Britain has in recent years been described as a "leisure society". This is because there is a greater variety of leisure pursuits and people have more spare time and money to spend on relaxation. Most spare time after work or at the weekends is spent at home. Older people may go to the pub or to the theatre, or visit friends. In recent years going out for a meal or bringing a take-away meal home have become popular with all ages.

In Britain people watch TV for many hours every week. Many cities have twenty or more channels, sometimes going for twenty-four hours a day. Many well-off people have a "trailer" which they can use for weekends away. Some have holiday houses in the country and spend as much time as possible on outside activities like fishing.

Young people generally go out on Friday or Saturday nights to a disco, to a concert or to the pub. In London one or two new nightclubs open every week. Sunday is traditionally a day off and town center can be very quiet or even deserted. People read the Sunday newspapers, go for a walk in the park or countryside or work at home in the garden. A lot of people wash their cars on Sundays or do jobs around the house. Naturally the leisure industry persuades people to spend a lot of money, especially on new and more expensive interests such as computer games and sports equipment.