British people...Is Cider a common drink in ....err....England/Great Britan?

I was out this past weekend and decided to have cider for the night. I chose to do it b/c I actually had never been to any bars that carried it on tap (just in bottles) so I went for it at the first bar and it just so happened that all the bars we went to had it. So we ended up at an 'irish' one, where they had little placard things explaining how 'Irish car bombs' and 'black and tans' are not drinks you should order in Ireland...or that Irish ppl dont drink them or something. which I get that the names are not exactly PC. But then this guy next to me asked what I was drinking and I told him cider. he told me that many bars in [Great Britan] I guess he meant dont even serve cider b/c they think it makes ppl beligerant drunks b/c it has more alcohol in it......I thought it was like 5%, that's like a budweiser here, and you don't see bars not serving budweiser...... He was NOT british and I didn't ask whether he had been there ever,......so I was wondering... Thanks!