In Britain, come summertime, most people would prefer to be sat at a trestle table in the beer garden of a pub rather than being awkwardly perched on some pavement outside some cafe. Cafe culture is not for us - unless it comes with a greasy spoon... The streets are too noisy, the council charges cafes for those chairs and the weather does not help.

I haven't really thought about it before, however, I don't think that the U.S. has a lot of what we Brits would recognise as a quality beer garden, whether it be attached to a pub/cafe/restaurant/mall matters not, neither does the location (in the UK the best beer gardens are in villages).

Is this true or am I imagining things?

Beyond reasons of urban sprawl and car culture, are there any reasons for this, e.g. prohibition back in the 20's?