People are sharing the smells that immediately make them think of Britain – 21 scents that reek of Blighty

Britain is celebrated at home and abroad for a producing a wide variety of good things, such as Shakespeare, the Spinning Jenny and Adele.

But how about smells? Do we ever reflect on the wonderful whiffs that make up our everyday lives?

Well, not really, until user DishyUmbrella took to the AskUK subreddit with this post…

‘What are the iconic smells of the UK?’

‘Inspired by a recent episode of Jetlag: The Game, where a task involved the 100 Aromatic Landscapes of Japan. This includes things like jasmine fields, sake breweries and matcha brewing as some of the iconic scents of Japan.

‘If the UK were to create a list of ‘scent tourism’ spots across the UK, what do you think would make the list?

A fabulous question, and one that inspired lots of other people to chip in with the olfactory experiences that are innately associated with British life, for better or worse, like these…

1.

‘Bonfire night. Smoke and fried onions!’
–PengyLi

2.

‘The smell of a chippy.’
–rbskaa

3.

‘Lynx Africa wafting out of a secondary school changing room.’
–Tall_Station1588

4.

‘The smell of spilt malty beer on damp beer mats and thick lacquered wood tables at the country pub.’
–bdend2017

5.

‘Stale urine in a car park stairwell.’
–RPG_Rob

6.

‘Freshly mown grass, the petrichor after it rains in the town, the smell of wooden school furniture.’
–tyrannosaurus-tail

7.

‘The smell outside of a curry house. I haven’t smelt that anywhere else on the continent.’
–patrickb1920

8.

‘Bacon sandwiches.’
–Tomkneale1243

9.

‘Niche childhood smell: The smell of rich, brewing malts outside Strangeways prison in Manchester, from the Boddingtons beer factory.’
–811545b2-4ff7-4041

10.

‘The London Underground has it’s own special ‘earthy’ scent.’
–simply_clare

11.

‘Gregg’s sausage rolls.’
–holb93