I've been a diabetic for over 30 years - so food times are sort of on an internal body clock - that saying my son and I eat together at 7.30 - 8pm ;)

i commute to work so 7 to 8 is the time we mostly eat dinner though we've had a bit later than that as well.

When I feel like it

As I get home from work before 5pm, I've often dished up 'tea' by 6pm. That way I can sit down with a glass of fizz and RELAX for the rest of the evening. I regard 'dinner' as something I go out in the evening for with friends or a term posh people use.

7 to 8 would be ideal, and my husband and son would appreciate it too. But I think the reason it's usually 9 or later is because after I've eaten dinner (and had a couple of glasses of wine while I'm cooking), I'm ready for bed! If it was any earlier I'd be in bed by 9 and waste half the evening!

Depends on the say of week. In workdays, I come home at 8 p.m., so the dinner starts around 9. When I'm not working, we tend to dinner around 7. Yet my husband may want to chew something around midnight if we have a dinner earlier =)

Hey Tom, last time I looked Mediterranean countries were still in the Northern hemisphere!

"Mediterranean countries eat their dinner far later than those in the Northern hemisphere"

Ah good catch - missed out 'European' in there! All sorted now - I promise my geography is better than this :)

Alexandra Elliott As an Aussie living in the UK I find the tea/dinner thing quite confusing so I know to ask for clarity when making arrangements ... we just have breakfast, lunch and dinner ...oh and there's brunch! I know it has something to do with north/south or class, is that right? I found this excerpt interesting although still don't remember the distinction day to day ...

"Tea, Dinner or Supper?

Vocabulary and Social Class

Of the many indicators of social class in Britain one of the most common is the choice of meals and names for these meals.

It is a source of great confusion for foreign visitors.

Here is the answer as written by Kate Fox in her exquisite book "Watching the English" published by Hodder 2004.

What do you call the evening meal?

And what time do you eat it?

• If you call it "tea", and eat it at around half past six, you are almost certainly working class or of working class origin. (If you have a tendency to personalize the meal, calling it "my tea", "our/us tea" and "your tea" - as in "I must be going home for my tea", "what's for us tea, love?" or "Come back to mine for your tea" - you are probably northern working class.)
• If you call the evening meal "dinner", and eat it at around seven o'clock, you are probably lower-middle or middle-middle class.
• If you normally only use the term "dinner" for rather more formal evening meals, and call your informal, family evening meal "supper" (pronounced "suppah"), you are probably upper-middle or upper class. The timing of these meals tends to be more flexible, but a family "supper" is generally eaten at around half past seven, while a "dinner" would usually be later, from half past eight onwards.

Foreign visitors, and indeed English natives uncertain about the background of their hosts, may find it helpful to check the timing of the meal."

So it looks like I'm not alone ... and that's just England, not the whole of the UK or Britain! Even after all these years I continue to find it amazing that for such a small country there is such a terrifically rich diversity in language and habits.

Being an avid home gardener, wood worker, single home owner, and having to work on things around the house, it depends on what I'm doing and when I stop working on something; so for me, the time I eat supper can range from 7:00pm until 10pm; but when I plan a visit my dad, he has dinner at 5:00pm, so I have to be by him at about that time or he might put away the leftovers before I get there.

6 pm so i can watch the evening news killing two birds with one stone. one should allow 4 hours before going to bed on a full stomach. It is hard on your heart dijesting food. (blood flow)

We are up early and don't really bother too much with lunch, so our dinner time is usually early. Between5-6pm!

Between 5-6 pm, too. The children have to go to bed early.

5-6pm for us. Kids would be too hungry if we left it any later. Hubby gets home at half 5 so as soon as he gets in the door we have a family meal.

I eat a main meal for lunch and just have toast or a salad/veg at night - too busy to cook at night.

Weekdays between 5 and 6. Saturday whenever we feel like eating. Sunday around three.