Get the pick of the week's stories and fascinating Devon history features direct to your inbox every Saturday morning in our exclusive Weekend Report newsletter Sign me up! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

JD Wetherspoon has just put to bed a debate on how you're MEANT to get served at the bar.

For many years, British pub punters have split themselves into two opposing camps - and it's led to rows and spilled cider on Wetherspoons' Axminster-made carpets.

When ordering their food and drink, most pubgoers go straight to the bar and line along the length of it in the traditional fashion.

However, more frequently, some punters form a single queue in an orderly fashion away from the bar - like they would in a shop.

And, as it turns out, there's only one correct way.

And it will be important to familarise yourself ahead of England's clash with Sweden on Saturday, which will be shown at many packed-out Wetherspoons pubs across the country.

A spokesperson for the pub giant told Devon Live that they actively try and avoid single 'post office' style queues.

They explained: "It’s customary for customers to line the length of the bar that’s why we have on average four to five tills.

"We try to avoid post office style singular queue.

"But they sometimes naturally form despite the best efforts."

poll loading How do you wait to get served at the pub? 0+ VOTES SO FAR I queue in a line so I get my turn after those before me I walk directly to the bar and line along with others

It will come as a blow for those that would argue that queuing prevents a free-for-all at the bar, where you can spend ages trying to catch the attention of the bar staff.

Of course, if you have the pub chain's app - you don't need to worry about either way of queuing.

But it might not matter during this summer's CO2 Shortage...

Some drinkers trying to enjoy the football World Cup in their favourite Wetherspoon pub might have to switch to bottles or real ale because of an international CO2 shortage crisis.

Already some of the chain's outlets have been without draught John Smith's and Strongbow cider while some food and drink companies are putting plans in place to minimise the carbon dioxide shortage impact on consumers.

A spokesman for Wetherspoon said some pubs would be without John Smith's and Strongbow cider but insisted that supplier Heineken had advised both would be available again in a couple of days - sadly not in time for the England World Cup group game against Belgium on Thursday (June 28).

He said: "Wetherspoon has the advantage that it sources its wide range of drinks from a number of suppliers, so has not been too badly affected.

"Heineken has been the company with the biggest issues and they have told us that all is getting back to normal."

A Heineken spokesman said: "We'd like to reassure beer drinkers that all our breweries are operating at full capacity, and we're working 24/7 to get beers to our customers as quickly as possible."

The CO2 shortages are understood to have been caused by a longer than usual break in production of ammonia, one of the key sources of food grade CO2 in Europe - which is used to carbonate drinks and preserve some packed fresh foods.

Trade journal Gas World said the shortage had been described as the "worst supply situation to hit the European carbon dioxide (CO2) business in decades".

The news that drinkers could go thirsty comes as food wholesaler Booker, which has cash and carry stores in St Austell, Newquay, Redruth and Hayle, said it was limiting sales of some lines to 10 cases per customer per day to prevent "sub-wholesaling".

The Tesco-owned retailer, which is used by bars, restaurants and traders, said the move was to preserve availability and satisfied the "vast majority of Booker customers".

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

A Booker spokesman said: "Due to the international shortage of CO2, we are experiencing some supply issues on soft drinks and beer. We are currently working hard with our suppliers to minimise the impact for our customers."

Tesco said the CO2 shortage had not resulted in any availability issues on any product lines.

However Booker's move to ration sales followed Scotland's largest pig processing plant suspending its slaughtering process, Coca-Cola temporarily pausing some production lines and Morrisons and Ocado telling customers that the shortage had led to disruption to some frozen product lines.

A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said CO2 supply issues remained and retailers and suppliers were working hard to ensure food availability was maintained.

The BRC said: "We are aware of specific pressures in some areas such as carbonated soft drinks, beer, British chicken and British pork but the majority of food products are unaffected and retailers do not anticipate food shortages.

"However, it is likely that the mix of products available may be affected."