I'm a German who lives in the UK and nobody here would dare to sit around drinking in a residential neighbourhood late at night. I'm bringing it up because I see it over and over on Youtube. In no pub, bar or drinking establishment are you allowed to leave the premise with your drink. If you want to smoke you leave without your drink. If the establishment has outside seating, it'll close by 10pm. Depending where you are you are not allowed to even walk around with an open container of alcohol. However, most places are pretty easy going. If it's 2 people going for a walk with a drink, nobody would bat an eye. Or you you could meet in a park on a summers night, have a little picnic, nobody would care. Policing isn't like in Germany, where they enforce the law without using their brain. However, as soon as something looks like a larger gathering, or disturbs anybody, Police will break it up. It's already ingrained in the culture, that we don't gather in public places to disturb other people, only yobs and Asis do that.