TL;DR
- Bottomless means time-capped, not infinite: your session runs 90 minutes exactly, and there’s no last orders bell to extend it.
- Turn up on time. We tell you your finish time on arrival, and latecomers don’t get extra minutes tacked on.
- The 7.5% discretionary service charge already covers the tip, so you don’t need to add more unless you want to.
- Non-drinkers get the same Council Tapas board for £19.95, with unlimited mocktails, soft drinks or fruit juice.
- Being rude isn’t about how many fishbowls you order, it’s about how you treat the people running your table.
Nobody hands you a rulebook when you book a bottomless brunch. Most of what passes for bottomless brunch etiquette is unspoken, and people usually learn it the hard way: turning up twenty minutes late, or flagging the server down for a fourth round before anyone’s cleared the third. We’ve watched a few thousand brunches play out across Dean Street and Pink Lane, so this is what actually happens, not what the Instagram captions tell you. If you want the full rundown on pricing and inclusions first, the honest guide covers that; this one’s just about how to behave once you’re sat down.
Is “Bottomless” Actually Unlimited?
No. Bottomless brunch is time-capped, not infinite, and that’s by design rather than a technicality. Your session runs for 90 minutes exactly, and the drinks on offer are lager, prosecco, spirits and mixers, or one of six cocktail fishbowls, but you finish what’s in your glass before the next one lands. Shots aren’t part of the package either; they sit on a separate menu you can add to your tab if you fancy one.
The time limit isn’t us being tight. UK licensing law treats any promotion that pushes rapid or excessive drinking as a licensing risk, so the structure exists to keep the day fun rather than reckless. The same logic sits behind serving one round per person at a time, a rule most bottomless etiquette guides flag as the single biggest thing people get wrong. Check booking times before you lock in a slot, because Saturdays go first.
What Happens If You Turn Up Late?
Your session still ends on time, even if you don’t start on it. We don’t call last orders. Instead, we tell you your finish time the moment you sit down, so grabbing your final drink before it hits is on you, not on the clock waiting around. Turn up fifteen minutes before your slot and you’ll actually get the full 90 minutes instead of eating into it.
Most restaurants will hold a table for a short grace period if you’re running behind. Bottomless sessions don’t work that way, because we book another group straight into your slot. Several of the most disappointed reviews we’ve seen boil down to the same thing: turning up late, assuming the 90 minutes would stretch, and losing out on the deal they’d actually paid for.
Do You Need to Tip on Top of the Service Charge?
No, not on top of it. A discretionary 7.5% service charge lands on your bill automatically, and that’s the tip sorted, unless the service genuinely fell short, in which case you can ask us to take it off. UK hospitality norms sit in a similar range: a service charge of around 10 to 12.5% is standard across London and most other cities, so we’re not asking for anything unusual.
What’s changed recently is where that money goes. Since the Tips Act_Act_2023) came into force, service charge and tips legally have to go to the staff who earned them, not sit with the business. So when you leave that 7.5% in place, it lands with the team who kept your fishbowls topped up and your tapas board full.
The Group Booking Etiquette Nobody Mentions
Headcount honesty matters more than people think. A group of 13 landed for Michelle’s booking and the team ran the whole thing without a single complaint about wait times or mixed-up orders, but that only works because the number booked matched the number who turned up. Tell us six and bring ten, and the kitchen and bar are suddenly working blind.
The Council Tapas board is one per group, not one per person, so a table of eight sharing a single board eats very differently to a table of four. If your group grows after booking, say so before the day rather than at the door. Whoever’s organising carries the whole thing on their shoulders, so sorting dietary needs and who’s paying before you arrive saves everyone a headache mid-brunch.
What If Someone at the Table Isn’t Drinking?
They’re not an afterthought. The non-alcoholic brunch is £19.95 per person for unlimited mocktails, soft drinks or fruit juice, and it comes with exactly the same Council Tapas board as everyone else at the table. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free versions of that board exist too; you just need to flag it when you book rather than on arrival.
This isn’t a niche ask anymore. Roughly one in five UK adults don’t drink at all, and a growing number of the rest are zebra-striping their way through a session, alternating a cocktail with a soft drink rather than skipping the night out altogether. Mixed tables are normal now, not the exception, so nobody should feel like the odd one out for ordering a mocktail at Pink Lane sessions or anywhere else.
Bottomless Brunch Etiquette: What’s Rude vs What’s Fine
Rude is flagging a server down every two minutes instead of waiting for them to clear your round. Rude is stacking six empty glasses in front of one person and acting confused when the bar can’t keep up. Fine is pacing yourself, drinking water between rounds, and treating the 90 minutes as a vibe rather than a race.
A recent industry survey found nearly half of UK adults have witnessed abuse of hospitality staff in the past three years, and bottomless sessions are exactly the kind of booking where it tends to flare up. Alternating water with your fishbowl isn’t just good advice for your head the next day; it keeps the whole table calmer and the staff actually enjoying your booking instead of surviving it. The best brunches we see are the ones where the group puts their phones down and lets the bartender pick the next round.
Etiquette here isn’t complicated: turn up on time, the tip’s already sorted, tell us who’s not drinking, and treat your server like a person. Get that right and 90 minutes flies by in the best way. Dean Street sessions run Wednesday to Sunday, Pink Lane runs Friday and Saturday, and Saturday slots go first, so book ahead rather than hoping for a walk-in.
