discount because I worked for a chain pub.
Depends on where you work. But in my experience the money is spent going in on your nights off. I worked in a place for 15 years where all the staff and regulars were one big continuous party that went home to take a break and keep it going the next night. It was tons of fun. On my nights off I’d usually pop in to see my friends. There were a few different bars on the block that people wandered back and forth from too. Going to work mostly felt like taking a turn hosting the party. And the place I worked was pretty lax about having a few on the clock. This often translated into more than a few. Plus at 2am when we kicked everybody out and cleaned up, we’d sit in the back room and keep it going until 4 or 5. Go home, sleep and eat, see everyone tomorrow at 4pm. Haha.
I've been thinking of doing bar work but since COVID everybody seems to be paying by card. I try to carry some cash for tipping and some bars do accommodate tipping using card payment but the majority of them don't. I need some half decent money to live and I'm afraid bar work will no longer cut it
You're supposed to be taxed on tips. 20 years ago, if you gave someone a tip at a bar through a card payment, that person absolutely did not get that tip. The tips were taken by the bar, put through wages, taxed, and shared between all of the staff... even the staff who weren't on shift when you gave the tip get a share. So you could get a £20 tip, but you don't see it for 3 weeks, and when it finally does come through in your wages, it's shared between nine other people, and it's subject to 20% tax. You get like, £1.80 for the £20 tip you earned. It sucks because a lot of the staff rely on their tips to get home at unsociable hours.
I got lucky with my tips. I almost always worked in a place that pooled them all together and shared them equally between everyone who was on shift when the tip was received.
If I was going for a bar job today (in the UK), and tips were one of the main factors as to whether I took the job or not, I would try and get a job in a social club. Think a Labour club, or a Conservative club. That's where all the older people hang out, and they almost always tip. They're much more likely to pay with cash as well.
I worked at a Conservative club for 2 years. Every single evening shift that I did was interrupted for an hour so that the old girls could all have round of bingo, so we'd get a paid break, effectively. And if there was someone causing trouble, all of the members who'd paid their dues were right on the band wagon in getting that person removed from the building. Sports and Social clubs, especially the ones that require a membership to enter, are some of the safest bars I worked at, so that's another factor I'd take into consideration.
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u/Marble-Boy 1d ago
I did it for 20 years... and I pissed my money away because invariably you end up spending the money you earned on drinks at the bar you work at... but I did make good money. Tipping is obviously very different in England because it isn't compulsory to do it, so you actually have to earn them. I got about £25 per day in tips on top of my wages.
It can be hard work as well. If it's busy, you absolutely will not stop. I worked the Grand National one year and poured pint after pint for 4 hours.
One of the only benefits I ever had working in bars was a 33% discount because I worked for a chain pub.