Pub names are used to identify and differentiate traditional drinking establishments. Many

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s are centuries old, and were named at a time when most of their customers were illiterate, but could recognise

pub sign A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s. The use of

signage Signage is the design or use of signs and symbols to communicate a message. A signage also means signs ''collectively'' or being considered as a group. The term ''signage'' is documented to have been popularized in 1975 to 1980. Signs are any ...

was not confined to drinking establishments. British pubs may be named after and depict anything from everyday (particularly agricultural) objects, to sovereigns, aristocrats and landowners (shown by their coats of arms). Other names come from historic events, livery companies, occupations, sports, and craftsmen's guilds. One of the most common pub names is the Red Lion.

Irish pub An Irish pub is an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. Irish pubs are characterised by a unique culture centred around a casual and friendly atmosphere, hearty food and drink, Irish sports, and ...

s tend to be named after the current or former owner. In Australia a high proportion of older pubs have names ending in "hotel", and generally their names reflect hotel naming conventions. This list contains both contemporary/modern and historical examples.

Methodology

Although the word "the" appears on much pub signage, it is ignored in the following examples; the word "ye' is likewise ignored as it is only an archaic spelling of "the". "Y" represents an obsolete character (''þ'', the letter Thorn, which is nowadays used only in Icelandic) for the ''th'' sound. Its later forms resembled a blackletter ''y'', and it was never pronounced with a ''y'' sound. Similarly, other archaic spellings such as "olde worlde" are not distinguished below.

Animals

Names like ''Fox and Hounds'', ''Dog and Duck'', ''Dog and Gun'', ''Hare and Hounds'', etc., refer to shooting and hunting. Animal names coupled with colours, such as ''White Hart'' and ''Red Lion'', are often heraldic. A white hart featured as a badge of

King Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father d ...

, while a red lion was a badge of John of Gaunt and the Dukes of Bedford amongst others and a blue boar of the

Earls of Oxford Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, first created for Aubrey de Vere by the Empress Matilda in 1141. His family was to hold the title for more than five and a half centuries, until the death of the 20th Earl in 170 ...

. Exceptions do exist, however, along with less obvious examples of the form - a combination of both features being '' Cross Foxes'' (a name most commonly found in rural Wales), referring to a darker-furred breed of the common Red Fox whose pelts were considered more valuable and sometimes worn as a sign of status. * Bald Faced Stag Inn, Finchley. An inn notorious as frequented by murderers in the past. * Barking Dogs, Hoxton (closed). (Also various Barking Dog pubs). Named after the canine burglar deterrents. * Bear Inn, Reading. * Black Bear, Walsoken : actually had a black bear (stuffed) at the entrance to the premises years ago. * Black Birds, Barnwell, Cambridgeshire. Named after the bird. * Black Horse, Chester-le-Street : some may be named in memory of a black horse ridden by

Dick Turpin Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher ea ...

, however many including this one predate the event. * Bull Inn, Stamford : the town was the last in England to practice

bull-running Bull running was a custom practised in England until the 19th century. It involved chasing a bull through the streets of a town until it was weakened, then slaughtering the animal and butchering it for its meat. Bull running became illegal in 1835 ...

. *

Bustard Bustards, including floricans and korhaans, are large, terrestrial birds living mainly in dry grassland areas and on the steppes of the Old World. They range in length from . They make up the family Otididae (, formerly known as Otidae). Bustar ...

Inn, South Rauceby.(closed). After the bird of that name, once numerous. * Chameleon, Wisbech (now closed). * Crane, Cambridge. After the bird of that name, once numerous in

The Fens The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...

. Crane is one of the nicknames for the inhabitants. * Dog, Westhall, Suffolk. * Dolphin, Wisbech, Isle of Ely (now closed) : dolphins were caught and presented to the lord of the manor in earlier times; however it may just be a nautical reference to the port, or a corruption of "Dauphin" in honour of military victories over Napoleon in France (see later section). * Dove, Ipswich : a biblical source. * Four Swans, Butchers Market, Cambridge (closed down). *

Greyfriars Bobby Greyfriars Bobby (4 May 1855 – 14 January 1872) was a Skye Terrier or Dandie Dinmont Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died on 14 January 1872. The story continu ...

, Scotland. Named after a local dog of popular legend. * Heathcock Tavern, Strand : named after a game bird. * Lobster,

Sheringham Sheringham (; population 7,367) is an English seaside town within the county of Norfolk, United Kingdom.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. . The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban Distr ...

. Patronised by the lifeboat crew who formed the Shanty Men. * Old Ram, Tivetshall St. Mary. * Olde Fighting Cocks, St. Albans. Named for the cocks used in fights and for gambling. * Ostrich Inn, Castle Acre. Named after the flightless bird. * Packhorse and Pig, Aldergate Street, London * Pickerel Inn, Cambridge : named after young pike (Esox lucius). * Py'd Bull, Lincoln (closed). This pub was advertised as convenient for drovers in the 18th century. The Pied Bull in Chester in reputed to be the oldest licensed house in the city and dates back to 1155. * Pyewipe Inn, Lincoln. Pyewipe is the Lincolnshire dialect name for the

lapwing Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A gro ...

. * Red-Hart Inn, Petty Cury,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

(closed). Claimed to have the only cockpit in the town. * Rein Deer, Lincoln (closed). * Roebuck Inn, Chesterton. Named after the male of the species

Capreolus capreolus The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

. * String of Horses, Spalding (closed). * Swan and Falcon Inn, Gloucester (closed). * Ugly Bug, Colton.

Branding

The Manners family chose blue as their colour and when they purchased pubs and inns in Grantham their names were soon to include the prefix Blue, leading to the Bell, Cow, Dog, Fox, Horse, Lion, Man, Pig, Ram and Sheep being given this hue. Some pub chains in the UK adopt the same or similar names for many pubs as a means of brand expression. The principal examples of this are "The Moon Under Water", commonly used by the JD Wetherspoon chain (and inspired by George Orwell's 1946 essay in the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', " The Moon Under Water"), and the "Tap and Spile" brand name used by the now defunct Century Inns chain. The "Slug and Lettuce" is another example of a chain of food-based pubs with a prominent brand; founder Hugh Corbett had owned a small number of pubs, to which he gave humorous or nonsensical names, with the effect of differentiating them from competitors.

Found objects

The 'Crooked Billet', Worsthorne, Lancashire - geograph

Before painted inn signs became commonplace, medieval publicans often identified their establishments by hanging or standing a distinctive object outside the pub. A fictional example of this otherwise real-life practice can be found in Terry Pratchett's

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat ...

series of books, where the pub in Ankh Morpork starts off as The Drum, becomes The Broken Drum after a bar fight damages it and then in later books The Mended Drum. This tradition dates back to Roman times, when vine leaves were hung outside

tabernae A ''taberna'' (plural ''tabernae'') was a type of shop or stall in Ancient Rome. Originally meaning a single-room shop for the sale of goods and services, ''tabernae'' were often incorporated into domestic dwellings on the ground level flanking ...

to show where wine was sold. * Boot Inn, Whittlesea * Boot and Slipper, Amersham. * Copper Kettle * Crooked Billet, Portsmouth St, London (a bent branch from a tree) Sometimes the object was coloured, such as ''Blue Post'' or ''Blue Door''.

Heraldry

The ubiquity of heraldic pub names shows how important heraldry has been in the naming of pubs. The simpler symbols of the heraldic badges of royalty or local nobility give rise to many of the most common pub names. Five common colours (heraldic tinctures) are gules (red); sable (black); azure (blue); vert (green); and purpure (purple). The metals are or (gold) and argent (silver), although in practice they are usually depicted as yellow and white.

Items appearing in coats of arms

* Antlers: although this is often seen as a derivation of Richard II's white

hart Hart often refers to: * Hart (deer) Hart may also refer to: Organizations * Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer * Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer * Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores * Hart's Reptile Wo ...

emblem, it may also be an echo of a pagan figure,

Herne the Hunter In English folklore, Herne the Hunter is a ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire. He is said to have antlers growing from his head, ride a horse, torment cattle, and rattle chains. The earliest m ...

. * Bear and Ragged Staff: a badge of the earls of Warwick. Refers to bear baiting (see ''Dog and Bear'' in the Sports section). * Black Griffin: a pub in Lisvane,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, named after the coat of arms carried by the lords of the manor. * Old Black Lion is the name of an ancient pub opposite the railway station in Northampton. * Blue Boar, the name of many pubs in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It i ...

, Maldon,

Witney Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...

and elsewhere, from the badge of the

. * Castle: sometimes originally referred to the Coat of Arms of Castile in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and meant that Spanish wines were available within. * Checkers or Chequer(s), March,

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures th ...

and many other sites : sometimes derived from the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of a local landowner (see

Chequy In heraldry, variations of the field are any of a number of ways that a field (or a charge) may be covered with a pattern, rather than a flat tincture or a simple division of the field. Blazoning of French adjectives Variations of the field pre ...

), this name and sign originated in ancient Rome when a chequer board indicated that a bar also provided banking services. The checked board was used as an aid to counting and is the origin of the word ''

exchequer In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's '' current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government revenu ...

''. The last pub to use the older, now American spelling of ''checker'' was in

Baldock Baldock ( ) is a historic market town and unparished area in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the county of Hertfordshire, England, where the River Ivel rises. It lies north of London, southeast of Bedford, and north n ...

, Hertfordshire, but this closed circa 1990; all pubs now use the modern "q" spelling (but see also Chequers, in Plants and horticulture below). * Cross Keys, Wisbech, derived from the town's coat of arms and the town's church of SS. Peter & Paul. *

Eagle and Child Eagle is the common name for many large Bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Ou ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, derived from the arms of the

Earls of Derby Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...

, was a meeting place of the

Inklings The Inklings were an informal literary discussion group associated with J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis at the University of Oxford for nearly two decades between the early 1930s and late 1949. The Inklings were literary enthusiasts who pr ...

. *

Elephant and Castle The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground stati ...

: apocryphally a corruption of the words "Infanta of Castile", more probably taken from the crest of the Cutlers' Company. * Lamb and Flag: a common religious symbol, with the

Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the " Lamb of God" is honoured within the Catholic Mass and other Christian liturgies descending from the Latin liturgical tradition. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and ...

holding the red cross flag that represented the

Resurrection of Christ The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord ...

earlier than it was the flag of England. This was the device of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

, a legal society in London, which was given a charter in 1608 to occupy lands formerly owned by the Knights Templar. It is one of the four

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

, still training barristers today. The Lamb & Flag (Oxford) is one of many pubs with this name. * Olde Man and Scythe,

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

, taken from the crest of the

Pilkington Pilkington is a Japanese-owned glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, United Kingdom. In the UK it includes several legal entities and is a subsidiary of Japanese company NSG Group. Prior to its acquisition by NSG ...

family. * Ostrich feathers have been used as a royal badge since the time of Edward III, particularly the ''Three Feathers'' badge of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

. * Rampant Horse (earlier Ramping Horse), Norwich : horses are popular pub signs and names. * Red Dragon of

Cadwaladr Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon (also spelled Cadwalader or Cadwallader in English) was king of Gwynedd in Wales from around 655 to 682 AD. Two devastating plagues happened during his reign, one in 664 and the other in 682; he himself was a victim of t ...

: the symbol of Wales, and a heraldic badge of Henry VII and many other royal figures. * Red Lion is the name of over 600 pubs. It thus can stand for an

archetypal The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that o ...

British pub. The lion is one of the most common charges in coats of arms, second only to the

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

, and thus the Red Lion as a pub sign probably has multiple origins: in the arms or crest of a local landowner, now perhaps forgotten; as a personal badge of John of Gaunt, founder of the House of Lancaster; or in the royal arms of Scotland, conjoined to the arms of England after the Stuart succession in 1603. * Rising Sun: symbol of the east and of optimism. The Sun in Splendour was also a livery badge of Edward IV * Silver Lion, Lilley, Hertfordshire: from the arms of the Sowerby family. * Spread Eagle: from the heraldic depiction of an eagle 'displayed'; probably derived from the arms of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, indicating that German wines were available within. * Swan,

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bordering Norfolk and only 5 miles ...

a badge of many Lancastrian figures—see

Dunstable Swan Jewel The Dunstable Swan Jewel is a gold and enamel brooch in the form of a swan made in England or France in about 1400 and now in the British Museum, where it is on display in Room 40. The jewel was excavated in 1965 on the site of Dunstable Friary, ...

* Talbot or Talbot Arms refers to an actual breed of hunting dog, now extinct, which is also a heraldic hound, and is the badge of the

Talbot family Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talb ...

, Earls of Shrewsbury. Old Talbot, Wisbech (now closed) *

Unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

* White Bear *

White Hart The White Hart (" hart" being an archaic word for a mature stag) was the personal badge of Richard II, who probably derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent", heiress of Edmund of Woodstock. It may also have been a ...

: the livery badge of King Richard II of England. It became so popular as an inn sign in his reign that it was adopted by many later inns and taverns. * White Horse: the sign of the

House of Hanover The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house or ...

, adopted by many eighteenth-century

inns Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

to demonstrate loyalty to the new Royal dynasty. A white

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

is also the emblem of the County of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. The name can also refer to the chalk horses carved into hillsides. *

White lion The white lion is a rare color mutation of the lion, specifically the Southern African lion. White lions in the area of Timbavati are thought to have been indigenous to the Timbavati region of South Africa for centuries, although the earliest ...

: the livery badge of the

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...

Livery companies

Three Compasses, Hornsey, N8 (2509772818)

Names starting with the word "Three" are often based on the arms of a London Livery company or trade

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

: * Three Arrows: The

Worshipful Company of Bowyers The Worshipful Company of Bowyers is one of the livery companies of the City of London. Originally, bowyers (longbow-makers) and fletchers (arrow-makers) composed one organisation. However, in 1371, the fletchers petitioned the lord mayor to ...

* Three Bucks: The

Worshipful Company of Leathersellers The Worshipful Company of Leathersellers is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The organisation originates from the latter part of the fourteenth century and received its Royal Charter in 1444, and is therefore the senior leath ...

* Three Castles: The Worshipful Company of Masons * Three Compasses: The

Worshipful Company of Carpenters The Worshipful Company of Carpenters is a livery company of the City of London. The Carpenters were traditionally different from a fellow wood-crafting company, the Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers, in that carpenters utilised nails wh ...

* Three Crowns: The

Worshipful Company of Drapers The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 110 livery companies of the City of London. It has the formal name The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Dr ...

, although it can also refer to the

Magi Magi (; singular magus ; from Latin '' magus'', cf. fa, مغ ) were priests in Zoroastrianism and the earlier religions of the western Iranians. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius t ...

, the Diocese of Ely or the three crowns of East Anglia. * Three Cups: The Worshipful Company of Salters * Three Fishes: The

Worshipful Company of Fishmongers The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers (or Fishmongers' Company) is one of the 110 Livery Companies of the City of London, being an incorporated guild of sellers of fish and seafood in the City. The Company ranks fourth in the order of prec ...

* Three Goats' Heads: The

Worshipful Company of Cordwainers The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Cordwainers were workers in fine leather; the Company gets its name from "cordwain" ( cordovan), the white leather produced from goatskin in Cordova, ...

* Three Hammers: The

Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths The Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The organisation was first mentioned in a court record in 1299. A Royal Charter officially granting it the status of Company was granted in 1571. The Com ...

* Three Horseshoes: The

Worshipful Company of Farriers The Worshipful Company of Farriers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Farriers, or horseshoe makers, organised in 1356. It received a Royal Charter of incorporation in 1674. Over the years, the Company has evolved from ...

* Three Tuns: The

Brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer ...

s and the Worshipful Company of Vintners * Three Wheatsheafs: The

Worshipful Company of Bakers The Worshipful Company of Bakers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Bakers' Guild is known to have existed in the twelfth century. From the Corporation of London, the Guild received the power to enforce regulations for ...

Landowners

Many coats of arms appear as pub signs, usually honouring a local landowner. * Duke of Bedford, Wisbech,

: (now closed) named for the person draining the fens. * Hardwicke Arms, Wisbech (now closed Down) - the Earl of Hardwicke KG MP being Lord Lieutenant and

Custos Rotulorum ''Custos rotulorum'' (; plural: ''custodes rotulorum''; Latin for "keeper of the rolls", ) is a civic post that is recognised in the United Kingdom (except Scotland) and in Jamaica. England, Wales and Northern Ireland The ''custos rotulorum'' is t ...

. * Huntingtower Arms,

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

: named after William Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower. * Manners Arms, Grantham : also named after William Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower (Sir William Manners, Baronet). * Osborne, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the residence of a local family. * Percy Arms,

Otterburn, Northumberland Otterburn is a small village in Northumberland, England, northwest of Newcastle upon Tyne on the banks of the River Rede, near the confluence of the Otter Burn, from which the village derives its name. It lies within the Cheviot Hills about f ...

, commemorates the

Battle of Otterburn The Battle of Otterburn took place according to Scottish sources on 5 August 1388, or 19 August according to English sources, as part of the continuing border skirmishes between the Scots and English. The best remaining record of the bat ...

in 1388, where Sir Henry Percy, son of the

Earl of Northumberland The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy (''alias'' Perci), who were the most po ...

, led the English army. There are other pubs with the same or similar names at various locations in the

North East of England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authority ...

. * Prince Albert, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the prince consort. * Queen Victoria, Wisbech, Isle of Ely : named for the monarch. * Royal Standard, Wisbech, Isle of Ely : named for royal family. * Stanley Arms,

Huyton Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Belle Vale, and the neighbouring village of Roby, with which ...

, near

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

: after

Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, (15 January 1841 – 14 June 1908) styled as Hon. Frederick Stanley from 1844 to 1886 and as The Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United K ...

. * Marshland Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for a nearby council. * Melbourne Arms,

Duston Duston is a suburb of Northampton and a civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England. History Archaeological remains found in the area suggest that Duston has roots in Prehistoric and Roman settlements. However, development in the area h ...

, Northampton: after former local landowner

Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pre ...

* Tollemache, Grantham : named after Frederick Tollemache * Wisbech Arms, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local borough.

Occupations

The Mechanics Arms, Hindley Green - geograph

:''See also Trades, tools and products below'' Some "Arms" signs refer to working occupations. These may show people undertaking such work or the arms of the appropriate London livery company. This class of name may be only just a name but there are stories behind some of them. An "arms" name, too, can derive from a local authority. * Artillery Arms Bunhill Row,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

EC1: situated next door to the headquarters of the

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

, the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

's oldest regiment. * Bedford Arms, Bedford Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, shows the arms of the town of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

. The more usual derivation is for the

Duke of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third so ...

whose seat is at the nearby

Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, ...

. * Blacksmith's Arms, (Wisbech) with the pun of the actual blacksmiths arms and their strength. * Bricklayer's Arms, e.g., Hitchin, Hertfordshire: The first landlord, William Huckle, who opened this pub in 1846, was a bricklayer by trade. * Brewers Arms, Wisbech. The town had and has several breweries. * Builders Arms: Kensington Court Place, London * Carpenters Arms - A series of pubs, related to the occupation or more likely to the guild of carpenters. * Cooper's Arms, Little Old Bailey - Worshipful Company of Coopers. * Drover's Inn,

Loch Lomond Loch Lomond (; gd, Loch Laomainn - 'Lake of the Elms'Richens, R. J. (1984) ''Elm'', Cambridge University Press.) is a freshwater Scottish loch which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, often considered the boundary between the lowlands of C ...

, Scotland. Named after the cattle drivers. Also an example in

Caerleon Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman ...

, near

Newport, Wales Newport ( cy, Casnewydd; ) is a city and county borough in Wales, situated on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, northeast of Cardiff. With a population of 145,700 at the 2011 census, Newport is the third-largest a ...

. * Fisherman's Arms,

Birgham Birgham is a village in Berwickshire, parish of Eccles in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, near Coldstream and the River Tweed, on the A698. Birgham is close to Ednam, Kelso, Lempitlaw, ...

near

Coldstream Coldstream ( gd, An Sruthan Fuar , sco, Caustrim) is a town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. A former burgh, Coldstream is the home of the Coldstream Guards, a regiment in the British Army. Description Coldstream l ...

* Foundryman's Arms Northampton * Glazier's Arms, Stamford (closed). * The Gravel Diggers,

Cottenham Cottenham is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Cottenham is one of the larger villages surrounding the city of Cambridge, located around five miles north of the city. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 6095. Cottenham ...

(closed). * Jolly Gardeners, Hertford (closed). * Lathrenders' Arms,

, Isle of Ely. Nearby were lathe makers. * Mason's Arms, Wisbech. * Mechanics Arms (now renamed the Old Neighbourhood), near Stroud, Gloucestershire. In this context a mechanic was a

bonesetter Traditional bone-setting is a type of a folk medicine in which practitioners engaged in joint manipulation. Before the advent of chiropractors, osteopaths and physical therapists, bone-setters were the main providers of this type of treatment. ...

. Another was (now closed) in Stamford, Lincs * Millers Arms,

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, Lincolnshire. Robert Taylor, the first publican in 1861, was a miller by trade. * Plumbers Arms (

Lower Belgrave Street Lower Belgrave Street is a street in London's Belgravia district. It runs north-west to south-east and begins as a continuation of Upper Belgrave Street where it meets Eaton Square. It crosses one through-street, Ebury Street, and ends in a t ...

, London SW1). * Porters Arms, (Wisbech), Isle of Ely. * Printers Arms, (Wisbech )owned by a local newspaper owner. * Pyrotechnists' Arms, a local gunpowder maker. * Ratcatchers, Cawston, Norfolk. * Recruiting Sergeant, Newton Harcourt * Ropers' Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely. Now closed. At least two rope walks in the town. * Ship Carpenters' Arms, Wisbech named for local shipbuilders trades. * Shipwrights' Arms, Wisbech named for the men employed in the local shipbuilders. * Spinners' Arms,

Hindley Green Hindley Green is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. The population of the village had decreased to 11,186 at the 2011 Census. The village lies to the east of Hindley, Greater Manchester, Hindley and is c ...

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

. * Waterman's Arms * Wire Workers' Arms, St. Neots, Hunts.

Historic events

* Abdication, in Arnold : the reign and abdication of Edward VIII. * Alma: commemorating the

Battle of the Alma The Battle of the Alma (short for Battle of the Alma River) was a battle in the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force (made up of French, British, and Ottoman forces) and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20Septemb ...

which took place in 1854, during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

. * Bhurtpore Inn, Aston, near Nantwich, Cheshire: commemorating the

Siege of Bharatpur The siege of Bharatpore was a siege that took place in the Indian princely state of Bharatpur (now part of Rajasthan) between December 1825 and January 1826. British troops under Lord Combermere initially surrounded the state's capital until ...

in Rajasthan, 1826. The Inn is on land formerly part of the estates of Lord Combermere, commander of British forces during the siege. * Dolphin: often anglicised from the French '' Dauphin'', commemorating battles in which England defeated France. These include "The Dolphin" in

Wellington, Somerset Wellington is a market town in rural Somerset, a county in the west of England, situated south west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district, near the border with Devon, which runs along the Blackdown Hills to the south of the t ...

which was named in honour of Wellington's victory at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

. * Festival Inn: name of a pub in Poplar, London, built at the time of the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

in 1951. * Hand and Shears: this famous

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

pub got its name owing to Bartholomew Fair. Tailors would gather in the pub the night before the fair and wave their shears announcing that the fair should begin. * Magna Charta in

Lowdham Lowdham is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire between Nottingham and Southwell. At the 2001 census it had a population of 2,832, increasing to 3,334 at the 2011 Census. Two main roads slicing thro ...

, Nottinghamshire, has its name spelled differently from the historic document after which it is named. * Man on the Moon,

Northfield, Birmingham Northfield is a residential area in outer south Birmingham, England, and near the boundary with Worcestershire. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the wards of Kings Norton, Longb ...

: originally called ''The Man in the Moon'' and renamed on the day of the first moon landing in 1969. *

Battle of Minden The Battle of Minden was a major engagement during the Seven Years' War, fought on 1 August 1759. An Anglo-German army under the overall command of Prussian Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of Fr ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

(closed): named after this historic military engagement. * Rose and Crown: Edward III used a golden rose as a personal badge, and two of his sons adapted it by changing the colour:

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...

, used a red rose, and Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, used a white rose. The dynastic conflicts between their descendants are collectively called the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

. In 1485 Henry Tudor, a descendant of Lancaster, defeated Richard III of the York dynasty and married Richard's niece

Elizabeth of York Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 – 11 February 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death in 1503. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which mark ...

. Since then the combined red-and-white

Tudor rose The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists o ...

, often crowned, has been a symbol of the monarchy of England. Royal Oak Pub, Fishguard, Wales, UK

* Royal Oak: After the

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell d ...

(1651) in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, the defeated Prince Charles escaped the scene with the

Roundheads Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

on his tail. He managed to reach Bishops Wood in Staffordshire, where he found an

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

tree (now known as the Boscobel Oak near Boscobel House). He climbed the tree and hid in it for a day while his obviously short-sighted pursuers strolled around under the tree looking for him. The hunters gave up, Prince Charles came down and escaped to France (the

Escape of Charles II After the final Royalist defeat of the English Civil War against Cromwell's New Model Army at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, the future Charles II of England (already by that time King of Scotland) was forced to flee, famously av ...

). He became Charles II on the Restoration of the Monarchy. To celebrate this good fortune, 29 May (Charles' birthday) was declared Royal Oak Day and the pub name remembers this. The Royal Naval ship HMS Royal Oak gets its name from the same source. Early ships were built of the heartwood of

* Saracen's Head and Turk's Head:

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

s and

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

were among the enemies faced by Crusaders. This is also a reference to the Barbary pirates that raided the coasts from the Crusades until the early 19th century. * Trafalgar: commemorating the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

. There are many pubs called the

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, and an Emma Hamilton pub in Wimbledon Chase where Nelson lived with her. A famous pub is the Trafalgar Tavern, part of the Greenwich Maritime World Heritage site at Greenwich. *

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem is a Grade II listed public house in Nottingham which claims to have been established in 1189, although there is no documentation to verify this date. The building rests against Castle Rock, upon which Nottingham Cast ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, one of the claimants to the title of oldest pub in Britain, said to have been a stopping-off place for the Crusaders on the way to the Holy Land. "Trip" here has the old meaning of a stop, not the modern journey. The pub was once called the ''Pilgrim'', which is probably the real story behind the name. The pub has the date 1189 painted on its masonry, which is the year

King Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

ascended to the throne. Like many elderly pubs, the Trip carries "Ye" before its name, with an E on the end of "old" another "olde worlde" affectation.

Literature

The 'Moon Under Water', High Street, Watford - geograph

Names from books

* Cat and Custard Pot in Shipton Moyne is said to originate from the book ''Handley Cross or Mr Jorrocks's Hunt'' by R. S. Surtees. * Jabez Clegg in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, now closed, was named after the title character in Isabella Banks' novel '' The Manchester Man''. * Hobbit in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, named after J. R. R. Tolkien's creation and threatened with legal action by US movie lawyers, because of this. * Lass O' Gowrie in

, named after the poem by Carolina Nairne. * Moon and Sixpence pubs in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

;

Whitby, North Yorkshire Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

; Harrow, Middlesex; and Soho, London are named after

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

's novel of the same name. * Moon Under Water, inspired by George Orwell's essay describing his perfect pub * Muppet Inn, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now the Globe) named for the TV series, books and comics. * Paul Pry Inn,

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. Named after the main character in the play of that name. * Peveril of the Peak, in

, commemorates a stagecoach that once connected Manchester and London, but the pub itself claims it is named for the novel by

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

. * Sherlock Holmes in Charing Cross, London contains a reproduction of the

great detective Fictional detectives are characters in detective fiction. These individuals have long been a staple of detective mystery crime fiction, particularly in detective novels and short stories. Much of early detective fiction was written during the ...

's study. * Three Pigeons, Norwich and other locations. Used in a number of books and plays e.g.

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

' '' Our Mutual Friend'' (1864–65). * Herbert Wells in Woking, a town that was fictionally destroyed by Martian invaders in

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

''. A 25' (7.6-metre) tall statue of a Martian stands in Chobham Road in the town, and a Martian is depicted in a drawing in the pub. * Edgar Wallace,

The Strand, London Strand (or the Strand) is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster, Central London. It runs just over from Trafalgar Square eastwards to Temple Bar, where the road becomes Fleet Street in the City of London, and is part of the A4, ...

, named for the 1930s mystery writer. * John Masefield in

New Ferry New Ferry is an urban area on the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located on the Wirral Peninsula, with the River Mersey to the east and the town of Bebington to the west. Within the boundaries of the historic count ...

, named for the former Poet Laureate who served for some years on a naval training ship, HMS ''Conway'', off New Ferry pier. *

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...

, Reach, Cambridgeshire : from the book of that name.

Pubs in books from real-world pubs

* The ''

Ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...

Bush'' is a "small inn on the Bywater road" near Hobbiton in

The Shire The Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, described in ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other works. The Shire is an inland area settled exclusively by hobbits, the Shire-folk, largely sheltered from the goings-on in th ...

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

's ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

''. Here Gaffer Gamgee recounted to the other regulars his stories about Bilbo and

Frodo Baggins Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, and one of the protagonists in '' The Lord of the Rings''. Frodo is a hobbit of the Shire who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, described familiarly ...

, who were about to throw a magnificent joint birthday party. The most likely real-world source is an

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...

pub called the ''Ivy Bush'', near where Tolkien lived when he was growing up in Birmingham. * The Fortune of War, Smithfield was located on "Pie Corner" (where the Great Fire of London stopped) and was frequented by Resurrectionists including the London Burkers, two of whom, John Bishop and Thomas Williams were hanged for murder, after they sold the bodies for dissection. The pub is mentioned in

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel ''Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

's 1848 '' Vanity Fair''.

Myths and legends

Images from myths and

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

s are evocative and memorable. * Black Bess: usually named after the legendary overnight ride from London to York in 1737 by

on his Mare of this name. This fictional account was popularised in a novel, '' Rookwood'' (1834), resulting in a surge of Dick Turpin nostalgia and associated pub names. * Brazen George Inn, Cambridge (closed). Named after England's patron Saint. * The Bucket of Blood, is a public house in Phillack, Hayle, Cornwall, owned by St Austell Brewery. It is thought to be named after an incident where the landlord brought up a bucket of blood from the building's well, as a murdered smuggler had been dropped there. * Fiddler's Green, a legendary place in the afterlife where existence consists of all leisure and no work. * George and Dragon: St George is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and his conflict with a dragon is essential to his story. This sign is a symbol of

English nationalism English nationalism is a nationalism that asserts that the English are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of English people. In a general sense, it comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for English c ...

. * Green Dragon, Wisbech, Wymondham etc.: a couple of a number of pubs of this name. *

Green Man The Green Man is a legendary being primarily interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, representing the cycle of new growth that occurs every Spring (season), spring. The Green Man is most commonly depicted in a sculpture, or other representation of ...

: a spirit of the wild woods. The original images are in churches as a face peering through or made of leaves and petals; this character is the Will of the Wisp, the Jack of the Green. Some pub signs will show the green man as he appears in English traditional sword dances (in green hats). The Green Man is not the same character as

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

, although the two may be linked. Some pubs which were the ''Green Man'' have become the ''Robin Hood''; there are no pubs in Robin's own county of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

named the ''Green Man'' but there are ''Robin Hood''s. The 1973 film ''

The Wicker Man ''The Wicker Man'' is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Christopher Lee. The screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, inspired by David Pinner's 1967 ...

'' features a Green Man pub. * Hob in the Well, King's Lynn: pubs of this name can come from

Hobgoblin A hobgoblin is a household spirit, typically appearing in folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his ''A Midsummer Nig ...

in the well or Dogget's play ''Flora: or, Hob in the Well'' (1748). *

Moonrakers Moonrakers is the colloquial name for people from Wiltshire, a county in the West Country of England. Legend This name refers to a folk story set in the time when smuggling was a significant industry in rural England, with Wiltshire lying on t ...

: In the 17th century, some Wiltshire yokels hid their smuggled liquor in the Crammer (a pond in

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between ...

) and used rakes to recover their stash. They were caught in the act by customs officials and they claimed they were trying to rake in a cheese, which was in fact the reflection of the full moon. The customs officials left thinking that the locals were a bit simple, whilst the locals recovered the smuggled goods without any more interference. The name Moonrakers has been used as a nickname for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

folk ever since and is the name of pubs in Devizes and Swindon. *

, sometimes partnered by his second in charge to form the name Robin Hood and

Little John Little John is a companion of Robin Hood who serves as his chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men. He is one of only a handful of consistently named characters who relate to Robin Hood and one of the two oldest Merry Men, al ...

. Other Robin Hood names can be found throughout Arnold, Nottinghamshire. These were given to pubs built in the new estates of the 1960s by the Home Brewery of Daybrook, Nottinghamshire: ''Arrow'', ''

Friar Tuck Friar Tuck is one of the legendary Merry Men, the band of heroic outlaws in the folklore of Robin Hood. History The figure of the jovial friar was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th through 17th centur ...

'', ''Longbow'', ''

Maid Marian Maid Marian is the heroine of the Robin Hood legend in English folklore, often taken to be his lover. She is not mentioned in the early, medieval versions of the legend, but was the subject of at least two plays by 1600. Her history and circums ...

'' and ''

Major Oak The Major Oak is a large English oak (''Quercus robur'') near the village of Edwinstowe in the midst of Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England. According to local folklore, it was Robin Hood's shelter where he and his merry men slept. It w ...

''. * Silent Woman, Quiet Lady or Headless Woman: The origin is uncertain, with various local stories, such as a landlady whose tongue was cut out by smugglers so she couldn't talk to the authorities, or a saint beheaded for her Christianity. The pub signs sometimes have an image of a

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

woman or the couplet: "Here is a woman who has lost her head / She's quiet now—you see she's dead". * Captain's Wife, near the medieval trading port of Swanbridge on the south Wales coast near Penarth. The pub was converted during the 1970s from a row of fishermen's cottages. There is a local legend of a ghostly wife keeping endless vigil after her husband's boat was lost in a storm.

Paired names

Common enough today, the pairing of words in the name of an inn or tavern was rare before the mid-17th century, but by 1708 had become frequent enough for a pamphlet to complain of 'the variety and contradictory language of the signs', citing absurdities such as 'Bull and Mouth', 'Whale and Cow', and 'Shovel and Boot'. Two years later an essay in the '' Spectator'' echoed this complaint, deriding among others such contemporary paired names as 'Bell and Neat's Tongue', though accepting 'Cat and Fiddle'. A possible explanation for doubling of names is the combining of businesses, for example when a landlord of one pub moved to another premises. Fashion, as in the rise of intentionally amusing paired names like '

Slug and Lettuce Slug and Lettuce is a chain of bars that operate in the United Kingdom, with a large number located in London and South East England. As of 2017, there are a total of 70 outlets. Hugh Corbett opened the first Slug and Lettuce in Islington i ...

' and 'Frog and Firkin' (see ''Puns, Jokes and Corruptions'' below) in the late 20th century, is responsible for many more recent pub names. * Black Boy and Trumpet, Peterborough. (Now closed). * Boot and Shoe in

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

* Butcher and Beast, Heighington : claims to be the only one of this name in England. * George and Vulture Tavern. St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, London. * Goat and Boot Inn,

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

. * Harp and Horn,

Edgware Road Edgware Road is a major road in London, England. The route originated as part of Roman Watling Street and, unusually in London, it runs for 10 miles in an almost perfectly straight line. Forming part of the modern A5 road, Edgware Road undergoes ...

: later the Welsh Harp, finally the Old Welsh Harp after another pub named the Welsh Harp was opened. The Welsh Harp railway station (now closed and demolished) was named after the pub (which closed in 1971). * Pink and Lily, Princes Risborough. Named after flowers. * Plough and Sail, Marshland Smeeth. (closed Down). * Snipe and Duck, Exmoor Drive, Upwell.(closed). * Swan and Woolpack, near Stamford.

Personal names or titles

Some pubs are known by the names of former landlords and landladies, for instance Nellie's (originally the White Horse) in

Beverley Beverley is a market and minster town and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre and north-west of City of Hull. The town is known fo ...

, and Ma Pardoe's (officially the Olde Swan) in

Netherton, West Midlands Netherton is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, south of Dudley town centre in the West Midlands of England, but historically in Worcestershire. Part of the Black Country, Netherton is bounded by nature reserves to the east and west ...

. The Baron of Beef,

Welwyn Welwyn is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands. It is sometimes referred to as Old Welwyn or Welwyn Village, to distinguish it from the much newer and larger ...

, Hertfordshire is named after a nineteenth-century landlord, George Baron, listed in

Kelly's Directory Kelly's Directory (or more formally, the Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co Directory) was a trade directory in England that listed all businesses and tradespeople in a particular city or town, as well as a general directory of postal addresses ...

for 1890 as "Butcher and Beer Retailer". Others are named after various people. *

, Wisbech. * Rupert Brooke,

Grantchester Grantchester is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge. Name The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Grantesete'' and ''Graunts ...

named after the soldier poet. *

General Burgoyne General John Burgoyne (24 February 1722 – 4 August 1792) was a British general, dramatist and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1761 to 1792. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War when he participated in several bat ...

Duke of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge, one of several current royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom , is a hereditary title of specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. The title (named after the city of Cambridge in England) is heritable by male de ...

* Catherine Wheel, Henley-on-Thames, Manea and other locations: purportedly from Katherine Whele, in other locations evolved from The Wheel or other derivations. * Clarkson, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: named for the local antislavery campaigner

Thomas Clarkson Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 – 26 September 1846) was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known ...

. * William Cobbet formerly the Jolly Farmer, Farnham. Named for the radical, newspaper publisher and MP of this name. *

French Horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

, Stepping : thought to be a corruption or nickname of 'Frenchman de Schorne'. However, there were also other pubs with this name e.g. Upton. * Four Jacks, Wisbech. The former Shipwrights Arms. Renamed after the new landlord Jack Johnson and his three sons. The four playing cards were used in adverts etc. *

Garrick Garrick may refer to: * Garrick (name), for the name's origin and people with either the surname or given name, the most famous being: ** David Garrick (1717–1779), English actor * Garrick Club, a London gentlemen's club named in honour of David ...

public house, Cambridge (closed down). Named after the famous actor. Linked to the 1876 murder of Emma Rolfe by Robert Browning. * General Elliot * Hesketh Arms, Wisbech. Owned by Lord Hesketh of

Hesketh Racing Hesketh Racing was a Formula One constructor from the United Kingdom, which competed from 1973 to 1978. The team competed in 52 World Championship Grands Prix, winning one and achieving eight further podium finishes. Its best placing in the ...

car fame. * Hoste Arms,

Burnham Market Burnham Market is an English village and civil parish near the north coast of Norfolk. It is one of the Burnhams, a group of three adjacent villages that were merged: Burnham Sutton, Burnham Ulph and Burnham Westgate. In 2022, Burnham Market ...

. Named for Sir George William Hoste, who served under

. * Manby Crest, Great Yarmouth, Captain

George Manby Captain George William Manby FRS (28 November 1765 – 18 November 1854) was an English author and inventor. He designed an apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks and also the first modern form of fire extinguisher. Early life Manby was bo ...

F.R.S. * Marquis of Granby: a

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

in the 18th century. He showed a great concern for the welfare of his men upon their retirement and provided funds for many ex-soldiers to establish taverns, which were subsequently named after him. (See right). * Nell Gwyn: mistress of Charles II. * Hardwicke Arms, Wisbech : named after local nobility. *

Lord Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought a ...

: Quite a common name (in various forms) throughout England but especially in Norfolk, where the admiral was born. The Hero of Norfolk at

Swaffham Swaffham () is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District and English county of Norfolk. It is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,9 ...

, Norfolk, portrays Nelson as did ''Norfolk Hero'' at Wisbech. * John H Stracey, Brixton near Holt. 16th inn named after the former landlor, a boxer. Has now reverted to its former name. * Guy Earl of Warwick, in

Welling Welling is an area of South East London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley, west of Bexleyheath, southeast of Woolwich and of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. E ...

, Dartford, dates from at least 1896. and is thought to be the "Halfway House" which appears in

' 1861 Great Expectations. *

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

* Sir

Norman Wisdom Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, (4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010) was an English actor, comedian, musician and singer best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring a hapless onscreen character often called Norman ...

, Deal, Kent. Named after the actor who worked as an errand boy locally. * The Shakespeare, Redland, Shakespeare's Tree, Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire: Used to celebrate the Bard's genius. * Walpole Arms, Itteringham. Named after Robert Walpole, Britain's first prime minister. * General Wolfe, Laxfield : named after the military hero.

Places

(In alphabetical order) * The Australia Inn, Tydd St. Giles (closed) supposedly named as the intended destination of a former occupant. * The Bailey Head a new name for the former Castle Tavern or Eagles sited on the Bailey Head, the name of the market square in Oswestry * Beachy Head * Cheviot Inn,

Bellingham, Northumberland Bellingham ( ) is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, to the north-west of Newcastle upon Tyne and is situated on the Hareshaw Burn at its confluence with the River North Tyne. Features Famous as a stopping point on the Pennine Way ...

: a range of hills, the

Cheviot Hills The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes T ...

, of which the highest is locally called

The Cheviot The Cheviot () is an extinct volcano and the highest summit in the Cheviot Hills and in the county of Northumberland. Located in the extreme north of England, it is a walk from the Scottish border and, with a height of above sea-level, is lo ...

. * The Chislett,

Long Sutton, Lincolnshire Long Sutton is a market town in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies in The Fens, close to the Wash, east of Spalding. History Long Sutton belonged historically to the wapentake of Elloe in the Parts of Holland. A ...

. Formerly The Ship, the pub was renamed by the new owners after their relations originating from the village of Chislett in

. * Horse Shoe Hole Inn, Leverington was located near the River Nene horse shoe feature. * London Inn * Mutley Tavern in Mutley Plain, Plymouth * Plymouth Inn *

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...

Inn, as for example at Poundsgate,

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous P ...

. *

Twelve Pins , photo=Boats and mountains, Roundstone (6047965086).jpg , photo_caption= View of the range from Roundstone village. , region = Connacht , region_type = Provinces of Ireland , translation = The peaks of Beola , language = Irish language ...

or ''Na Beanna Beola'' (

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

, London): the

mountain range in the west of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Plants and horticulture

Hoop and Grapes - London's Oldest Pub^ - geograph

The most common tree-based pub name is the Royal Oak, which refers to a Historical event. *

Artichoke The globe artichoke ('' Cynara cardunculus'' var. ''scolymus'' ),Rottenberg, A., and D. Zohary, 1996: "The wild ancestry of the cultivated artichoke." Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 43, 53–58. also known by the names French artichoke and green artich ...

Tavern, Blackwall refers to a plant. * Bush,

Holly ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

Bush, Mulberry Bush etc. refer to plants, but note that Bull and Bush refers to a battle (see Historical event above). * Chequers from the

Wild Service Tree ''Sorbus torminalis'', with common names wild service tree, chequers, and checker tree, is a species of tree in the mountain ash or rowan genus (''Sorbus'') of the rose family (Rosaceae), that is native to Europe, parts of northern Africa and we ...

or "Chequer(s) Tree", the fruit of which was used to flavour beer before the introduction of hops. * Crabtree would refer to a

crab apple ''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 30–55 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples, wild apples, and rainberries. The genus is native to the temperate zone o ...

tree growing nearby or in the grounds, as pubs are often free standing. * Flower Pot,

Mirfield Mirfield () is a town and civil parish in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the A644 road between Brighouse and Dewsbury. At the 2011 census it had a population of 19,563. Mirfield ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

, Kent, Aston, Oxfordshire, Henley-on-Thames and

. Flowerpots,

Cheriton, Hampshire Cheriton is a village and civil parish near Alresford in Hampshire, England. The settlement is perhaps most famous for being close to the site of the English Civil War Battle of Cheriton of 1644. The Source of the River Itchen is in the next par ...

. * Hand and Flower, Hammersmith, London, also

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...

, Surrey. Hand and Flowers, Marlow. * Major Oak,

. Named after an ancient tree, and locally associated with

* Pineapple, e.g. in The Pineapple, Kentish Town, also Berkshire and

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

. * Pink Geranium, a pub in

Pontardawe Pontardawe () is a town and a community in the Swansea Valley (Welsh: ''Cwmtawe'') in Wales. With a population of 6,832, it comprises the electoral wards of Pontardawe and Trebanos. A town council is elected. Pontardawe forms part of the county ...

. * Rose Tavern, a pub in Wisbech, Isle of Ely. * Tulip,

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

. * Vine or Grapes possibly harks back to the Roman custom of displaying a vine outside a tavern or wine-shop, as in The Hoop and Grapes in

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...

High Street, London (reputed to be the city's oldest pub) and the Vine, Wisbech (now closed). * Wheatsheaf, a Wetherspoon pub in Wisbech. * Yew Tree, Bassingbourne. Named for Taxus baccata the English Yew.

Politically incorrect

* All labour in vain or Labour in vain. At various locations. Probably of Biblical origins, in past times the name was often illustrated by a person trying to scrub the blackness off a black child. Such signs have been mostly replaced with more innocuous depictions of wasted effort. * There are numerous old pubs and inns in England with the name of the Black Boy(s), many now claimed to refer either to child chimneysweeps or coal miners, or to a (genuine) historic description of King Charles II. The

Black Boy Inn The Black Boy Inn (or just Black Boy) is a hotel and public house in the Royal Town of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, Wales which is thought to date back to 1522, making it one of the oldest surviving inns in North Wales. It is within the medieval wall ...

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

, North Wales, has received at least a dozen complaints from visitors over the name, which dates back at least 250 years. In 2021 brewer

Greene King Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. H ...

changed the names of three pubs called The Black Boy, and another called The Black's Head. * The Black Bitch, a pub in

Linlithgow Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...

, West Lothian, is named after the local legend of a black

greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...

who is said to have repeatedly swum to an island in the town's loch to bring food to its imprisoned master, only to suffer the same fate when its efforts were discovered. The pub's name has caused more than a few surprised tourists to question the name or decry it as racist.

The pub itself (including nicknames)

The pub building

* Candlestick, West End,

Essendon, Hertfordshire Essendon is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire , south-west of Hertford. The village is on the B158 road above sea level and has a view of the Lea Valley to the north. Although on an ancient site, St Mary's parish church dates mainly ...

: Once the Chequers, lit by a single candle and plunged into darkness when the landlord took the candle to the cellar to fetch beer. * Crooked Chimney,

Lemsford Lemsford is a village and parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is near Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield and is in the Hatfield Villages Ward of the Borough of Welwyn/Hatfield. Lemsford Springs is a small nature reserve. Its lagoons are importan ...

, Hertfordshire: The pub's chimney is distinctively crooked. *

Crooked House ''Crooked House'' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1949 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 23 May of the same year. The action takes place in and near L ...

, nickname of the Glynne Arms, Himley, Staffordshire. Because of mining subsidence, one side of the pub has a pronounced list. * Cupola House, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, formerly a pub, has a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

on its roof. * Hippodrome : a former cinema. This March, Isle of Ely premises was once a cinema. * Hole in the Wall. The official name or nickname of a number of very small pubs. One such at

Waterloo, London Waterloo () is a district in Central London, and part of the Bishops ward of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated east of Charing Cross. The area is part of a business improvement district known as Waterloo Quarter, which includes The ...

, is spacious but built into a railway viaduct. The Hole in the Wall, Gibraltar was an iconic bar well frequented by the navy workers. * Hundred House Inn (later Hotel),

Great Witley Great Witley is a village and civil parish (with Hillhampton), in the Malvern Hills District in the northwest of the county of Worcestershire, England. It is situated around ten miles to the north west of the city of Worcester. History There ...

. The hotel name originates from centuries ago when the Hundred House was a collecting house for the tithes gathered from districts in the Doddingtree Hundred. * Jackson Stops, Stretton, Rutland: The pub was once closed for a period when the only sign on the outside was that of London

estate agent An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged ...

Jackson Stops. The name stuck. * Kilt and Clover,

Port Dalhousie, Ontario Port Dalhousie is a community in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Known for its waterfront appeal, it is home to the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta and is historically significant as the terminus for the first three (19th century) routes of the ...

, named after the owners. The husband is of Scottish descent, and the wife is of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

heritage. The split theme runs throughout the pub. * Lattice House, King's Lynn. Historic pub named for its timbered structure. * New Inn. Pubs can bear this name for centuries. * Nutshell, Bury St Edmunds: one of the foremost claimants to be the smallest pub in the UK and maybe the world. * Porch House, Stow-on-the-Wold. Named after the front of the building. * Push Inn,

: At one time the pub had no external sign except for that on the entrance door which read, simply, PUSH. * Red House, Newport Pagnell, and on the old A43 between Northampton and

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...

: red or reddish painted buildings. * The Steps,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. Named after the steps outside. * Swiss Cottage was built in Swiss chalet style. It gave its name to an

underground station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase Train ticket, tickets, board trains, and Emergency eva ...

and an area of London. * Swiss Gardens,

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on th ...

, originally the pub of a Swiss-themed Victorian picnic garden and amusement park. * Thatched House Tavern, Cambridge, named after the building. * Three Legged Mare, High Petergate,

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, named after the design of a

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

, an example of which may be found in the pub's garden; affectionately known as the Wonky Donkey. * Vaults, a number of pubs, not all having

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

s as an architectural feature; the word also had the general meaning of 'storeroom'. By extension 'the vaults' was formerly used to designate a particular type of bar. At a time (mid 19th-mid 20th century) when the several areas in a pub served different clientele, 'the vaults' would cater largely for working-class drinkers and would most usually be men-only. * White Elephant, Northampton,

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. Originally built as a hotel to accommodate visitors to the adjacent Northampton Racecourse, the building became a "

white elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, sch ...

" (useless object) when horse racing was stopped at Northampton Racecourse in 1904.

Services provided by the pub

* Coach & Horses, for a coaching inn * Farriers Arms, for a pub with a

farrier A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adj ...

who could re-shoe the traveller's horses * Free Press, named for when part of the building in Cambridge was used to print a newspaper. * Horse & Groom, where the traveller's horse would be cared for while the traveller drank * Pewter Platter, Cross Street, Hatton Gardens (now closed), for a pub where meals were served. * Stilton Cheese Inn : named for the cheese sold locally that led to the cheese acquiring its name of Stilton cheese. * Wheelwrights, for a pub where a coach's wheels could be repaired or replaced

Beer and wine

Many traditional pub names refer to the drinks available inside, most often beer. * Barley Mow: a stack (or sheaf) of

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

, the principal grain from which beer is made. * Barrels: A

cask A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

keg A keg is a small barrel. Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. A keg is normally now constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is coated with plastic on th ...

containing 36 Imperial

gallon The gallon is a unit of volume in imperial units and United States customary units. Three different versions are in current use: *the imperial gallon (imp gal), defined as , which is or was used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Austr ...

s of liquid, especially beer. Other sizes include: ''pin'', 36 pints; firkin, 9 gallons;

kilderkin Capacities of brewery casks were formerly measured and standardised according to a specific system of English units. The system was originally based on the Gallon#History, ale gallon of . In United Kingdom and its colonies, with the adoption of the ...

, 18 gallons; half-hogshead, 27 gallons; hogshead, 54 gallons; butt, probably 104 gallons. * Brewery Tap: A pub originally found on site or adjacent to a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

and often showcasing its products to visitors; although, now that so many breweries have closed, the house may be nowhere near an open brewery. * Burton Stingo, Wisbech thought to be named after the Burton ales and Stingo on sale within. * Bushel (and New Bushel), Wisbech, Isle of Ely: named after a unit of volume used in a corn exchange to trade including barley used in brewing. * Cock and Bottle, or simply Cock: The stopcock used to serve beer from a barrel, and a beer bottle. * Coffee Pot Inn, (

Downham Market Downham Market, sometimes simply referred to as Downham, is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It lies on the edge of the Fens, on the River Great Ouse, approximately 11 miles south of King's Lynn, 39 miles west of Norwich and 30 ...

) : another popular drink. * Hop Inn: Hop flowers are the ingredient in beer which gives it its bitter taste, though this name is often intended as a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

. * Hop Pole: The poles which support wires or ropes up which hops grow in the field. * (Sir)

John Barleycorn "John Barleycorn" is an English and Scottish folk song listed as number 164 in the Roud Folk Song Index. John Barleycorn, the song's protagonist, is a personification of barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it: beer and whisky. ...

: A character of English traditional folk music and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, similar to a

. He is annually cut down at the ankles, thrashed, but always reappears—an allegory of growth and harvest based on

. * Leather(n) Bottle: A container in which a small amount of beer or wine was transported, now replaced by a glass bottle or can. * Malt Shovel: A

shovel A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made o ...

used in a malting to turn over the barley grain. * Mash Tun: a brewery vessel used to mix grains with water. * Pint Shop : unit of volume. * Three

Tun TUN or tun may refer to: Biology * Tun shells, large sea snails of the family ''Tonnidae'' * Tun, a tardigrade in its cryptobiotic state * Tun or Toon, common name for trees of the genus '' Toona'' Places * Tun, Sweden, a locality in Västra G ...

s: Based on the arms of two

s, the Worshipful Company of Vintners and the

Worshipful Company of Brewers The Worshipful Company of Brewers is one of the livery companies of the City of London. London brewers are known to have organised as a group in the 13th century. Their first royal charter was granted by Henry VI in 1438. In 1643, Parliamen ...

. * The Tankard, London. Named after the drinks container.

Food

Other pub names refer to items of food to tempt the hungry traveller. For example, The Baron of Beef in Cambridge refers to a double sirloin joined at the backbone. * Red Herring, Great Yarmouth. Named after Red Herring a product of the local fishing industry. * ''Shoulder of Mutton'', Wisbech is another pub named for a joint of meat.

Puns, jokes and corruptions

The Nowhere Inn Particular, Sumner Road, Crodyon

Although

s became increasingly popular through the twentieth century, they should be considered with care. Supposed corruptions of foreign phrases usually have much simpler explanations. Many old names for pubs that appear nonsensical are often alleged to have come from corruptions of slogans or phrases, such as "The Bag o'Nails" (Bacchanals), "The Cat and the Fiddle" (Caton Fidele) and "The Bull and Bush", which purportedly celebrates the victory of Henry VIII at "Boulogne Bouche" or

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C ...

Harbour. Often, these corruptions evoke a visual image which comes to signify the pub; these images had particular importance for identifying a pub on signs and other media before

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

became widespread. Sometimes the basis of a nickname is not the name, but its pictorial representation on the sign that becomes corrupt, through weathering, or unskillful paintwork by an amateur artist. Apparently, many pubs called the Cat or Cat and Custard Pot were originally Tigers or Red Lions with signs that "looked more like a cat" in the opinion of locals. * Axe and Gate: Possibly from "''ax'' (or ''ask'') ''and get''". * Bag o'Nails: Thought by the romantic to be a corrupted version of " Bacchanals" but really is just a sign once used by

ironmonger Ironmongery originally referred, first, to the manufacture of iron goods and, second, to the place of sale of such items for domestic rather than industrial use. In both contexts, the term has expanded to include items made of steel, aluminium ...

s. The pub of this name in Bristol, England was named in the 1990s for the former reason, though the latter is more prevalent. * Barge Inn. A play on words 'barge in'. The Barge Inn in

Bradford-on-Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, s ...

, Wiltshire is however actually on a canal, where barges tie up. * Beartown Tap, Congleton, Cheshire. 'Beartown' is the nickname for Congleton, as local legend claims its townsfolk once 'sold the bible to buy the bear', that is, spent money set aside to buy a parish Bible on providing

bear-baiting Bear-baiting is a blood sport in which a chained bear and one or more dogs are forced to fight one another. It may also involve pitting a bear against another animal. History Europe Great Britain Bear-baiting was very popular from the 12th ...

at their fair. * Bent Brief, once close to the Honest Lawyer on Lodge Road,

. * Bird and Baby, the familiar name used by the

for the

pub in Oxford (see above under Heraldry). * Bird in-hand, Wisbech. Alludes to the expression. * Buck and Ear in the Steveston area of Richmond,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The name alludes not only to the maritime heritage of the area but also to a previous establishment at the same location that was called "The Buccaneer". * Bull and Mouth: Believed to celebrate the victory of Henry VIII at " Boulogne Mouth" or Harbour. Also applies to Bull and Bush (Boulogne Bouche). * Case is Altered: The title of an early comedy by

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

, first published in 1609, based on a remark by lawyer Edmund Plowden which entered into common currency. Also said to be a corruption of the Latin phrase ''Casa Alta'' ('high house') or ''Casa Altera'' ('second house'). There are several examples in England, such as at

Hatton, Warwickshire Hatton is a village and civil parish about west-northwest of Warwick, in the Warwick District of Warwickshire in England. The parish had a population of 1,078 at the 2001 Census, increasing to 2,319 at the 2011 Census. Notable landmarks incl ...

The Case is Altered (now closed) and a later new build pub 'The Case' also now closed both in Wisbech, Isle of Ely. * Cat and Fiddle: a corruption of Caton le Fidèle (a governor of Calais loyal to

King Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ...

). Alternatively from

Katherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

la Fidèle, Henry VIII's first wife. * Cock and Bull: a play on " cock and bull story". This term is said to derive from the ''Cock'' and the ''Bull'', two pubs in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, which are close neighbours and rival coaching inns. * Dew Drop Inn: A

on "do drop in". * Dirty Duck: The Black Swan, as in Stratford-on-Avon; also The Mucky Duck in Portsmouth and the

Students Union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...

pub at the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

* Dirty Habit: Sited on the route of the

Pilgrims' Way The Pilgrims' Way (also Pilgrim's Way or Pilgrims Way) is the historical route supposedly taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. This name, of comparatively recent coinage ...

, the name is a play on the contemptuous phrase and a reference to the clothing of monks who passed by on a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

to Canterbury Cathedral. Elephant and castle pub sign - geograph

* Elephant and Castle: By folk etymology, a corruption of "la Infanta de Castile". It is popularly believed amongst residents of

that a 17th-century publican near Newington named his

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern t ...

after the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subs ...

who was affianced to King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after hi ...

. The prohibition of this marriage by Church authorities in 1623 was a cause of war with Spain so it seems unlikely to have been a popular name. A more probable and prosaic explanation is that the name derives from the arms of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers, a London trade guild; an elephant carrying a castle-shaped

howdah A howdah, or houdah (Hindi: हौदा ''haudā''), derived from the Arabic (hawdaj), which means "bed carried by a camel", also known as ''hathi howdah'' (''hāthī haudā'', हाथी हौदा), is a carriage which is positioned on ...

can also be seen on the arms of the City of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

. * Fawcett Inn ("force it in"),

. * Gate Hangs Well, common in the Midlands: "This Gate Hangs Well, and hinders none. Refresh and pay and travel on." Also frequently found as 'Hanging Gate'. * Goat and Compass s Possibly based on the arms of the

, whose coat of arms contains three goats, together with the

, whose coat of arms contains three compasses. (either that, or from "God encompass us") * Honest Lawyer Folkestone, The Honest Politician,

. * Hop Inn: similar to the Dew Drop Inn. A double pun in that hops are a major ingredient in beer making. * Jolly Taxpayer in

. * Letters Inn ("let us in") * Library: So students and others can say they're in 'the library', * Nag's Head. Pub signs can play on the double meaning of Nag – a horse or a scolding woman. * Nowhere, Plymouth; Nowhere Inn Particular,

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

: Wife calls husband on his mobile and asks where he is. He answers truthfully "Nowhere". * Office: as above. * Ostrich,

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

: originally ''Oyster Reach'' (the old name has since been restored on the advice of historians). * Paraffin Oil Shop (now closed), at the crossing of A5080 and B5179 in eastern

Google Earth view here
So people could say that they are going to buy paraffin. * Pig and Whistle: a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon saying ''piggin wassail'' meaning "good health". * Swan With Two Necks: In

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, wild mute swans swimming in open water have traditionally been the property of the reigning monarch, who had the right to grant swan marks. In the 16th century,

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

granted the right to ownership of some swans to the Worshipful Company of Vintners. To tell which swan belonged to whom, the Vintners' swans' beaks would be marked with two notches, or nicks. The word 'nick' was mistaken for 'neck', and so the Vintners spotted that a Swan With Two Necks could afford them a rather clever pun, and a striking pub sign. When Swan Upping is carried out nowadays rings are used in lieu of nicking beaks. * Three Chimneys,

Biddenden Biddenden is a large, mostly agricultural and wooded village and civil parish in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. The village lies on the Weald of Kent, some north of Tenterden. It was a centre for the Wealden iron industry and also of ...

: During the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) it is said that up to 3,000 French prisoners were kept at nearby Sissinghurst Castle. The French seamen were placed on parole in the surrounding area and were allowed out as far as the pub building. At the time locals referred to this as the 'Three Wents' (or three ways) but the prisoners called it Les Trois Chemins. The unique name of the Three Chimneys therefore derives from the French term for the junction of three roads.

Religious

The amount of religious symbolism in pub names decreased after Henry VIII's break from the church of Rome. For instance, many pubs now called the King's Head were originally called the Pope's Head. * Adam & Eve, Norwich. The city's oldest pub. * Anchor, Hope & Anchor, Anchor & Hope, Anchor of Hope,: From the

Letter to the Hebrews The Epistle to the Hebrews ( grc, Πρὸς Ἑβραίους, Pros Hebraious, to the Hebrews) is one of the books of the New Testament. The text does not mention the name of its author, but was traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle. Most ...

(6:19): "We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope." * Blackfriars, Wisbech (closed): named after the Blackfriars of the town. * Cardinal's Hat,

Harleston, Norfolk Harleston is a town from Norwich, in the civil parish of Redenhall with Harleston, in the South Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England. In 2018 it had an estimated population of 5067. Harleston is on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, clos ...

. * Cross Keys: The sign of St Peter, the gatekeeper of Heaven. Often found near a church dedicated to St Peter. When people walked to the Sunday service they often stayed afterwards, at a house near the church, to drink beer and to watch or participate in sporting events. These venues became known as pubs and would use the sign of the saint to which the church was dedicated - the Cross Keys for St Peter, an Eagle for St John, a Lion for St Mark. The sporting events might include the racing or fighting of dogs, bulls, cocks or pheasants, or the hunting of foxes, with or without hounds - thus giving rise to further pub signs. * Lamb & Flag: From the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

(1:29): "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." The Lamb is seen carrying a flag (usually of St. George) and is the symbol of the Knights Templar, the

Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors ] The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 110 Livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Company, originally known as the ''Guild and Fraternity of St John the Baptist in the City of London'', was founded prio ...

, and St John's College, Oxford. A pub of this name appeared in the popular BBC sitcom ''

Bottom Bottom may refer to: Anatomy and sex * Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or dominant * Bottom (sex), a term used by gay couples and BDSM * Buttocks or bottom, part of th ...

''. * Five Ways: Possibly referring to the "Five Ways" of Thomas Aquinas, five reasons for the existence of God. * Lion & Lamb: The lion is a symbol of the

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...

, the lamb a symbol of the Redeemer. * Mitre: A bishop's headgear, a simple sign easily recognisable by the illiterate. In

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...

and in

a Mitre is adjacent to a church. In Wisbech the Mitre (formerly the Castle) had been erected on the castle ditch (part of the bishop's palace). * Salutation: The greeting of the

Archangel Gabriel In Abrahamic religions ( Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ ...

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

when informing her she was to carry

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. * Shaven Crown, at Shipton under Wychwood. One belonged to monks. * Shepherd & Flock may refer to Christ (the Shepherd) and the people (his flock) but may also just mean the agricultural character and his charges. * Six Ringers, Leverington - named after the bells (or bell ringers needed) in the St.Leonards' church. * Three Crowns: The

, but also see ''Heraldry'' above. * Three Kings: The Magi. * Parish: In

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

, Originally called "The Parish Pump", Referring to its close proximity to Huddersfield Parish Church. * Virgin's Inn, Derby : named after the Virgin Mary.

Royalty

Royal names have always been popular (except under the Commonwealth). It demonstrated the landlord's loyalty to authority (whether he was loyal or not), especially after the restoration of the monarchy. * King and Queen: Celebrates the dual monarchy of William III and Mary II. * Alexandra: wife of

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

. * King of Prussia, Gosport: named after

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...

* Prince Arthur: (e.g. in Brighton) third son of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

. His son, also Arthur, is usually referred to as the

Duke of Connaught Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that was granted on 24 May 1874 by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to her third son, Prince Arthur. At the same time, he was also ...

, another pub name. * Prince Leopold,

Southsea Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea is not a separate town as all of Portsea Island's s ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

's fourth son. * George the Fourth, Wisbech. After

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten ye ...

. *

reigned at the time of greatest expansion of housing stock and associated pubs, and at the height of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. She inspired great loyalty and affection, and publicans aimed to reflect this. *

: the title of the heir to the monarchy was also popular in Victorian times, when Albert Edward was the longest-serving holder of the title. * Princess of Wales: following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, a number of pubs were renamed ''Princess of Wales'', including the ''Prince of Wales'' on Morden Road in

South Wimbledon South Wimbledon is an area of Wimbledon in south-west London in the London Borough of Merton, England. History Toponymy It is marked on an Ordnance Survey map of 1876 as New Wimbledon and on a 1907 map as South Wimbledon. The name is derived fr ...

. The sign replaced with an image of a white rose; Diana was called "England's Rose" in a popular song at the time by Elton John. *

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

: the title of the future

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

, in the

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

period. * Queen of Bohemia, Wych Street, London. A former pub named after Elizabeth, daughter of

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

and

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and Eng ...

. * Three Queens Inn, Burton : named after three royal ladies.

Ships

* Albion: at Penarth, near

, South Wales, and at

West Kensington West Kensington, formerly North End, is an area in the ancient parish of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) west of Charing Cross. It covers most of the London postal area of W14, includ ...

, London *

Ark Royal Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Ark Royal'': * , the flagship of the English fleet during the Spanish Armada campaign of 1588 * , planned as freighter, built as seaplane carrier during the First World War, renamed ''Pegasu ...

: the name of five ships of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

from 1587, from the time of the Spanish Armada, through the Dardanelles Campaign and the hunt for the Bismarck with the current ship in service since 1981. There is a pub of the name in

Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Sea is a port town on the north coast of Norfolk, England. The civil parish has an area of and in 2001 had a population of 2,451,Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household c ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. * Cutter: Wisbech, Isle of Ely. (now closed) *

Cutty Sark ''Cutty Sark'' is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period ...

, a clipper in dry dock and a

nearby in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

. * Endeavour, on

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

's east side,

Captain Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

's ship. * The Fishing Buss, Southwold. Named after a type of fishing vessel. *

Golden Hind ''Golden Hind'' was a galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. She was originally known as ''Pelican,'' but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hat ...

: Sir Francis Drake's

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch W ...

. *

Invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane ...

, Portsmouth: named after the aircraft carrier and battlecruiser associated with the First and Second battles of the Falklands. * London Trader, Hastings * Lifeboat Inn, Holme-Next-The-Sea. A smuggler's Inn named after the rescue boat. *

Llandoger Trow The Llandoger Trow is a historic public house in Bristol, south-west England. Dating from 1664, it is on King Street, between Welsh Back and Queen Charlotte Street, near the old city centre docks. Named by a sailor who owned the pub after Llando ...

, Bristol: a 17th-century pub with literary connections. *

Mary Rose The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her ...

, Southsea: named after Henry VIII's battleship of that name. *

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

, famous for sailing the

Pilgrim Fathers The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who came to North America on the ''Mayflower'' and established the Plymouth Colony in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts, named after the final departure port of Plymo ...

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

in 1620. A pub in

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of D ...

. * Old Ferryboat, Holywell, Cambridgeshire * Pilot Boat,

Bembridge Bembridge is a village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by some residents that Bembridge ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

, Southwold, and

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Heri ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

Prospect of Whitby The Prospect of Whitby is a historic public house on the banks of the Thames at Wapping in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lays claim to being the site of the oldest riverside tavern, dating from around 1520. History The tavern was f ...

, on the north bank of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

Wapping Wapping () is a district in East London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Wapping's position, on the north bank of the River Thames, has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, ...

, London. * Resolute, Poplar High Street, London. * Royal George,

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...

and may others. * Sheffield,

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of B ...

(now closed): After , built in the local shipyard and sunk in the Falklands War. * Ship Defiance, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) * Ship Leopard, near

Hard: named after several Royal Navy ships, the most recent having been an anti-aircraft frigate. * Ship on the Stocks, Great Yarmouth. * Sloop,

Wootton Bridge Wootton Bridge is a large village, civil parish and electoral ward with about 3,000 residents on the Isle of Wight, first recorded around the year 1086. The parish also contains the settlement of Wootton. Wootton is found midway between the tow ...

* Steam Packet Tavern, Rose Corner, Norwich. *

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

Keal Cotes Keal Cotes, forming part of West Keal parish, is a small linear village in East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A16 road, south from West Keal and 1 mile north from Stickford. The nearest market town is Spils ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

(now renamed) *

Victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes ...

, Station Road,

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in t ...

, Surrey,

Marble Arch The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is toda ...

, St. Mawes and elsewhere *

Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

Carisbrooke Carisbrooke is a village on the south western outskirts of Newport, Isle of Wight and is best known as the site of Carisbrooke Castle. It also has a medieval parish church. St Mary's Church (overlooking Carisbrooke High Street with views to the ...

: named after the paddle steamer.

Sports

Sign for the Bat and Ball, Breamore - geograph

Games

* Double Six, Stonebroom, Derbyshire, now closed, had

Dominoes Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also c ...

displayed on the sign. Football club nicknames include: * Hammers,

E6:

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

although elsewhere in the country it could refer to

blacksmiths A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

(see ''Heraldry'' above). * Magpies, Meadow Lane,

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

who play close by at the other end of Meadow Lane. * The Peacock Inn: Elland Road,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. Opposite the Leeds United football ground whose original nickname was taken from the pub.

Hunting and blood sports

* Anglers' Beerhouse, Wisbech. The fens are noted for the coarse fishing facilities. * Bird in Hand: the bird sitting on the left gauntlet in falconry. * Blue Posts: boundary-markers of

Fields, the (former) royal hunting grounds to the north-east of

Whitehall Palace The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. H ...

. * Dog and Bear:

Bear-baiting Bear-baiting is a blood sport in which a chained bear and one or more dogs are forced to fight one another. It may also involve pitting a bear against another animal. History Europe Great Britain Bear-baiting was very popular from the 12th ...

, where a bear was tethered to a stake and dogs set upon it to see who would kill who first. ''Bear Inn'' may refer to the sport or to the

of a prominent local family. * Dog and Duck where duck-baiting events were held. * Dog and Gun: Referencing

gun dog Gun dogs, or bird dogs, are types of hunting dogs developed to assist hunters in finding and retrieving game, usually quail, dove, or duck. Gun dogs are divided into three primary types: retrievers, flushing dogs, and pointing breeds. Types ...

s. Similarly, Dog and Partridge. * Fighting Cocks (or just 'Cock'): Cockfighting; but the fighting cock also could be a

heraldic charge In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an '' escutcheon'' (shield). That may be a geometric design (sometimes called an '' ordinary'') or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object, building, or ...

. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in Saint Albans rivals

for the title of oldest pub; its name advertised actual cockfighting entertainment in the pub. * Fox and Hounds (or 'Dog and Fox'): Fox hunting * Gin Trap Inn, Hunstanton. After the animal trap. * Greyhound: for Henry VIII's favourite hunting dog among others * Hare and Hounds: hunting by

beagling Beagling is the hunting mainly of hares and also rabbits, by beagles by scent. A beagle pack (10 or more hounds) is usually followed on foot, but in a few cases mounted. Beagling is often enjoyed by 'retired' fox hunters who have either sustaine ...

hare coursing Hare coursing is the pursuit of hares with greyhounds and other sighthounds, which chase the hare by sight, not by scent. In some countries, it is a legal, competitive activity in which dogs are tested on their ability to run, overtake and turn ...

, or greyhound racing * Hark to Bellman:

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...

later (1826) the Bellman Inn, named after a hound of the huntsman John Peel, as were the Hark to Bounty in Slaidburn, and the Hark to Towler in Bury; in fox hunting, "hark to" meant to listen. * Rabbits,

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...

: a frequent object of shooting. * Tally Ho: A hunting cry which was also used as a name for a stagecoach. The ''Tally Ho'' at

Trumpington, Cambridgeshire Trumpington is a village and parish to the south of Cambridge, England. The village is an electoral ward of the City of Cambridge and a ward of South Cambridgeshire District Council. The 2011 Census recorded the ward's population as 8,034. Th ...

shows a

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

as the call came to be used by some local wartime

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

pilots. * Bay Horse: West Woodburn,

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

. Refers to the use of horses in fox hunting, ''bay'' being a colour of horses. * See Ho

Shorne Shorne is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. The parish lies east of Gravesend. Most of the land is well-drained but its marshes, the Shorne Marshes reach down to the Thames Estuar ...

: a hare coursing term. * Fox Goes Free (

Charlton, West Sussex Charlton is a hamlet in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies on the Singleton to East Dean road 5.3 miles (8.6 km) north of Chichester. At the 2011 Census the population of the hamlet was included in the civil parish of ...

). Particularly appropriate after the ban on fox hunting in the United Kingdom in the early 2000s.

Other Sports

* Bat and Ball: a reference to cricket used by a number of pubs, one of which gave its name to a railway station. * Boathouse,

—not far from the real boathouses. * Bowling Green— Bowls has been for many years a popular sport in the Manchester area: many of the greens are attached to pubs, e.g. the Lloyd's Hotel and the Bowling Green Hotel in

Chorlton-cum-Hardy Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a suburban area of Manchester, England, southwest of the city centre. Chorlton ward had a population of 14,138 at the 2011 census, and Chorlton Park 15,147. By the 9th century, there was an Anglo-Saxon settlement her ...

. The Bowling Green Hotel in Grafton Street, Chorlton on Medlock, no longer has a green. * Cricketers: can be sited near or opposite land on which

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

is (or was) played. * Cricket Players: a version of the Cricketers found in

and probably elsewhere. * Hand and Racquet, Wimbledon, near the

All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London, England, is a Gentlemen's club, private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon ...

. A fictional version is referenced several times in

Tony Hancock Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, ...

scripts. * Larwood and Voce,

West Bridgford West Bridgford is a town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Rushcliffe in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies immediately south of the city of Nottingham, from which the River Trent divides it. Forming part of the Not ...

, Nottinghamshire:

Harold Larwood Harold Larwood, MBE (14 November 1904 – 22 July 1995) was a professional cricketer for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team between 1924 and 1938. A right-arm fast bowler who combined unusual speed with grea ...

and

Bill Voce Bill Voce (8 August 1909 – 6 June 1984) was an English cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire and England. As a fast bowler, he was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline strategy in their tour of Australia in 1932–1933 under ...

were two internationally renowned fast-bowlers who played for

and England between the world wars. This pub is at the side of the

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also ...

cricket ground, the home of Nottingham County Cricket Club. * Test Match,

, Nottinghamshire: an international game of cricket. This beautiful

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

Grade II listed pub is to be found near

at the other end of Central Avenue, a ground on which test matches are played. * Trent Bridge Inn,

, Nottinghamshire, the most famous of cricketing pubs sited on the edge of the

Cricket Ground, is not named after the ground but for the bridge itself. This was a strategic crossing place of the

River Trent The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

protected by

Nottingham Castle Nottingham Castle is a Stuart Restoration-era ducal mansion in Nottingham, England, built on the site of a Norman castle built starting in 1068, and added to extensively through the medieval period, when it was an important royal fortress and ...

. Ben Clark, the owner of the Inn in 1832, was a

enthusiast and decided he would like a cricket pitch in his back garden. It was that small pitch which evolved into one of the world's premier

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

venues. * Nine Pins, Cambridge (now closed), a former Star Brewery pub, named after the sport. * Old Ball:

Horsforth Horsforth is a town and civil parish within the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying about five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 18,895 at the ...

. next to the

Cricket club pitch. * Popinjay Inn,

: a Popinjay is a target used in archery. * Wrestlers: Great North Road,

Hatfield, Hertfordshire Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It had a population of 29,616 in 2001, and 39,201 at the 2011 Census. The settlement is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, home of the Marquess o ...

and Wisbech (now closed) named for the sport.

Topography

* Barrack Tavern, Woolwich Common: near the army barracks. * Bishop's Finger: after a type of signpost found on the

in Kent, said to resemble a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

's finger (also used as the name of a beer by

Shepherd Neame Brewery Shepherd Neame is an English independent brewery which has been based in the market town of Faversham, Kent, for over 300 years. While 1698 is the brewery's official established date, town records show that commercial brewing has occurred on the ...

). * Bridge Inn (often preceded by the name of a bridge) - located near a river or canal bridge: historically these were good places to establish a pub due to passing traffic on both the road and the water. Bridge and Bridge Inn were both to be found in Wisbech, Isle of Ely (now closed). * Bunch of Carrots, Hampton Bishop. Named after a rock formation. * Castle: usually a prominent local landmark, but sometimes a heraldic device: see under "Heraldry", above. Castle, Wisbech, Isle of Ely; (now closed) named after the succession of castles, bishops palaces and villas that occupy a site to this day known as The Castle. * First In, Last Out: A pub on the edge of a town. It's the first pub on the way in and last on the way out. Does not refer to the habits of any of the pub's clientele as some signs suggest. * Fosdike Inn, near Boston : named after the village of

Fosdyke Fosdyke is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 480. It is situated approximately south from Boston, just off the A17, and east from the junction ...

, itself named after an early watercourse. * Half Way House: This one is situated half-way between two places; but with the pub of this name at Camden Town it's anyone's guess which two places it's half-way between. A similar name is West End House (located at the West side of a town). * ''Horsefair Tavern'', Wisbech (closed and for sale. 2021). Named after the Horsefair (now a shopping mall, formerly a site for selling horses). Former uses included as a Liberal Club and a youth club. * First and Last, nickname of The Redesdale Arms, the nearest pub to the border between England and Scotland, on the A68 between Rochester and Otterburn in

. * ''Five Miles from Anywhere Inn: No Hurry'', Upware. An isolated hostelry. * ''(number)'' Mile Inn : Usually the distance to the centre of the nearest prominent town, as in the Four Mile Inn at

Bucksburn Bucksburn is an suburb of the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, named after the stream that flows through it. The stream is called Bucks Burn. Bucksburn was formerly a market village before being swallowed up by the spread of the city. The area is bo ...

, Aberdeen, and the Five Mile House, near

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

. * North Pole beerhouse, Wide Bargate,

Boston, Lincolnshire Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, south-southeast of Hul ...

. (closed) * Strugglers, near a

, refers to how people being

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

would struggle for air. Ironically the famous executioner

Albert Pierrepoint Albert Pierrepoint (; 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him. Pierrepoin ...

was landlord of the ''Help the Poor Struggler'' at Hollinwood, near

, for several years after World War II, and had to hang one of his own regulars, James Corbitt. * Hangmans Inn, on site of

Guernsey * Harbour Hotel, Wisbech, Isle of Ely. next to the harbour. * Nene Inn, Wisbech, Isle of Ely. Near the river of the same name. * Theatre Tavern, Gosport. Both theatre and adjacent tavern had the same owner. * Tunnel Top: near

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

, Cheshire, named for its position over a canal tunnel. * Turnpike: named for a former toll point, as in Turnpike hotel, Wisbech. * West End, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now renamed BLUES), a pub on the West of the town. * Windmill: a prominent feature of the local landscape at one point. Pubs with this name may no longer be situated near a standing mill, but there's a good chance they're close to a known site and will almost certainly be on a hill or other such breezy setting. Clues to the presence of a mill may also be found in the naming of local roads and features. The Windmill in Wisbech, Isle of Ely was next to the site of a windmill. * World's End. A pub on the outskirts of a town, especially if on or beyond the protective city wall. Examples are found in London Borough of Camden, Camden and Edinburgh. * Three Hills. A pub in the village of Bartlow, Cambridgeshire, named after three Tumulus, barrows close to the border with Essex.

Trades, tools and products

* Axe 'n Cleaver inn Much Birch, or Altrincham, also

and North Somercotes. * Bankers, near Walpole St. Andrews, West Norfolk. Named after those involved in making and maintaining the seabanks and riverbanks. * Bettle and Chisel in Delabole, Cornwall, from two tools of the slate quarrymen * Blackfriars, Wisbech: named for the local friars. (now closed) * Blind Beggar, a pub in Whitechapel named for the story of Henry de Montfort * Brewers Arms, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local brewing industry. * British Rifleman, Wisbech : (now closed) named for the

infanteers equipped with rifles. * Butcher: the Butchers Arms can be found in Aberdeen, Chester-le-Street, Hepworth, West Yorkshire, Hepworth, Sheepscombe, Stroud, Woolhope and Yeovil * Compasses, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, dates from the 17th Century. * Chemic Tavern (formerly Chemical Tavern),

, West Yorkshire. Named for the workers at the nearby Woodhouse Chemical Works,(C. 1840–1900) it was a beer house on the 1861 census when the licensee was James Lapish. * Custom House Tavern, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local customs post in the port. * Engineers Tavern, Wisbech: named for the local rail industry. * Fen Plough, Chatteris : named after the local farming equipment. * Foresters, Brockenhurst in the New Forest * Golden Fleece, for the wool trade * Gun Barrels: at

in Birmingham, a city known for its metal-working and gunmaking trades. * Harbour Hotel, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local maritime industry. * Harrow: A harrow (tool), harrow breaks up the soil after it has been turned over by the plough to a finer tilth ready for sowing. * Harewood End: Hare, Woodland, in Winfrith, Dorset * * Jolly Nailor in Atherton, Greater Manchester, named after nail manufacture, present in the area since the 14th century. * Lathrenders Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the local lathe industry. * The Light Horseman, York. Named for a former cavalry barracks. * Locomotive, Wisbech: named for the former local rail industry. * Malt Shovel, Three Holes Bridge, Upwell (now closed). Named for brewing implement. * Masons Arms, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local masonry industry. * Midland Counties, Wisbech: named for Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway one of the local railway companies. * New Holly in Forton, Lancashire, named after the busy trade in the supply and cultivation of wreaths and decorations. * Olde Murenger House Newport, Wales, Newport, Monmouthshire, takes its name from the person in charge of the walls of a town or its repairs, known as murage. * Oyster Reach at Wherstead,

* Pillar of Salt, the name of pubs in Northwich, Cheshire and Droitwich, Worcestershire. Although ostensibly the name refers to Lot's wife as described in the bible, both towns were formerly centres of the salt trade in England. * Plough: an easy object to find to put outside a pub in the countryside. Some sign artists depict the plough as the Big Dipper, constellation; this consists of seven stars and so leads to the name the Seven Stars found in Redcliffe, Bristol, Shincliffe, County Durham, Chancery Lane, Robertsbridge and High Holborn also Winfrith Dorset * Plough and Harrow, Drakes Broughton, Worcs: A combination of the two farming implements. * Porters Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the local porters. * Printers Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the local print industry. * Propeller,

(now closed) and

. * Railway Inn, Wisbech: named for the local rail industry. (now closed) * Ram Skin, Spalding, Lincolnshire (now closed). Named for the local wool industry, closed in 1970. * Rifle Volunteer, Oxhey village, Gunnislake etc. * Roadmaker, Gorsley and elsewhere. * Ropers Arms, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the former local rope making industry. * Ship carpenters Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the local ship building industry. * Ship Inn from Irvine, North Ayrshire, Irvine to Oundle. However, the Ship Inn in Styal, Cheshire, states that its derivation is from 'shippon', a cattle shed or manure shed. * Shipwrights Arms, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local boatbuilding industry. * Sailor, Addingham near Ilkley; Jolly Sailor at St Athan and at Sandown,

. * Sailor's Return, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the local shipping industry. * Spade and Becket, Chatteris, (now closed) Isle of Ely, and Cambridge (closed),

(closed): a combination of two peat digging implements. * Tappers Harker (Long Eaton, Nottingham): a railway worker who listened to the tone of a hammer being hit onto a railway wagon wheel, to check its soundness. Similar to the The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, Wheeltappers and Shunters fictional pub of the 1970s show. * Three Jolly Butchers, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: named for the local meat industry. * Town and Gown

, Cambridgeshire, is named for the non-academic and academic communities of the city respectively. * Three Jolly Watermen, Waterbeach Fen (now closed): named for local water workers. * Trowel and Hammer, Norwich : thought to be named after local bricklayers. * Two Brewers, Diss : takes its name from the beer makers. * Valiant Sailor, King's Lynn named for the mariners of this port. * Volunteers Arms, Llanidloes (closed). One of many pubs named after Militia or rifle volunteers etc. * Woodman or Woodman's Cottage Inn. * Woolpack Banstead, Surrey and Wisbech, Isle of Ely. (now closed) Not an uncommon name in sheep country such as the Banstead Downs. Wisbech and the fens both raised sheep and exported the wool through the Port of Wisbech, named for the local sheep industry.

Transport

Air

* Airman, (currently closed)Feltham, Middlesex, and Henlow, Bedfordshire: named owing to their proximity to the former London Air Park (latterly Hanworth Air Park) and RAF Henlow respectively. * Balloon, (closed) Stamford. The balloonist Mr. H.Green had made a number of ascents in the vicinity in previous years. * Canopus, Rochester, Kent: Named after the flying boats produced at the nearby Short Brothers aircraft factory (now demolished). * Comet,

: In the 1950s the pub sign depicted the de Havilland DH.88 wooden monoplane racer named "Grosvenor House", famous for its winning of the 1934 McRobertson Cup air race from England to Australia and for its distinctive Post Box red colour. Also known as the DH Comet, this plane is not a precursor of the famous civilian jet airliner of the same name, but rather of the WW2 fast bomber, the de Havilland Mosquito * Flying Bedstead, Hucknall, Nottinghamshire: Name given to Flying Bedstead, the prototype aircraft which eventually led to the development of the Harrier Jump Jet, Harrier VTOL jet. * Flying Boat (now demolished) in Calshot,

, commemorated the part that the area played in the development of these aircraft between 1920 and 1940. * Harrier, a pub in Hucknall, and one in Hamble-le-Rice,

. * Hinkler road and pub in Thornhill, Hampshire, named after Bert Hinkler. * Red Arrow, Lutterworth, Leicestershire: a pub with a sloping triangular roof, named after the

aerobatics team. The pub was formerly called the "flying saucer" for its unusual shape, and has also been described as a ''Star Destroyer'' from the ''Star Wars'' films.

Rail

A large number of pubs called the Railway, the Station, the Railway Hotel, etc. are situated near current or defunct rail stations. Five stations on the London Underground system are named after pubs: Royal Oak tube station, Royal Oak, Elephant & Castle tube station, Elephant & Castle, Angel tube station, Angel, Manor House tube station, Manor House, Swiss Cottage tube station, Swiss Cottage. The area of Maida Vale, which has a Bakerloo line Maida Vale tube station, station, is named after a pub called the "Heroes of Maida" after the Battle of Maida in 1806. Mainline stations named after pubs include Bat & Ball railway station, Bat & Ball in Sevenoaks. * Atmospheric Railway, Starcross, Devon: after Atmospheric railway, a failed project by Isambard Kingdom Brunel at that place. * Pubs called the Brunel, or something similar generally celebrate the great Victorian engineer. * Flying Scotsman, e.g. Flying Scotsman, Kings Cross, The Flying Scotsman, Kings Cross, London. * Golden Arrow, Folkestone,

is named after a luxury boat train of the Southern Railway (UK), Southern Railway and later British Railways, which linked

with Dover, where passengers took the ferry to Calais and boarded its French counterpart (french: Flèche d'Or) to Paris. * Pubs called The Great Western or Great Western Hotel, are named after Isembard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway. Examples range form Wolverhampton, West Midlands (county), West Midlands to Exeter, Devon, * Head of Steam. A number of pubs located close to mainline rail stations, referring to steam locomotives. * King and Castle (now closed; near Stroud, Gloucestershire): after the GWR 6000 Class, King and GWR 4073 Class, Castle classes of steam engines on the Great Western Railway. * A number of Mallards are named after the LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard, world's fastest locomotive, not the bird. * Railway and Bicycle, next to the railway station in Sevenoaks, Kent. * Reckless Engineer: Situated outside the entrance to Bristol Temple Meads railway station, formerly the Isambard Kingdom Brunel. * Rocket,

: After Robert Stephenson's Rocket, a pioneering steam locomotive which ran on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It gives its name to the Rocket Roundabout, a busy traffic intersection at the end of the M62 motorway, M62.

Road

Bullnose Morris, Blackbird Leys - geograph

* Bullnose Morris, Cowley, Oxfordshire: Named after the Morris Oxford bullnose, motor cars once produced at the nearby factory. * Coach and Horses: A simple and common name found from Clerkenwell to Kew,

. * Four in Hand Four-in-hand, Method of reining horses so four may be controlled by a single coach driver. * Highway Inn, Burford. On the King's Highway. * I am the Only Running Footman, Mayfair, London W1; named after a servant employed by the wealthy to run ahead of their carriages and pay tolls. * Perseverance: Name of a stage coach. The Perseverance in

probably alludes to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Bedford being Mr Bunyan's home town. * Scotchman and his Pack, Bristol. Nothing to do with Scotland. The pub is situated at the bottom of the very steep St Michael's Hill. Vehicles going up the hill were prevented from rolling downwards by means of wooden wedges, called scotches, placed behind the wheels by a scotchman who carried the scotches in a pack. * Sedan Chair, Bristol, which like the Two Chairmen, London, is named after the carriers of sedan chairs. * Steamer,

, Hertfordshire: It is found at the top of a steep hill where carriers required an extra horse (a cock-horse) to help get the wagon up the hill. After its exertion the cock-horse could be seen standing steaming on a cold day as its sweat evaporated. * Terminus: Usually found where a tram route once terminated, sited near the tram terminus. * Traveller's Rest,

: a historic coaching inn on the main road to Bristol. * Waggon and Horses: Another simple transport name (prior to American influence, the British English spelling of 'wagon' featured a double 'g', retained on pub signs such as this one). * Wait for the Waggon,

and Wyboston, Bedfordshire: This is the name of the regimental march of The Royal Corps of Transport (now The Royal Logistic Corps), whose troops frequently use this route; the latter is sited on the Great North Road (Great Britain), Great North Road.

Water

* Navigation: usually situated alongside a canal towpath. Many pubs take their names from the company which once owned a nearby railway line, canal or navigation. * Black Buoy, Wivenhoe. Originally named after Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland, King Charles II and later renamed after a type of Channel marker buoy, as the owners had nautical connections. * Grand Junction, for Grand Junction Canal, the canal in Bulbourne, Hertfordshire; High Holborn and Harlesden, London * Grand Union, for Grand Union Canal, the canal in Westbourne, London, Westbourne Park, Camden Town, Camden and Maida Vale * Great Northern, for the Great Northern Railway (Great Britain), Great Northern Railway, in Langley Mill and Thackley * Great Western, for the Great Western Railway, in Paddington, Yeovil and Wolverhampton * Locks Inn, Geldeston. Named for the nearby locks. * North Western: London and North Western Railway Company * Shroppie Fly: Audlem, named after a type of canalboat called a 'Shropshire Fly' * Trent Navigation: for the River Trent, Trent Navigation Company * Fellows, Morton and Clayton: for the Fellows Morton & Clayton Canal Company * Tide End Cottage: in Teddington, at the end of the tidal reach of the River Thames

Other

* Air Balloon (pub), Air Balloon, Birdlip, Gloucestershire. Near a field where early ascents were made. * Goat and Tricycle, Bournemouth,

, a humorous modern name. * Rusty Bicycle, new name of the Eagle in

. Oxford's students often cycle round the town. * Tram Depot,

: Occupies the building which once was the stables of Cambridge's tramway depot. * Zeppelin Shelter, Aldgate, London, circa 1894, located opposite solid railway warehouses that were used in World War One (1914–1918) as East End civilian air raid shelters.

Most common

An authoritative list of the most common pub names in Great Britain is hard to establish, owing to ambiguity in what classifies as a

as opposed to a licensed restaurant or nightclub, and so lists of this form tend to vary hugely. The two surveys most often cited, both taken in 2007, are by the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) and Campaign for Real Ale, CAMRA. According to BBPA, the most common names are: #Red Lion (759) #Royal Oak (626) #White Hart (427) #Rose and Crown (326) #King's Head (310) #King's Arms (284) #Queen's Head (278) #The Crown (261) and according to Campaign for Real Ale, CAMRA they are: #Crown (704) #Red Lion (668) #Royal Oak (541) #Swan (451) #White Hart (431) #Railway (420) #Plough (413) #White Horse (379) #Bell (378) #New Inn (372) A more current listing can be found on the Pubs Galore site, updated daily as pubs open/close and change names. As of 18 December 2019, the top 10 were: #Red Lion (558) #Crown (509) #Royal Oak (432) #White Hart (317) #Swan (296) #Plough (294) #Railway (294) #White Horse (286) #Kings Arms (245) #Ship (244) The number of each is given in brackets.

Curiosities

The pubs with the shortest and longest names in Britain are both in Stalybridge: ''Q'' and ''The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn''. The longest name of a London pub, ''I am the Only Running Footman'', was used as the title of a mystery novel by Martha Grimes. There is a "pub with no name" in Southover Street, Brighton, and another near to Petersfield, Hampshire, so known (despite having an actual name), because its sign on the nearest main road has been missing for many years. The Salley Pussey's Inn at Royal Wootton Bassett is said to have been named after Sarah Purse, whose family owned The Wheatsheaf pub in the 19th century. In the 1970s the name was changed to the Salley Pussey's.

References

Sources

* Brewer, E. Cobham (1898) ''Dictionary of Phrase and Fable''. London: Cassell and Co. * Cox, Barrie (1994) ''English Inn and Tavern Names''. Nottingham: Centre for English Name Studies, * Dunkling, Leslie (1994) ''Pub Names of Britain'', London: Orion (1994), * Leslie Dunkling, Dunkling, Leslie & Wright, Gordon (2006) ''The Dictionary of Pub Names''. Ware: Wordsworth Editions * Myrddin ap Dafydd (1992) ''Welsh Pub Names''. Llanrwst: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch (Translation of: ''Enwau tafarnau Cymru'') * Wright, Gordon & Curtis, Brian J. (1995) ''Inns and Pubs of Nottinghamshire: the stories behind the names''. Nottingham: Nottinghamshire County Council

External links

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The Inn Sign Society

Collection of images of Pub Signs

Brewery Arts
a short history of studio inn signs Pubs Names