Pub names

Duck59

Duck59

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Some years ago, I was delighted to receive a box of matches. "Explain, weirdo," I hear you cry. Well, a friend who had been on a course was returning through Peterborough in Cambridgeshire when he espied a pub that (almost) bore my name. The only difference was that my surname has an e on the end, unlike the chap after whom the pub was named. My friend felt obliged to pop in for a drink and brought back the box of matches with the name of the pub on it. The pub was named after a notable local, though sadly it has long since closed down.

This led me to wonder if anyone has experienced anything similar. I'd also be interested to hear of unusual pub names, at least in a traditional sense. I'm not talking about silly newfangled stuff like The Stockbroker and Wildebeest and such like. There are often intriguing stories surrounding odd names.

I'll start with an example, which just happens to be one of my favourite pubs. It's the Crown Posada in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Local legend has it that the pub was bought by a Spanish Sea Captain for his mistress. It's the second oldest pub in the city and was originally called, rather blandly, The Crown. The Spanish part was added according to the legend.
 
Wetherspoon's (whatever your view of them) name their pubs based on local history and sometimes with quite quirky names. In Maidstone we have two Wetherspoon Pubs. The Muggleton Inn (known to locals as the Muggles) is so called because Charles Dickens referred to Maidstone as 'Muggleton' in his novel The Pickwick Papers.

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As an American, that was one of my favorite activities driving around the U.K. - looking at all the pub names. Even the "common" ones were wonderful to me. Some pubs that I've known:

The Bear
The Chequers
The Falkland Arms
The Shakespeare Arms
The Green Man
The Fox And Hounds
The Pike
The Bell
The White Hart
The Washington Inn
The Three Jolly Butchers
The Golden Horseshoe
The Pepper Pot
The Lamb's Inn
The Duke Of Cumberland
Who'd A Tho't It
The Tea Clipper
The Queen's Arms
The Queen Victoria
The Butcher's Arms
The Builder's Arms
St. George And The Dragon
The Crossed Keys
The King's Head
The Hare

And so, so many others I'm just forgetting.

When we lived there, we bought a stylized pub sign for display, with a scene of Jack The Ripper looking menacing while brandishing a knife. Years later, back here, we bought a big pennant with a dragon on it, from the ren faire.

Subsequently, when we had the extended dining room turned into a little pub of our own, we christened it "The Ripper & Dragon." We both got a kick out of the name following the "something & something else" cadence of a good pub name, while associating two completely unrelated things. 😬
 
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Morning Glory said:
Wetherspoon's (whatever your view of them) name their pubs based on local history and sometimes with quite quirky names. In Maidstone we have two Wetherspoon Pubs. The Muggleton Inn (known to locals as the Muggles) is so called because Charles Dickens referred to Maidstone as 'Muggleton' in his novel The Pickwick Papers.

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There's a Wetherspoon's pub in Oxford called The Four Candles. This is a reference to the famous Two Ronnies sketch that plays on fork handles/four candles and a nod to the fact that Ronnie Barker went to school in that city.
 
A lot of pub names in the UK refer to trades, as Reuben's list suggests. One rather unusual one was the Cordwainers Arms, another Newcastle pub, but now gone. A cordwainer was a shoemaker.

There are quite a few Green Man pubs. The green man was a pagan symbol associated with the coming of spring.
 
TastyReuben said:
As an American, that was one of my favorite activities driving around the U.K. - looking at all the pub names. Even the "common" ones were wonderful to me. Some pubs that I've known:

The Bear
The Chequers
The Falkland Arms
The Shakespeare Arms
The Green Man
The Fox And Hounds
The Pike
The Bell
The White Hart
The Washington Inn
The Three Jolly Butchers
The Golden Horseshoe
The Pepper Pot
The Lamb's Inn
The Duke Of Cumberland
Who'd A Tho't It
The Tea Clipper
The Queen's Arms
The Queen Victoria
The Butcher's Arms
The Builder's Arms
St. George And The Dragon
The Crossed Keys
The King's Head
The Hare

And so, so many others I'm just forgetting.

When we lived there, we bought a stylized pub sign for display, with a scene of Jack The Ripper looking menacing while brandishing a knife. Years later, back here, we bought a big pennant with a dragon on it, from the ren faire.

Subsequently, when we had the extended dining room turned into a little pub of our own, we christened it "The Ripper & Dragon." We both got a kick out of the name following the "something & something else" cadence of a good pub name, while associating two completely unrelated things. 😬
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I find it hilarious that you made that list from memory and have such a wicked sense of humor. You really need to start your own business. The world needs good food and good laughs.
 
Duck59 said:
A lot of pub names in the UK refer to trades, as Reuben's list suggests. One rather unusual one was the Cordwainers Arms, another Newcastle pub, but now gone. A cordwainer was a shoemaker.

There are quite a few Green Man pubs. The green man was a pagan symbol associated with the coming of spring.
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Many years ago, I bought a tiny little ceramic green man whatsit to hang in my pub, from the local Celticfest. I'll get a pic later, maybe.

The Green Man, the one that sits on the A43 between Brackley and Silverstone, was the first pub in the U.K. we went to. We'd just moved there, and set out looking for a place to call our local, and it was such a pretty sight when we passed it, and it sat in a dip in the road, it was obscured by thick, thick fog, multi-colored lights around the roofline barely able to peek through, and we could just make out the pub sign through the weather.

It didn't become our local, but as they say, you never forget your first. :)
 
mjd-lovescooking said:
I find it hilarious that you made that list from memory and have such a wicked sense of humor. You really need to start your own business. The world needs good food and good laughs.
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I can see, and can probably say something different, about every pub I've ever been in. I just can't remember their names!
 
Duck59 said:
I've been to that particular Green Man. I remember stopping there on the way from Oxford to Northampton, where we were playing cricket that day. There's also a Saracen's Head in Towcester, which isn't far away.
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Nearby, on a little side road, was also a pub called The Shakespeare Arms.

We'd gone in first time, late in the year, and liked it well enough, with an old dog lying under a table and a cat perched up on the woodwork overhead, amenable landlord.

We ordered, got the usual, "so you're out at the air base, then" comment, and had a good, if unspectacular meal, and a beer, and left.

We went back a couple of weeks later, on a Saturday night, and the quiet country pub from before was hopping - lots of cars, lots of people going in, and music (Bee Gees, to be exact) thumping out from the inside.

We got up to the door, started to open it, and we noticed a handwritten sign that said, "Pub is closed for a private anniversary celebration, we'll be open as usual tomorrow," something like that.

"Well, crap!" - and we turned to go.

Just then, the door flew open, a couple of people shot out, laughing, and there stood the landlord.

We gave a wave and said we'd be back tomorrow, and she immediately came back with, "Don't be silly, you're regulars now, come in!"

That became our local.
 
There used to be a pub in Long Wittenham, a village in Oxfordshire, with the unusual name of the Machine Man. It was an excellent pub with lots of different cask beers. I even played darts for them a few times. Safe to say, the beer was a lot better than my darts.

Yet another pub that has vanished, sadly.
 
TastyReuben said:
As an American, that was one of my favorite activities driving around the U.K. - looking at all the pub names. Even the "common" ones were wonderful to me. Some pubs that I've known:

The Bear
The Chequers
The Falkland Arms
The Shakespeare Arms
The Green Man
The Fox And Hounds
The Pike
The Bell
The White Hart
The Washington Inn
The Three Jolly Butchers
The Golden Horseshoe
The Pepper Pot
The Lamb's Inn
The Duke Of Cumberland
Who'd A Tho't It
The Tea Clipper
The Queen's Arms
The Queen Victoria
The Butcher's Arms
The Builder's Arms
St. George And The Dragon
The Crossed Keys
The King's Head
The Hare

And so, so many others I'm just forgetting.

When we lived there, we bought a stylized pub sign for display, with a scene of Jack The Ripper looking menacing while brandishing a knife. Years later, back here, we bought a big pennant with a dragon on it, from the ren faire.

Subsequently, when we had the extended dining room turned into a little pub of our own, we christened it "The Ripper & Dragon." We both got a kick out of the name following the "something & something else" cadence of a good pub name, while associating two completely unrelated things. 😬
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There is a chain of Fox and Hound Pubs in Texas, owned by Chammps Sports Bars. Champps is going through bankruptcy. Locations of both are shutting down. Not your average local English pub.

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CD
 
I had my wedding reception in the "Fox and Hounds" in Horsforth near Leeds. I put 25 quid behind the bar and the landlady supplied free sandwiches. I was a regular.

This is she.

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Funnily enough, my second wedding reception was held in the "Berlin Bar" in Surin, Thailand. I put ฿500.00 (about 10 quid) behind the bar and received ฿150.00 change. We didn't eat.
 
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