Entertain me! Why Gen Z wants more than the traditional pub

Steve Latto says his family-run traditional pub used to be packed every Friday and Saturday night with people standing shoulder to shoulder drinking.

"You don't get that now," he says.

"People will walk in, see it's too busy and walk out again. They don't want to be in close proximity to people."

Latto, who runs The Criterion bar in St Andrews, says 2026 will be the worst year the pub industry has faced.

Rising prices, increased staff costs and changes to business rates are all contributing to his troubles - but he says there is something else going on.

He thinks the Covid pandemic was a watershed moment and the young people who came of age during and after that period behave differently in social settings.

"They don't like busy environments and they don't like large groups of people," Latto says.

And he blames increased screen time for Gen Z having difficulty "keeping eye contact, making small talk and engaging with people".

It is a common perception.

Gen Z - those aged from 14 to 29 - are often viewed by older generations as being more anxious and less spontaneous, preferring pre-arranged activities with people they know to jostling with large crowds of strangers in a packed pub.

The cost of living crisis and concern over the prospect of their night out being plastered all over social media are other factors which make under-30s less likely to take the risk of nipping down the pub.

Louise Maclean, the business development director of a pub chain with 20 sites across Scotland, says she is trying to work out how to get Gen Zs into her bars.

"I met my husband in a pub," she says. "That's where we went to meet people."

Nowadays they are more likely to meet their partners in a gym, she says.

For her, the traditional old man boozer is "hanging by a thread".

"That one guy drinking a pint, reading the paper, spending £7 in maybe 90 minutes," she says. "The maths don't work for that."

Maclean, whose Signature group runs pubs such as the Cold Town House in Edinburgh and the Church on the Hill in Glasgow, says the demands of younger customers have "completely changed"'.

"Young people want to be entertained because their lives are governed by the device in their hand," she says.

"It's governed by social media, it's constantly people screaming, 'Entertain me!'.

"Whether that is sport, whether that is music, quizzes, wreath-making, whatever it is, it's all about experiences."

Edward Males, a post-grad student at the University of St Andrews, thinks part of his generation had their "social skills stolen" by Covid.

He says he finds himself desperately seeking a distraction if left alone in the pub and would rather be on his phone than have to engage with strangers around him.

The 23-year-old, who also works part-time in a pub, says this kind of behaviour is "standard for most people and it takes away from the whole community feel of the pub".

Males says phones have also caused a new phenomenon that earlier generations didn't have to think about.

The potential for being approached by someone who is filming has created an "unstable feeling of anxiety" among his peers, he says.

"Nowadays when on Instagram or TikTok, you have all of these videos of people walking up to random people on the street and recording them and it really adds this whole anxiety to the person being approached.

"They think 'I don't want to get ostracized for saying the wrong thing' or 'what if I do this and embarrass myself and then I become a meme all over the internet?'.

"That's constantly in the back of people's heads nowadays."

Stephanie English agrees that there's been an increase in technology infiltrating a night out.

The 27-year-old says the prevalence of phones at all times also influences how much alcohol she and her friends consume.

"I don't want to end up in the background of people's Instagram stories," she says.

English also worries about losing control over what she posts on social media herself.

"I'd be scared the next day, thinking: 'did I post that?'," she says.

"I think, it's because everyone's so chronically online... years ago it wouldn't have been like that.

"I'm definitely not as sociable as even my older siblings were at my age."

While the pub in the past may have been the place for people to catch up with each other, Gen Z already have access to instantaneous communication so they are looking for something "extra", says 22-year-old Keira McCue.

"I'm constantly in communication with my friends (on social media)," she says.

"I know what they're doing."

McCue says going to the pub for a catch-up is lovely but it is nice if it has an extra element of feeling more like an event you can get dressed up for.

If pubs offer more than just a pint, she's much more inclined to go, she says.

"A quiz or a game is one of the main things that would get me to the pub," McCue says.

"I love having a conversation with my friends but it's even more fun when there's a quiz."

Cost is another factor that is taking casual drinking off the table, McCue says.

"I'm saving for a house and paying off my car so it is a bit difficult when I see that a cocktail is £11 or £12," she says.

"That does stop me sometimes from going out or actually enjoying being out sometimes."

Maclean says to get Gen Z through the door, it's all about staying one step ahead.

She says it's important to know what is "trending" and to figure out how to make it work for the pub industry.

The pub can survive as long as operators stay relevant, she says.

"The modern guest is very, very demanding."