The UK has many weird laws about the most obscure things. Some have been abolished but there are still some that are around and have been for a very long time. Here are 10 of the weirdest UK laws that still exist.

1. It is illegal to be drunk in a pub

Since 1872 it has been an offence for a landlord to allow drunkenness in their pub. This law comes from the Licensing Act 1872, Section 12 and is further prohibited by Metropolitan Police Act, section 44 – along with gambling and prostitution on licensed premises. It has not been abolished so next time you go for a pint don’t get drunk otherwise you might get the owner arrested.

2. It is illegal to handle salmon in suspicious circumstances

This law is one of the stranger and more recent once on this list according to the Salmon Act of 1986, it is illegal to handle a salmon in suspicious circumstances. Well given that the wording is vague I would presume it means that you cannot handle stolen or illegally killed salmon. In the UK you need a licence to fish for salmon so this is what the law most likely applies to.

3. It is illegal to eat a swan

Well I hope you would never think of eating a swan but if you do you might want to thing again as since the Middle Ages it has been illegal to do so. They were seen as valuable. Many laws since then have prohibited it and all swans in the UK are owned by the queen. However the only law that stands to this date to prohibit it is the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 which protects all wild birds.

4. It is illegal to carry a plank of wood along the pavement

According to the metropolitan police act 1839, section 54 you cannot carry wheels, casks, placards and many other things including a plank of wood on the street unless you are unloading or entering a property.

5.No singing on the streets.

Under the same act it also states “prohibition of nuisances by persons in the thoroughfares” which means that you cannot sing obscene and indecent songs and ballads in the street, as well as flying kites and sliding on snow and ice.

6. Nuclear explosions are against the law

According to prohibition and inspection act 1998, section 1 ” Any person who knowingly causes a nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.” Well that is enough said there.

7. The Queen owns all dead whales

If any dead whale or sturgeon turns up on the british coast it automatically becomes property of the Monarch, this law has been around since 1322.

8. Polish potatoes are illegal in the UK

According to The Polish Potatoe Order 2004 it states “import into England potatoes which he knows to be or has reasonable cause to suspect to be Polish potatoes”. So it is illegal to import Polish potatoes unless you write to an inspector two days before you propose to take them into the country. You have to explain why, when and how you are geting them into this country. The reason for this bizzare law is that there was a ring rot outbreak in Poland.

9. You cannot ride the bus if you have the plague

According to the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, if you have a “notifiable disease” like the plague or smallpox, you will be liable for a fine if you get on a “public conveyance”. If you had the plague I doubt you plan on getting on the bus anyway.

10. You cannot wear a suit of armour in the houses of parliment

In the Statute Forbidding Bearing Armour of 1313, King Edward II wrote “In all Parliaments, and other Assemblies, which should be made in the Realm of England, that every Man shall come without all Force and Armour, well and peaceably, to the Honour of Us, and the Peace of Us and our Realm.” I doubt that Theresa May will walk into the houses of parliment with her sword drawn.