The guiding principle must always be St Ambrose’s dictum, ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’, i.e. follow the lead of your hosts.

There was a time when managers would frequently go out for an often boozy lunch. Now he or she is more likely to eat more modestly in the staff canteen or to send out for a sandwich and mineral water to be consumed at his or her desk (quite possibly in the middle of the afternoon). If that is your British counterpart’s regular working practice, then you should follow suit.

However, although there is a greater likelihood that you will be invited to a dinner party at a private home in the UK than in any other European country and whilst it is inadvisable to discuss serious business in public, most business entertaining is still done in restaurants, pubs and smarter cafes.

The best time for a serious and productive business meal is lunch, which is taken between noon and 2:00 p.m. Breakfast meetings are not popular (even in London). After-hours drinks or a light supper afford the opportunity for informal soundings and gossip but are not really appropriate for earnest discussion. Dinner tends to be reserved for more sociable or celebratory entertaining when spouses are quite likely to be invited and talking shop is mostly off the menu.

(‘High tea’, by the way, is actually a substitute for dinner taken between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.; it consists of a savoury hot dish plus finger sandwiches, scones and cakes. Nowadays it is rarely served outside the grander hotels, country houses and Oxbridge common rooms.)

Interminable books have been written on the subject of dining etiquette in the UK. Most of the rules are archaic and downright silly. Good manners are founded in respect for your fellow humans and are largely universal (or at least prevail throughout any given culture); they do not require instruction manuals. The only sensible rule is to behave in such a way as to cause neither embarrassment nor annoyance (at the risk of seeming hypocritically prescriptive, this might include making an effort to eat and drink at the same pace as the rest of the group, not speaking with one’s mouth full, not stretching across the table, not waving one's cutlery about and not licking one’s knife). If you are a guest, follow the host’s instructions and/or lead; if you are the host, whatever you say goes. Act with confidence and, however bizarre your behaviour, the worst that can happen is that your British companions will regard you as an eccentric foreigner.

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