A pub (pron.:
/pʌb/),
formally public house (a house "open to the public", as opposed
to a private house), is a
drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of
Britain,[1][2]
Ireland,[3]
Australia,[4]
Newfoundland,
Canada
and
New Zealand. In many places, especially in villages, a pub can be
the focal point of the community. The writings of
Samuel Pepys describe the pub as the heart of England.
The history of pubs can be traced back to Roman
taverns,[5]
through the
Anglo-Saxon alehouse to the development of the modern
tied house system in the 19th century.
Historically, pubs have been socially and culturally distinct from
cafés, bars,
bierkellers and
brewpubs. Most pubs offer a range of beers, wines,
spirits, and soft drinks. Many pubs are controlled by breweries, so
cask
ale or
keg beer may be a better value than wines and spirits. Traditionally
the windows of town pubs were of smoked or frosted glass to obscure the
clientele from the street but in the 1990s and after in the UK and other
countries there has been a move towards clear glass, in keeping with
brighter interior décors.
The owner, tenant or manager (licensee) of a pub is properly known as
the "pub landlord". The term
publican (in historical Roman usage a public contractor or
tax farmer) has come into use since Victorian times to designate the
pub landlord. Known as "locals" to regulars, pubs are typically chosen
for their proximity to work, the availability of a particular beer, as a
place to smoke (or
avoid it), hosting a
darts
team, having a
pool table, or appealing to friends.
Until the 1970s most of the larger pubs also featured an off-sales
counter or attached shop for the sales of beers, wines and spirits for
home consumption. In the 1970s the newly built supermarkets and high
street
chain stores or
off-licences undercut the pub prices to such a degree that within
ten years all but a handful of pubs had closed their off-sale counters.
History
The inhabitants of Great Britain have been drinking ale since the
Bronze Age, but it was with the arrival of the
Romans and the establishment of the
Roman road network that the first inns called
tabernae,[5]
in which the traveller could obtain refreshment, began to appear. After
the departure of Roman authority and the fall of the Romano-British
kingdoms, the
Anglo-Saxons established alehouses that grew out of domestic
dwellings. The Anglo-Saxon alewife would put a green bush up on a pole
to let people know her brew was ready.[6]
These alehouses formed meeting houses for the villagers to meet and
gossip and arrange mutual help within their communities. Here lie the
beginnings of the modern pub. They became so commonplace that in 965
King Edgar decreed that there should be no more than one alehouse
per village.
A traveller in the early
Middle Ages could obtain overnight accommodation in monasteries, but
later a demand for hostelries grew with the popularity of
pilgrimages and travel. The Hostellers of London were granted
guild
status in 1446 and in 1514 the guild became the
Worshipful Company of Innholders.[7]
Inns
Inns are buildings where travellers can seek
lodging
and, usually, food and drink. They are typically located in the country
or along a highway. In Europe, they possibly first sprang up when the
Romans built a system of
roads two
millennia ago.[citation
needed] Some inns in Europe are several
centuries
old. In addition to providing for the needs of travellers, inns
traditionally acted as community gathering places.
In Europe, it is the provision of accommodation,[8]
if anything, that now distinguishes inns from
taverns,
alehouses and
pubs. The latter tend to provide alcohol (and, in the UK, soft
drinks and often food), but less commonly accommodation. Inns tend to be
older and grander establishments: historically they provided not only
food and lodging, but also
stabling
and fodder
for the traveller's horse(s) and on some roads fresh horses for the
mail coach. Famous London inns include
The George, Southwark and
The
Tabard. There is however no longer a formal distinction between an
inn and other kinds of establishment. Many pubs use "Inn" in their name,
either because they are long established former
coaching inns, or to summon up a particular kind of image, or in
many cases simply as a
pun on the
word "in", as in "The Welcome Inn", the name of many pubs in Scotland.
The original services of an inn are now also available at other
establishments, such as hotels, lodges, and
motels,
which focus more on lodging customers than on other services, although
they usually also provide meals; pubs, which are primarily
alcohol-serving establishments; and restaurants and taverns, which serve
food and drink. In North America, the lodging aspect of the word "inn"
lives on in hotel brand names like
Holiday Inn, and in some state laws that refer to lodging operators
as innkeepers.
The
Inns of Court and
Inns of Chancery in London started as ordinary inns where
barristers met to do business, but became institutions of the
legal profession in
England and Wales.
Beer Houses and the 1830 Beer Act
Traditional English
ale was made
solely from fermented
malt. The
practice of adding
hops to
produce beer was introduced from the Netherlands in the early 15th
century. Alehouses would each brew their own distinctive ale, but
independent breweries began to appear in the late 17th century. By the
end of the century almost all beer was brewed by commercial breweries.
The 18th century saw a huge growth in the number of drinking
establishments, primarily due to the introduction of
gin. Gin was
brought to England by the Dutch after the
Glorious Revolution of 1688 and became very popular after the
government created a market for grain that was unfit to be used in
brewing by allowing unlicensed gin production, whilst imposing a heavy
duty on all imported spirits. As thousands of gin-shops sprang up
all over England, brewers fought back by increasing the number of
alehouses. By 1740 the production of gin had increased to six times that
of beer and because of its cheapness it became popular with the poor,
leading to the so-called
Gin
Craze. Over half of the 15,000 drinking establishments in London
were gin shops.
The drunkenness and lawlessness created by gin was seen to lead to
ruination and degradation of the working classes. The distinction[clarification
needed] was illustrated by
William Hogarth in his engravings
Beer Street and Gin Lane.[9]
The
Gin Act 1736 imposed high taxes on retailers and led to riots in the
streets. The prohibitive duty was gradually reduced and finally
abolished in 1742. The
Gin Act 1751 however was more successful. It forced distillers to
sell only to licensed retailers and brought gin shops under the
jurisdiction of local magistrates.
By the early 19th century, encouraged by lower duties on gin, the gin
houses or "Gin Palaces" had spread from London to most cities and towns
in Britain, with most of the new establishments illegal and unlicensed.
These bawdy, loud and unruly drinking dens so often described by
Charles Dickens in his
Sketches by Boz (published 1835–6) increasingly came to be held
as unbridled cesspits of immorality or crime and the source of much
ill-health and alcoholism among the working classes.[10]
Under a banner of "reducing public drunkenness" the Beer Act of 1830
introduced a new lower tier of premises permitted to sell alcohol, the
Beer Houses. At the time beer was viewed as harmless, nutritious
and even healthy. Young children were often given what was described as
small beer, which was brewed to have a low alcohol content, as the
local water was often unsafe. Even the evangelical church and
temperance movements of the day viewed the drinking of beer very
much as a secondary evil and a normal accompaniment to a meal. The
freely available beer was thus intended to wean the drinkers off the
evils of gin, or so the thinking went.[11]
Under the 1830 Act any householder who paid rates could apply, with a
one-off payment of two
guineas (roughly equal in value to £159 today), to sell beer or
cider in
his home (usually the front parlour) and even to brew his own on his
premises. The permission did not extend to the sale of spirits and
fortified wines, and any beer house discovered selling those items was
closed down and the owner heavily fined. Beer houses were not permitted
to open on Sundays. The beer was usually served in jugs or dispensed
directly from tapped wooden barrels on a table in the corner of the
room. Often profits were so high the owners were able to buy the house
next door to live in, turning every room in their former home into bars
and lounges for customers.
In the first year, 400 beer houses opened and within eight years
there were 46,000[12]
across the country, far outnumbering the combined total of
long-established taverns, pubs, inns and hotels. Because it was so easy
to obtain permission and the profits could be huge compared to the low
cost of gaining permission, the number of beer houses was continuing to
rise and in some towns nearly every other house in a street could be a
beer house. Finally in 1869 the growth had to be checked by magisterial
control and new licensing laws were introduced. Only then was it made
harder to get a licence, and the licensing laws which operate today were
formulated.
Although the new licensing laws prevented new beer houses from being
created, those already in existence were allowed to continue and many
did not close until nearly the end of the 19th century. A very small
number remained into the 21st century.[13]
The vast majority of the beer houses applied for the new licences and
became full pubs. These usually small establishments can still be
identified in many towns, seemingly oddly located in the middle of
otherwise terraced housing part way up a street, unlike purpose-built
pubs that are usually found on corners or road junctions. Many of
today's respected real ale micro-brewers in the UK started as home based
Beer House brewers under the 1830 Act.
The beer houses also tended to avoid the traditional pub names like
The Crown, The Red Lion, The Royal Oak etc. and, if
they did not simply name their place Smith's Beer House, they
would apply topical pub names in an effort to reflect the mood of the
times.
Licensing laws
The interior of a typical English pub
From the mid-19th century on the opening hours of licensed premises
in the UK were restricted. However licensing was gradually liberalised
after the 1960s, until contested licensing applications became very
rare, and the remaining administrative function was transferred to Local
Authorities in 2005.
The Wine and Beerhouse Act 1869 reintroduced the stricter controls of
the previous century. The sale of beers, wines or spirits required a
licence for the premises from the local
magistrates. Further provisions regulated gaming, drunkenness,
prostitution and undesirable conduct on licensed premises, enforceable
by prosecution or more effectively by the landlord under threat of
forfeiting his licence. Licences were only granted, transferred or
renewed at special Licensing Sessions courts, and were limited to
respectable individuals. Often these were ex-servicemen or ex-policemen;
retiring to run a pub was popular amongst military officers at the end
of their service. Licence conditions varied widely, according to local
practice. They would specify permitted hours, which might require Sunday
closing, or conversely permit all-night opening near a market. Typically
they might require opening throughout the permitted hours, and the
provision of food or lavatories. Once obtained, licences were jealously
protected by the licensees (who were expected to be generally present,
not an absentee owner or company), and even "Occasional Licences" to
serve drinks at temporary premises such as fêtes would usually be
granted only to existing licensees. Objections might be made by the
police, rival landlords or anyone else on the grounds of infractions
such as serving drunks, disorderly or dirty premises, or ignoring
permitted hours.
Detailed licensing records were kept, giving the Public House, its
address, owner, licensee and misdemeanours of the licensees, often going
back for hundreds of years[citation
needed]. Many of these records survive and can be
viewed, for example, at the
London Metropolitan Archives centre.
The restrictions were tightened by the
Defence of the Realm Act[14]
of August 1914, which, along with the introduction of
rationing and the censorship of the press for wartime purposes,
restricted pubs' opening hours to 12 noon–2:30 pm and 6:30 pm–9:30 pm.
Opening for the full licensed hours was compulsory, and closing time was
equally firmly enforced by the police; a landlord might lose his licence
for infractions. There was a special case established under the
State Management Scheme[15]
where the brewery and licensed premises were bought and run by the state
until 1973, most notably in
Carlisle. During the 20th century elsewhere, both the licensing laws
and enforcement were progressively relaxed, and there were differences
between parishes; in the 1960s, at closing time in
Kensington at 10:30 pm, drinkers would rush over the parish boundary
to be in good time for "Last Orders" in
Knightsbridge before 11 pm, a practice observed in many pubs
adjoining licensing area boundaries. Some Scottish and Welsh parishes
remained officially "dry" on Sundays (although often this merely
required knocking at the back door of the pub). These restricted opening
hours led to the tradition of
lock-ins.
However, closing times were increasingly disregarded in the country
pubs. In England and Wales by 2000 pubs could legally open from 11 am
(12 noon on Sundays) through to 11 pm (10:30 pm on Sundays). That year
was also the first to allow continuous opening for 36 hours from 11 am
on New Year's Eve to 11 pm on New Year's Day. In addition, many cities
had by-laws to allow some pubs to extend opening hours to midnight or
1 am, whilst
nightclubs had long been granted late licences to serve alcohol into
the morning. Pubs near London's
Smithfield market,
Billingsgate
fish market and
Covent Garden fruit and flower market could stay open 24 hours a day
since
Victorian times to provide a service to the shift working employees
of the markets.
Scotland's and
Northern Ireland's licensing laws have long been more flexible,
allowing local authorities to set pub opening and closing times. In
Scotland, this stemmed out of[clarification
needed] a late repeal of the wartime licensing
laws, which stayed in force until 1976.
The
Licensing Act 2003,[16]
which came into force on 24 November 2005, consolidated the many laws
into a single Act. This allowed pubs in England and Wales to apply to
the local authority for the opening hours of their choice. It was argued
that this would end the concentration of violence around 11.30 pm, when
people had to leave the pub, making policing easier. In practice,
alcohol-related hospital admissions rose following the change in the
law, with alcohol involved in 207,800 admissions in 2006/7.[17]
Critics claimed that these laws would lead to "24-hour drinking". By the
time the law came into effect, 60,326 establishments had applied for
longer hours and 1,121 had applied for a licence to sell alcohol 24
hours a day. However nine months later many pubs had not changed their
hours, although some stayed open longer at the weekend, but rarely
beyond 1:00 am.
Indoor smoking ban
In March 2006, a law was introduced to
forbid smoking in all enclosed public places in Scotland. Wales
followed suit in April 2007, with England introducing the ban in July
2007.[18]
Pub landlords had raised concerns prior to the implementation of the law
that a smoking ban would have a negative impact on sales.[19]
After two years, the impact of the ban was mixed; some pubs suffered
declining sales, while others developed their food sales.[20]
The
Wetherspoons pub chain reported in June 2009 that profits were at
the top end of expectations;[21]
however, Scottish & Newcastle's takeover by Carlsberg and Heineken was
reported in January 2008 as partly the result of its weakness following
falling sales due to the ban.[22]
Lock-in
A "lock-in" is when a pub owner lets drinkers stay in the pub after
the legal closing time: the theory is that once the doors are locked, it
becomes a private party rather than a pub. Patrons may put money behind
the bar before official closing time, and redeem their drinks during the
lock-in so no drinks are technically sold after closing time. The origin
of the lock-in in Britain was a reaction to changes in the licensing
laws in England and Wales in 1915, which curtailed opening hours to stop
factory workers from turning up drunk and harming the war effort. Since
1915 the UK licensing laws had changed very little, with comparatively
early closing times. The tradition of the lock-in therefore remained.
Since the
Licensing Act 2003 premises in England and Wales may apply to extend
their opening hours beyond 11 pm, allowing round-the-clock drinking and
removing much of the need for lock-ins.[23]
Since the
smoking ban, some establishments have operated a lock-in during
which the remaining patrons can illicitly smoke without repercussions.[24]
Pub architecture
Saloon or lounge
The Gate, a typical 20th century "estate pub" on the
Seacroft Estate in
Leeds
By the end of the 18th century a new room in the pub was established:
the saloon. Beer establishments had always provided entertainment of
some sort—singing, gaming or sport. Balls Pond Road in Islington was
named after an establishment run by a Mr Ball that had a
duck pond
at the rear, where drinkers could, for a fee, go out and take a potshot
at the ducks. More common, however, was a card room or a
billiard room. The saloon was a room where for an admission fee or a
higher price of drinks, singing, dancing, drama or comedy was performed
and drinks would be served at the table. From this came the popular
music hall form of entertainment—a show consisting of a variety of
acts. A most famous London saloon was the Grecian Saloon in The Eagle,
City
Road, which is still famous because of a
nursery rhyme: "Up and down the City Road / In and out The Eagle /
That's the way the money goes /
Pop goes the weasel."[25]
This meant that the customer had spent all his money at The Eagle, and
needed to
pawn his "weasel" to get some more.[25]
The meaning of the "weasel" is unclear but the two most likely
definitions are: a flat iron used for finishing clothing; or
rhyming slang for a coat (weasel and stoat).[26]
A few pubs have stage performances such as serious drama, stand-up
comedy, musical bands,
cabaret
or
striptease; however
juke boxes,
karaoke
and other forms of pre-recorded music have otherwise replaced the
musical tradition of a piano or guitar and singing.
Public bar
By the 20th century, the saloon, or lounge bar, had become a
middle-class room—carpets on the floor,
cushions on the seats, and a penny or two on the prices, while the
public bar, or tap room, remained working class with bare boards,
sometimes with sawdust to absorb the spitting and spillages, hard bench
seats, and cheap beer.
Later, the public bars gradually improved until sometimes almost the
only difference was in the prices, so that customers could choose
between economy and exclusivity (or youth and age, or a
jukebox
or
dartboard). With the blurring of class divisions in the 1960s and
1970s, the distinction between the saloon and the public bar was often
seen as archaic, and was frequently abolished, usually by the removal of
the dividing wall or partition. While the names of saloon and public bar
may still be seen on the doors of pubs, the prices (and often the
standard of furnishings and decoration) are the same throughout the
premises,[27]
and many pubs now comprise one large room. However the modern importance
of dining in pubs encourages some establishments to maintain distinct
rooms or areas. But in a few pubs there are still rooms or seats that,
by custom, "belong" to particular customers.
A few, mainly city centre, pubs, retain a public bar mainly for
labourers in working clothes and dirty boots. They are now very much in
a minority, but some landlords prefer to separate the manual workers
from the better-dressed white collar workers or diners in the lounge or
restaurant.[citation
needed]
Snug
The "snug", also sometimes called the smoke room, was
typically a small, very private room with access to the bar that had a
frosted glass external window, set above head height. A higher price was
paid for beer in the snug and nobody could look in and see the drinkers.
It was not only the well off visitors who would use these rooms; the
snug was for patrons who preferred not to be seen in the public bar.
Ladies would often enjoy a private drink in the snug in a time when it
was frowned upon for women to be in a pub. The local police officer
might nip in for a quiet pint, the parish priest for his evening whisky,
and lovers for a rendezvous.
Counter
It was the pub that first introduced the concept of the bar counter
being used to serve the beer. Until that time beer establishments used
to bring the beer out to the table or benches.[28]
A bar might be provided for the manager to do his paperwork while
keeping an eye on his customers, but the casks of ale were kept in a
separate taproom. When the first pubs were built, the main room was the
public room with a large serving bar copied from the gin houses, the
idea being to serve the maximum number of people in the shortest
possible time. It became known as the public bar. The other, more
private, rooms had no serving bar—they had the beer brought to them from
the public bar. There are a number of pubs in the Midlands or the North
which still retain this set up but these days the beer is fetched by the
customer from the taproom or public bar. One of these is The Vine, known
locally as The Bull and Bladder, in
Brierley Hill near Birmingham. In the
Manchester district the public bar was known as the "vault", other
rooms being the lounge and snug as usual elsewhere. By the early 1970s
there was a tendency to change to one large drinking room and breweries
were eager to invest in interior design and theming.[29]
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the British engineer and railway builder,
introduced the idea of a circular bar into the
Swindon station pub in order that customers were served quickly and
did not delay his trains. These island bars became popular as they also
allowed staff to serve customers in several different rooms surrounding
the bar.[30][31]
Beer engine
Main article:
Beer engineA "beer engine" is a device for
pumping
beer, originally manually operated and typically used to dispense beer
from a
cask or container in a pub's basement or cellar.
The first beer pump known in England is believed to have been
invented by John Lofting (b. Netherlands 1659-d. Great Marlow
Buckinghamshire 1742) an inventor, manufacturer and merchant of London.
The London Gazette of 17 March 1691 published a patent in favour of
John Lofting for a fire engine, but remarked upon and recommended
another invention of his, for a beer pump:
"Whereas their Majesties have been Graciously Pleased to grant
Letters patent to John Lofting of London Merchant for a New Invented
Engine for Extinguishing Fires which said Engine have found every great
encouragement. The said Patentee hath also projected a Very Useful
Engine for starting of beer and other liquors which will deliver from 20
to 30 barrels an hour which are completely fixed with Brass Joints and
Screws at Reasonable Rates. Any Person that hath occasion for the said
Engines may apply themselves to the Patentee at his house near St Thomas
Apostle London or to Mr. Nicholas Wall at the Workshoppe near Saddlers
Wells at Islington or to Mr. William Tillcar, Turner, his agent at his
house in Woodtree next door to the Sun Tavern London."
"Their Majesties" referred to were William and Mary, who had recently
arrived from the Netherlands and had been appointed joint monarchs.
A further engine was invented in the late eighteenth century by the
locksmith and
hydraulic engineer
Joseph Bramah(1748-1814).
Strictly the term refers to the pump itself, which is normally
manually operated, though electrically powered and gas powered pumps are
occasionally used.[32]
When manually powered, the term "handpump" is often used to refer to
both the pump and the associated handle.
Pub companies
Main articles:
Tied house and
Pub chainAfter the development of the large London
Porter breweries in the 18th century, the trend grew for pubs to
become
tied houses which could only sell beer from one brewery (a pub not
tied in this way was called a Free house). The usual arrangement for a
tied house was that the pub was owned by the brewery but rented out to a
private individual (landlord) who ran it as a separate business (even
though contracted to buy the beer from the brewery). Another very common
arrangement was (and is) for the landlord to own the premises (whether
freehold or
leasehold) independently of the brewer, but then to take a mortgage
loan from a brewery, either to finance the purchase of the pub
initially, or to refurbish it, and be required as a term of the loan to
observe the solus tie.
A growing trend in the late 20th century was for breweries to run
their pubs directly, using managers rather than tenants. Most such
breweries, such as the
regional brewery
Shepherd Neame in Kent and
Young's and
Fuller's in London, control hundreds of pubs in a particular region
of the UK, while a few, such as
Greene King, are spread nationally. The
landlord of a tied pub may be an employee of the brewery—in which
case he/she would be a manager of a managed house, or a self-employed
tenant who has entered into a lease agreement with a brewery, a
condition of which is the legal obligation (trade tie) only to purchase
that brewery's beer. This tied agreement provides tenants with trade
premises at a below market rent providing people with a low-cost entry
into self-employment. The beer selection is mainly limited to beers
brewed by that particular
company. A
Supply of Beer law, passed in 1989, was aimed at getting tied houses
to offer at least one alternative beer, known as a
guest beer, from another brewery. This law has now been repealed but
while in force it dramatically altered the industry. Some pubs still
offer a regularly changing selection of guest beers.
The period since the 1980s saw many breweries absorbed by, or
becoming by take-overs larger companies in the food, hotel or property
sectors. The low returns of a pub-owning business led to many breweries
selling their pub estates, especially those in cities, often to a new
generation of small companies, many of which have now grown considerably
and have a national presence. Other
pub
chains, such as
All Bar One and
Slug and Lettuce offer youth-orientated atmospheres, often in
premises larger than traditional pubs.
Organisations such as
Wetherspoons,
Punch Taverns and O'Neill's were formed in the UK since changes in
legislation in the 1980s necessitated the break-up of many larger tied
estates. A PubCo is a company involved in the retailing but not the
manufacture of beverages, while a
Pub
chain may be run either by a PubCo or by a brewery.
Pubs within a chain will usually have items in common, such as
fittings, promotions, ambience and range of food and drink on offer. A
pub chain will position itself in the marketplace for a target audience.
One company may run several pub chains aimed at different segments of
the market. Pubs for use in a chain are bought and sold in large units,
often from regional breweries which are then closed down. Newly acquired
pubs are often renamed by the new owners, and many people resent the
loss of
traditional names, especially if their favourite regional beer
disappears at the same time.
Brewery tap
A brewery tap is the nearest outlet for a brewery's beers. This is
usually a room or bar in the brewery itself, though the name may be
applied to the nearest pub. The term is not applied to a
brewpub which brews and sells its beer on the same premises.
Particular
kinds of pubs
Country pubs
A family run pub in rural Ireland
A "country pub" by tradition is a rural public house. However, the
distinctive culture surrounding country pubs, that of functioning as a
social centre for a village and rural community, has been changing over
the last thirty or so years. In the past, many rural pubs provided
opportunities for country folk to meet and exchange (often local) news,
while others—especially those away from village centres—existed for the
general purpose, before the advent of motor transport, of serving
travellers as coaching inns.[33]
In more recent years, however, many country pubs have either closed
down, or have been converted to establishments intent on providing
seating facilities for the consumption of food, rather than a venue for
members of the local community meeting and convivially drinking.[34]
Theme pubs
Pubs that cater for a niche clientele, such as sports fans or people
of certain nationalities are known as theme pubs. Examples of
theme pubs include sports bars,
rock pubs,
biker pubs, Goth pubs, strip pubs, gay bars,
karaoke
bars and Irish pubs (see below).
Signs
In 1393
King Richard II compelled landlords to erect
signs outside their premises. The legislation stated "Whosoever
shall brew ale in the town with intention of selling it must hang out a
sign, otherwise he shall forfeit his ale." This was in order to make
alehouses easily visible to passing inspectors,
borough
ale tasters, who would decide the quality of the ale they provided.
William Shakespeare's father,
John Shakespeare, was one such inspector.
Another important factor was that during the
Middle Ages a large proportion of the population would have been
illiterate and so pictures on a sign were more useful than words as
a means of identifying a public house. For this reason there was often
no reason to write the establishment's name on the sign and inns opened
without a formal written name, the name being derived later from the
illustration on the pub's sign.
The earliest signs were often not painted but consisted, for example,
of
paraphernalia connected with the brewing process such as bunches of
hops or brewing implements, which were suspended above the door of the
pub. In some cases local nicknames, farming terms and puns were also
used. Local events were also often commemorated in pub signs. Simple
natural or religious symbols such as 'The Sun', 'The Star' and 'The
Cross' were also incorporated into pub signs, sometimes being adapted to
incorporate elements of the
heraldry (e.g. the coat of arms) of the local lords who owned the
lands upon which the pub stood. Some pubs also have
Latin
inscriptions.
Other subjects that lent themselves to visual depiction included the
name of battles (e.g.
Trafalgar), explorers, local notables, discoveries, sporting heroes
and members of the
royal family. Some pub signs are in the form of a pictorial pun or
rebus.
For example, a pub in
Crowborough, East Sussex called The Crow and Gate has an
image of a crow with gates as wings.
A British Pathe News film of 1956 shows artist
Michael Farrar-Bell at work producing inn signs.[35]
Most British pubs still have decorated signs hanging over their
doors, and these retain their original function of enabling the
identification of the pub. Today's pub signs almost always bear the name
of the pub, both in words and in pictorial representation. The more
remote country pubs often have stand-alone signs directing potential
customers to their door.
Names
Pub names are used to identify and differentiate each pub. Modern
names are sometimes a marketing ploy or attempt to create "brand
awareness", frequently using a comic theme thought to be memorable,
Slug and Lettuce for a
pub
chain being an example. Interesting origins are not confined to old
or traditional names, however. Names and their origins can be broken up
into a relatively small number of categories.
As many pubs are centuries old, many of their early customers were
unable to read, and pictorial signs could be readily recognised when
lettering and words could not be read.[36]
Pubs often have traditional names. A common name is the "Marquis of
Granby". These pubs were named after
John Manners, Marquess of Granby, who was the son of
John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland and a general in the 18th century
British Army. He showed a great concern for the welfare of his men,
and on their retirement, provided funds for many of them to establish
taverns, which were subsequently named after him. All pubs granted their
license in 1780 were called the Royal George, after
King George III, and the twentieth anniversary of his coronation.
Many names for pubs that appear nonsensical may have come from
corruptions of old slogans or phrases, such as "The Bag o'Nails"
(Bacchanals), "The Goat and Compasses" (God Encompasseth Us),[37]
"The Cat and the Fiddle" (Caton Fidèle) and "The Bull and Bush", which
purportedly celebrates the victory of
Henry VIII at "Boulogne Bouche" or
Boulogne-sur-Mer Harbour.[38][39]
Entertainment
Traditional games are played in pubs, ranging from the well-known
darts,[40]
skittles,[41]
dominoes,[42]
cards and
bar billiards,[43]
to the more obscure
Aunt Sally,[44]
Nine Men's Morris[45]
and
ringing the bull.[46]
In the UK betting is legally limited to certain games such as
cribbage or dominoes, played for small stakes. In recent decades the
game of
pool[47]
(both the British and American versions) has increased in popularity as
well as other table based games such as
snooker[48]
or
Table Football also becoming common.
Increasingly, more modern games such as video games and
slot machines are provided. Many pubs also hold special events, from
tournaments of the aforementioned games to
karaoke
nights to
pub
quizzes. Some play pop music and hip-hop (dance bar), or show
football and
rugby union on big screen televisions (sports bar).
Shove ha'penny[49]
and
Bat and trap[50]
were also popular in pubs south of London.
Many pubs in the UK also have football teams composed of regular
customers. Many of these teams are in leagues that play matches on
Sundays, hence the term "Sunday
League Football".
Bowling
is also found in association with pubs in some parts of the country and
the local team will play matches against teams invited from elsewhere on
the pub's bowling green.
Pubs may be venues for
pub
songs and live music. During the 1970s pubs provided an outlet for a
number of bands, such as
Kilburn and the High Roads,
Dr. Feelgood and
The Kursaal Flyers, who formed a musical genre called
Pub rock that was a precursor to
Punk music.
Food
Pub grub – a
pie,
along with a
pint
The Eagle, the first pub to which the term
gastropub was applied
Traditionally pubs in England were drinking establishments and little
emphasis was placed on the serving of food, other than "bar
snacks", such as
pork scratchings,[51]
and
pickled eggs, along with salted
crisps and peanuts which helped to increase beer sales. If a pub
served meals they were usually basic cold dishes such as a
ploughman's lunch.[52]
In
South East England (especially London) it was common until recent
times for vendors selling
cockles,
whelks,
mussels and other
shellfish, to sell to customers during the evening and at closing
time. Many mobile shellfish stalls would set up near pubs, a practice
that continues in
London's East End. Otherwise, pickled cockles and mussels may be
offered by the pub in jars or packets
In the 1950s some British pubs would offer "a pie and a pint", with
hot individual steak and ale pies made easily on the premises by the
landlord's wife. In the 1960s and 1970s this developed into the
then-fashionable "chicken in a basket", a portion of roast chicken with
chips, served on a napkin, in a wicker basket. Quality dropped but
variety increased with the introduction of
microwave ovens and
freezer food. "Pub grub" expanded to include British food items such
as
steak and ale pie,
shepherd's pie,
fish and chips,
bangers and mash,
Sunday roast,
ploughman's lunch, and
pasties.
In addition, dishes such as
burgers,
lasagne
and
chilli con carne are often served.[53][54]
Some pubs offer elaborate hot and cold snacks free to customers on
Sunday lunchtimes to prevent them getting hungry and leaving for their
lunch at home.
Since the 1990s food has become more important as part of a pub's
trade, and today most pubs serve lunches and dinners at the table in
addition to (or instead of) snacks consumed at the bar. They may have a
separate dining room. Some pubs serve meals to a higher standard, to
match good restaurant standards; these are sometimes termed gastropubs.
Gastropub
A
gastropub concentrates on quality food. The name is a portmanteau of
pub and
gastronomy and was coined in 1991 when David Eyre and Mike Belben
took over The Eagle pub in
Clerkenwell, London.[55]
The concept of a restaurant in a pub reinvigorated both pub culture and
British dining,[56]
though has occasionally attracted criticism for potentially removing the
character of traditional pubs.[57]
In 2011 The Good Food Guide suggested that the term had become
an irrelevance.[58]
Listed
CAMRA maintains a "National Inventory" of historical notability and
of architecturally and decoratively notable pubs.[59]
The
National Trust owns thirty-six public houses of historic interest
including the
George Inn,
Southwark, London and
The Crown Liquor Saloon,
Belfast,
Northern Ireland.[60][61]
Records
- Highest and Remotest
The highest pub in the United Kingdom is
The Tan Hill Inn, Yorkshire, at 1,732 feet (528 m) above sea level.
The remotest pub on the British mainland is The Old Forge in the village
of
Inverie,
Lochaber, Scotland. There is no road access and it may only be
reached by an 18-mile (29 km) walk over mountains, or a 7-mile (11 km)
sea crossing.[62]
Likewise,
The Berney Arms in Norfolk has no road access. It may be reached by
foot or by boat, and also by train as it is served by the nearby
Berney Arms railway station, which likewise has no road access and
serves no other settlement.[63]
- Smallest
Contenders for the smallest public house in the UK include:[61]
The list includes a small number of
parlour pubs, one of which is the
Sun Inn,
in Herefordshire.
- Largest
The largest pub in the UK is
The Moon Under Water,
Manchester; as are many
Wetherspoons pubs it is in a converted
cinema.
- Oldest
'
The
Crooked House',
Himley, is known for the extreme lean of the building,
caused by subsidence produced by mining
A number of pubs claim to be the oldest surviving establishment in
the United Kingdom, although in several cases original buildings have
been demolished and replaced on the same site. Others are ancient
buildings that saw uses other than as a pub during their history.
Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in
St
Albans, Hertfordshire, holds the
Guinness World Record for the oldest pub in England, as it is an
11th century structure on an 8th century site.
Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem in
Nottingham is claimed to be the "oldest inn in England". It has a
claimed date of 1189, based on the fact it is constructed on the site of
the
Nottingham Castle brewhouse; the present building dates from around
1650.[65]
Likewise, The Nags Head,
Burntwood only dates back to the 16th century, but there has been a
pub on the site since at least 1086, as it is mentioned in the
Domesday Book.[66]
There is archaeological evidence that parts of the foundations of 'The
Old Ferryboat Inn',
Holywell, Cambridgeshire, may date to AD 460, and there is evidence
of ale being served as early as AD 560.[67]
The Bingley Arms,
Leeds, is
claimed to date to 905 AD.
Ye Olde Salutation Inn in Nottingham dates from 1240, although the
building served as a tannery and a private residence before becoming an
inn sometime before the
English Civil War. The Adam and Eve in
Norwich
was first recorded in 1249, when it was an alehouse for the workers
constructing nearby
Norwich Cathedral.[68]
Ye Olde Man & Scythe in
Bolton
is mentioned by name in a charter of 1251, but the current building is
dated 1631. Its cellars are the only surviving part of the older
structure.
- Longest Name
The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn in
Stalybridge has the longest pub name in the UK.
Cultural
associations
Inns and taverns feature throughout English literature and poetry,
from
The
Tabard Inn in
Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales onwards.[69]
The highwayman
Dick Turpin used the Swan Inn at
Woughton-on-the-Green in Buckinghamshire as his base.[70]
In the 1920s John Fothergill (1876–1957) was the innkeeper of the Spread
Eagle in
Thame, Berkshire, and published his autobiography: An Innkeeper's
Diary (London: Chatto & Windus, 1931).[71]
During his idiosyncratic occupancy many famous people came to stay, such
as
H. G. Wells. United States president
George W. Bush fulfilled his lifetime ambition of visiting a
'genuine British pub' during his November 2003 state visit to the UK
when he had lunch and a pint of non-alcoholic lager with British Prime
Minister
Tony Blair at the
Dun Cow
pub in
Sedgefield, County Durham.[72]
There were approximately 53,500 public houses in 2009 in the United
Kingdom.[73]
This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the
smaller villages no longer have a local pub.[74]
London
Many of London's pubs are known to have been used by famous people,
but in some cases, such as the association between
Samuel Johnson and
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, this is speculative, based on little more
than the fact that the person is known to have lived nearby. However,
Charles Dickens is known to have visited the Cheshire Cheese, the
Prospect of Whitby,
Ye Olde Cock Tavern and many others.
Samuel Pepys is also associated with the Prospect of Whitby and the
Cock Tavern.
The
Fitzroy Tavern[75]
is a pub situated at 16
Charlotte Street in the
Fitzrovia district, to which it gives its name. It became famous (or
according to others, infamous) during a period spanning the 1920s to the
mid 1950s as a meeting place for many of London's artists,
intellectuals and
bohemians such as
Dylan Thomas,
Augustus John, and
George Orwell. Several establishments in
Soho,
London, have associations with well-known, post-war literary and
artistic figures, including the
Pillars of Hercules,
The Colony Room and the
Coach and Horses. The
Canonbury Tavern,
Canonbury, was the prototype for Orwell's ideal English pub,
The Moon Under Water.
The Red Lion in
Parliament Square is close to the
Palace of Westminster and is consequently used by political
journalists and Members of Parliament. The pub is equipped with a
Division bell that summons MPs back to the chamber when they are
required to take part in a vote.[76]
The Punch Bowl, Mayfair was at one time jointly owned by
Madonna and
Guy Ritchie[77]
and is known for the number of present-day celebrities that have
patronised it. The
Coleherne public house in
Earls Court was a well-known gay pub from the 1950s. It attracted
many well-known patrons, such as
Freddie Mercury,
Kenny Everett and
Rudolph Nureyev. It was also used by the serial-killer
Colin Ireland to pick-up victims.
In 1966
The Blind Beggar in
Whitechapel became infamous as the scene of a murder committed by
gangster
Ronnie Kray. The
Ten Bells is associated with several of the victims of
Jack the Ripper. In 1955,
Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the United Kingdom, shot
David Blakely as he emerged from The Magdala in
South Hill Park,
Hampstead,[78]
the bullet holes can still be seen in the walls outside. It is said that
Vladimir Lenin and a young
Joseph Stalin met in the Crown and Anchor pub (now known as
The Crown Tavern) on
Clerkenwell Green when the latter was visiting London in 1903.[79]
The Angel, Islington was formerly a
coaching inn, the first on the route northwards out of London, where
Thomas Paine is believed to have written much of
The Rights of Man. It was mentioned by Charles Dickens, became a
Lyons Corner House, and is now a
Co-operative Bank.
Oxford and
Cambridge
The Eagle and Child and the
Lamb and Flag, Oxford, were regular meeting places of the
Inklings, a writers' group which included
J. R. R. Tolkien and
C. S. Lewis.
The Eagle in Cambridge is where
Francis Crick interrupted patrons' lunchtime on 28 February 1953 to
announce that he and
James Watson had "discovered the secret of life" after they had come
up with their proposal for the structure of
DNA.[80]
The anecdote is related in Watson's book
The Double Helix.[81]
and commemorated with a blue plaque on the outside wall.
Television
soap operas
The major soap operas on British television each feature a pub, and
these pubs have become household names.[82]
The
Rovers Return is the pub in
Coronation Street, the British soap broadcast on
ITV. The
Queen Vic (short for the
Queen Victoria) is the pub in
EastEnders, the major soap on BBC One, while The Bull in the
Radio 4 soap opera
The Archers and the
Woolpack in ITV's
Emmerdale are also important meeting points. The sets of each of
the three major television soap operas have been visited by some of the
members of the royal family, including
Queen Elizabeth II. The centrepiece of each visit was a trip into
the Rovers,[83]
the Queen Vic,[84]
or the Woolpack to be offered a drink.[85]
Pubs
outside Great Britain
Although "British" pubs found outside of
Britain and its former colonies are often themed bars owing little
to the original British pub, a number of "true" pubs may be found around
the world.
In Denmark—a country, like Britain, with a long tradition of
brewing—a number of pubs have opened which eschew "theming", and which
instead focus on the business of providing carefully conditioned beer,
often independent of any particular brewery or chain, in an environment
which would not be unfamiliar to a British pub-goer. Some import British
cask ale, rather than beer in kegs, in order to provide the full British
real ale experience to their customers. This newly established Danish
interest in British cask beer and the British pub tradition is reflected
by the fact that some 56 British cask beers were available at the 2008
European Beer Festival in
Copenhagen, which was attended by more than 20,000 people.
In Ireland, pubs are known for their atmosphere or "craic".[86]
In Irish, a pub is referred to as teach tábhairne ("tavernhouse")
or teach óil ("drinkinghouse"). Live music, either sessions of
traditional Irish music or varieties of modern popular music, is
frequently featured in the pubs of Ireland. Pubs in
Northern Ireland are largely identical to their counterparts in the
Republic of Ireland except for the lack of spirit grocers. A side
effect of "The
Troubles" was that the lack of a tourist industry meant that a
higher proportion of traditional bars have survived the wholesale
refitting of Irish pub interiors in the 'English style' in the 1950s and
1960s. This refitting was driven by the need to expand seating areas to
accommodate the growing numbers of tourists, and was a direct
consequence of the growing dependence of the Irish economy on tourism.[citation
needed]
See also