Is it tight to pay only for what I ordered?

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See it as it's framed

Our note

On 28 August, YouGov asked 7,144 GB adults how they prefer to settle a group restaurant bill. Some 52% favoured an even split and 38% preferred paying for what they had. Paying for your own order is a common preference, even if more people favour splitting evenly. On 21 October, the Office for National Statistics said restaurant and hotel prices were 3.8% higher in September than a year earlier.

The detail changes with the size of the gap. When someone had spent a little less than the others, 58% would still split evenly and 33% would ask to pay for their own food and drink. When they had spent a lot less, 49% would ask to pay their own share, against 41% who would split evenly. I found the size of the difference more revealing than the overall preference alone.

Debrett's advice on money between friends puts weight on talking about the bill before ordering, so everyone can judge what they can afford. An even split means the lighter order helps pay for the dearer ones; paying by item keeps each person's bill tied to their order. What the group understood in advance matters as much as the arithmetic.