Pub names

Pub names are used to identify and differentiate traditional drinking establishments. Many pubs (public houses) are centuries old, and were named at a time when most of their customers were illiterate, but could recognise pub signs. The use of signage 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 pubs 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.

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.^[1] 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.^[2][3] 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, while a red lion was a badge of John of Gaunt and a blue boar of the Earls of Oxford.^[4] 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.^[3] The Black Bear, Walsoken actually had a black bear (stuffed) at the entrance to the premises years ago.^[5]

• Bald Faced Stag Inn, Finchley. An inn notorious as frequented by murderers in the past.^[6]
• Barking Dogs, Hoxton (closed). (Also various Barking Dog pubs). Named after the canine burglar deterrents.^[7]
• Bear Inn, Reading.^[8]
• Black Birds, Barnwell, Cambridgeshire. Named after Turdus merula in which the males are that colour.^[9]
• Black Horse, Chester-le-Street : some may be named in memory of a black horse ridden by Dick Turpin, however many including this one predate the event.^[10]
• Bull Inn, Stamford : the town was the last in England to practice bull-running.^[11]
• Chameleon, Wisbech (now closed).^[12]
• Crane, Cambridge. After the bird of that name, once numerous in The Fens. Crane is one of the nicknames for the inhabitants.^[13]
• Dog, Westhall, Suffolk.^[14]
• Dove, Ipswich : a biblical source.^[15]
• Greyfriars Bobby, Scotland. Named after a local dog.
• Heathcock Tavern, Strand : named after a game bird.^[16]
• Lobster, Sheringham. Patronised by the lifeboat crew who formed the Shanty Men.^[17]
• Old Ram, Tivetshall St. Mary.^[18]
• Olde Fighting Cocks, St. Albans. Named for the cocks used in fights and for gambling.^[19]
• Ostrich Inn, Castle Acre. Named after the flightless bird.^[20]
• Packhorse and Pig, Aldergate Street, London ^[21]
• Pickerel Inn, Cambridge : named after young pike (Esox lucius).^[22]
• Pyewipe Inn, Lincoln (closed). Pyewipe is the Lincolnshire dialect name for the lapwing.^[23][24]
• Py'd Bull, Lincoln (closed). This pub was advertised as convenient for drovers in the 18th century.^[25] The Pied Bull in Chester in reputed to be the oldest licensed house in the city and dates back to 1155.^[26]
• Red-Hart Inn, Petty Cury, Cambridge (closed). Claimed to have the only cockpit in the town.^[27]
• Rein Deer, Lincoln (closed).^[28]
• Roebuck Inn, Chesterton. Named after the male of the species Capreolus capreolus.^[29]
• Swan and Falcon Inn, Gloucester (closed).^[30]
• Ugly Bug, Colton.^[31]

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 Moon Under Water"), and the "Tap and Spile" brand name used by the now defunct Century Inns chain.^[32][33] 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.^[34]

Found objects[]

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 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 to show where wine was sold.^[35]

• Boot Inn, Whittlesea ^[36]
• Boot and Slipper, Amersham.^[37]
• Copper Kettle
• Crooked Billet, Portsmouth St, London (a bent branch from a tree)^[38]

Sometimes the object was coloured, such as Blue Post or Blue Door.^[39]

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 emblem, it may also be an echo of a pagan figure, Herne the Hunter.
• 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, 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, Norwich, Billericay, Maldon, Witney and elsewhere, from the badge of the Earls of Oxford.^[4]
• Castle: sometimes originally referred to the Coat of Arms of Castile in Spain, and meant that Spanish wines were available within.^[40]
• Checkers or Chequer(s), March, Isle of Ely and many other sites : sometimes derived from the coat of arms of a local landowner (see Chequy), 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. The last pub to use the older, now American spelling of checker was in Baldock, Hertfordshire, but this closed circa 1990; all pubs now use the modern "q" spelling (but see also Chequers, in Plants and horticulture below).^[41]
• Cross Keys, Wisbech, derived from the town's coat of arms and the town's church of SS. Peter & Paul.^[3]
• Eagle and Child, Oxford, derived from the arms of the Earls of Derby, was a meeting place of the Inklings.
• Elephant and Castle: 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 holding the red cross flag that represented the Resurrection of Christ earlier than it was the flag of England. This was the device of the Middle Temple, 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, still training barristers today. The Lamb & Flag (Oxford) is one of many pubs with this name.
• Olde Man and Scythe, Bolton, taken from the crest of the Pilkington 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.
• Rampant Horse (earlier Ramping Horse), Norwich : horses are popular pub signs and names.^[42]
• Red Dragon of Cadwaladr: 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 British pub. The lion is one of the most common charges in coats of arms, second only to the cross, 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.^[43][4]
• 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, indicating that German wines were available within.^[40]
• Swan, Wisbech a badge of many Lancastrian figures—see Dunstable Swan Jewel^[3]
• 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, Earls of Shrewsbury. Old Talbot, Wisbech (now closed)^[3]
• Unicorn
• White Bear
• White Hart: 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.^[4]
• White Horse: the sign of the House of Hanover, adopted by many eighteenth-century inns to demonstrate loyalty to the new Royal dynasty. A white horse is also the emblem of the County of Kent. The name can also refer to the chalk horses carved into hillsides.
• White lion: the livery badge of the Duke of Norfolk

Livery companies[]

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

• Three Arrows: The Worshipful Company of Bowyers
• Three Bucks: The Worshipful Company of Leathersellers
• Three Castles: The Worshipful Company of Masons
• Three Compasses: The Worshipful Company of Carpenters
• Three Crowns: The Worshipful Company of Drapers, although it can also refer to the Magi, the Diocese of Ely or the three crowns of East Anglia.^[44]
• Three Cups: The Worshipful Company of Salters
• Three Fishes: The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers
• Three Goats' Heads: The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers
• Three Hammers: The Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths
• Three Horseshoes: The Worshipful Company of Farriers
• Three Tuns: The Brewers and the Worshipful Company of Vintners^[3]
• Three Wheatsheafs: The Worshipful Company of Bakers

Landowners[]

Many coats of arms appear as pub signs, usually honouring a local landowner.

• Duke of Bedford, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the person draining the fens.^[3]
• Hardwicke Arms, Wisbech (now closed Down) - the Earl of Hardwicke KG MP being Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum.^[3]
• Huntingtower Arms, Grantham : 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.^[3]
• Percy Arms, Otterburn, Northumberland, commemorates the Battle of Otterburn in 1388, where Sir Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland, led the English army. There are other pubs with the same or similar names at various locations in the North East of England.
• Prince Albert, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the prince consort.^[3]
• Queen Victoria, Wisbech, Isle of Ely : named for the monarch.^[3]
• Royal Standard, Wisbech, Isle of Ely : named for royal family.^[3]
• Stanley Arms, Huyton, near Liverpool: after Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby.
• Marshland Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for a nearby council.^[3]
• Melbourne Arms, Duston, Northampton: after former local landowner Lord Melbourne
• Tollemache, Grantham : named after Frederick Tollemache
• Wisbech Arms, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local borough.^[3]

Occupations[]

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.

• Artillery Arms Bunhill Row, London EC1: situated next door to the headquarters of the Honourable Artillery Company, the British Army's oldest regiment.
• Blacksmith's Arms, (Wisbech) with the pun of the actual blacksmiths arms and their strength.^[3]
• 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.^[3]
• Builders Arms: Kensington Court Place, London
• Carpenters Arms - A series of pubs, related to the occupation or more likely to the guild of carpenters.^[2]
• Cooper's Arms, Little Old Bailey - Worshipful Company of Coopers.^[45][46]
• Drover's Inn, Loch Lomond, Scotland. Named after the cattle drivers.^[47] Also an example in Caerleon, near Newport, Wales.^[48]
• Fisherman's Arms, Birgham near Coldstream
• Foundryman's Arms Northampton
• Glazier's Arms, Stamford (closed).^[49]
• Lathrenders' Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely. Nearby were lathe makers.^[3]
• Mason's Arms, Wisbech.^[3]
• Mechanics Arms (now renamed the Old Neighbourhood), near Stroud, Gloucestershire. In this context a mechanic was a bonesetter.
• Millers Arms, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. Robert Taylor, the first publican in 1861, was a miller by trade.^[50]
• Plumbers Arms (Lower Belgrave Street, London SW1).
• Porters Arms, (Wisbech), Isle of Ely.^[3]
• Printers Arms, (Wisbech )owned by a local newspaper owner.^[3]
• Pyrotechnists' Arms, a local gunpowder maker.^[51]
• Ratcatchers, Cawston, Norfolk.^[52]
• Recruiting Sergeant, Newton Harcourt^[53]
• Ropers' Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely. Now closed. At least two rope walks in the town.^[3]
• Ship Carpenters' Arms, Wisbech named for local shipbuilders trades.^[3]
• Shipwrights' Arms, Wisbech named for the men employed in the local shipbuilders.^[3]
• Spinners' Arms, Hindley Green, Wigan.^[54]
• Waterman's Arms

Historic events[]

• Abdication, in Arnold : the reign and abdication of Edward VIII.^[55]
• Alma: commemorating the Battle of the Alma which took place in 1854, during the Crimean War.
• Bhurtpore Inn, Aston, near Nantwich, Cheshire: commemorating the Siege of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, 1826.^[56] 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 which was named in honour of Wellington's victory at the Battle of Waterloo.^[57]
  See also: Dolphin Inn, Plymouth
• Festival Inn: name of a pub in Poplar, London, built at the time of the Festival of Britain in 1951.
• Hand and Shears: this famous City of London 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.^[58]
• Magna Charta in Lowdham, Nottinghamshire, has its name spelled differently from the historic document after which it is named.
• Man on the Moon, Northfield, Birmingham: originally called The Man in the Moon and renamed on the day of the first moon landing in 1969.
• Battle of Minden, Portsmouth (closed): named after this historic military engagement.^[59]
• 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, 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. In 1485 Henry Tudor, a descendant of Lancaster, defeated Richard III of the York dynasty and married Richard's niece Elizabeth of York. Since then the combined red-and-white Tudor rose, often crowned, has been a symbol of the monarchy of England.

• Royal Oak: After the Battle of Worcester (1651) in the English Civil War, the defeated Prince Charles escaped the scene with the Roundheads on his tail. He managed to reach Bishops Wood in Staffordshire, where he found an oak 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). 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 oak.

• Saracen's Head and Turk's Head: Saracens and Turks 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. There are many pubs called the Nelson, 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.
• Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham, 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 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[]

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.^[60]
• Jabez Clegg in Manchester, now closed, was named after the title character in Isabella Banks' novel The Manchester Man.^[61]
• Hobbit in Southampton, named after J. R. R. Tolkien's creation and threatened with legal action by US movie lawyers, because of this.^[62]
• Lass O' Gowrie in Manchester, named after the poem by Carolina Nairne.^[63]
• Moon and Sixpence pubs in Portland, Oregon; Whitby, North Yorkshire; Harrow, Middlesex; and Soho, London are named after Somerset Maugham's novel of the same name.^[64]
• Moon Under Water, inspired by George Orwell's essay describing his perfect pub^[65]
• Muppet Inn, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now the Globe) named for the TV series, books and comics.^[3]
• Peveril of the Peak, in Manchester, commemorates a stagecoach that once connected Manchester and London, but the pub itself claims it is named for the novel by Sir Walter Scott.^[66]
• Sherlock Holmes in Charing Cross, London contains a reproduction of the great detective's study.^[67]
• Three Pigeons, Norwich and other locations. Used in a number of books and plays e.g. Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend (1864–65).^[68]
• Herbert Wells in Woking, a town that was fictionally destroyed by Martian invaders in H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. 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.^[69]
• Edgar Wallace, The Strand, London, named for the 1930s mystery writer.^[70]
• John Masefield in New Ferry, named for the former Poet Laureate who served for some years on a naval training ship, HMS Conway, off New Ferry pier.^[71]

Pubs in books from real-world pubs[]

• The Ivy Bush is a "small inn on the Bywater road" near Hobbiton in The Shire in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Here Gaffer Gamgee recounted to the other regulars his stories about Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, who were about to throw a magnificent joint birthday party.^[72] The most likely real-world source is an Edgbaston pub called the Ivy Bush, near where Tolkien lived when he was growing up in Birmingham.^[73][74]
• 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's 1848 Vanity Fair.^[75]

Myths and legends[]

Images from myths and legends are evocative and memorable.

• Black Bess: usually named after the legendary overnight ride from London to York in 1737 by Dick Turpin 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.^[76]
• 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 of England and his conflict with a dragon is essential to his story. This sign is a symbol of English nationalism.
• Green Dragon, Wisbech, Wymondham etc.: a couple of a number of pubs of this name.^[77]
• Green Man: a spirit of the wild woods.^[78] 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, 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 named the Green Man but there are Robin Hoods. The 1973 film The Wicker Man features a Green Man pub.
• Hob in the Well, King's Lynn: pubs of this name can come from Hobgoblin in the well or Dogget's play Flora: or, Hob in the Well (1748).^[79][80]
• Moonrakers: In the 17th century, some Wiltshire yokels hid their smuggled liquor in the Crammer (a pond in Devizes) 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 folk ever since and is the name of pubs in Devizes and Swindon.
• Robin Hood, sometimes partnered by his second in charge to form the name Robin Hood and Little John. 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, Longbow, Maid Marian and Major Oak.
• 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,^[81] or a saint beheaded for her Christianity.^[82] The pub signs sometimes have an image of a decapitated woman or the couplet: "Here is a woman who has lost her head / She's quiet now—you see she's dead".^[82]
• 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' and 'Frog and Firkin' (see Puns, Jokes and Corruptions below) in the late 20th century, is responsible for many more recent pub names.^[83]

• Boot and Shoe in March, Isle of Ely^[84]
• Butcher and Beast, Heighington : claims to be the only one of this name in England.^[85]
• Goat and Boot Inn, Colchester^[86]
• Harp and Horn, Edgware Road : later the Welsh Harp, finally the Old Welsh Harp after another pub named the Welsh Harp was opened.^[87] The Welsh Harp railway station (now closed and demolished) was named after the pub (which closed in 1971).
• Swan and Woolpack, near Stamford.^[88]

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, and Ma Pardoe's (officially the Olde Swan) in Netherton, West Midlands. The Baron of Beef, Welwyn, Hertfordshire is named after a nineteenth-century landlord, George Baron, listed in Kelly's Directory for 1890 as "Butcher and Beer Retailer". Others are named after various people.

• Duke of Bedford, Wisbech.^[3]
• Rupert Brooke, Grantchester named after the soldier poet.^[89]
• General Burgoyne
• Duke of Cambridge
• Catherine Wheel, Henley-on-Thames, Manea and other locations: purportedly from Katherine Whele, in other locations evolved from The Wheel or other derivations.^[90]
• Clarkson, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: named for the local antislavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson.^[3]
• William Cobbet formerly the Jolly Farmer, Farnham. Named for the radical, newspaper publisher and MP of this name.
• French Horn, Stepping : thought to be a corruption or nickname of 'Frenchman de Schorne'. However, there were also other pubs with this name e.g. Upton.^[91]
• 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.^[92]
• Garrick public house, Cambridge (closed down). Named after the famous actor. Linked to the 1876 murder of Emma Rolfe by Robert Browning.^[93]
• General Elliot
• Hesketh Arms, Wisbech. Owned by Lord Hesketh of Hesketh Racing car fame.
• Hoste Arms, Burnham Market. Named for Sir George William Hoste, who served under Nelson.^[94]
• Manby Crest, Great Yarmouth, Captain George Manby F.R.S.
• Marquis of Granby: a general 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.^[95] (See right).
• Nell Gwyn: mistress of Charles II.
• Hardwicke Arms, Wisbech : named after local nobility.^[3]
• Lord Nelson: Quite a common name (in various forms) throughout England but especially in Norfolk, where the admiral was born. The Hero of Norfolk at Swaffham, Norfolk, portrays Nelson as did Norfolk Hero at Wisbech.^[3]
• John H Stracey, Brixton near Holt. 16th inn named after the former landlor, a boxer. Has now reverted to its former name.^[96]
• Guy Earl of Warwick, in Welling, Dartford,^[97] dates from at least 1896.^[98] and is thought to be the "Halfway House" which appears in Charles Dickens' 1861 Great Expectations.^[99]
• Duke of Wellington
• Sir Norman Wisdom, Deal, Kent. Named after the actor who worked as an errand boy locally.^[100]
• The Shakespeare, Redland, Shakespeare's Tree, Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire: Used to celebrate the Bard's genius.^[101][102]
• Walpole Arms, Itteringham. Named after Robert Walpole, Britain's first prime minister.^[103]
• General Wolfe, Laxfield : named after the military hero.^[104]

Places[]

• Tavistock Inn, as for example at Poundsgate, Dartmoor.^[105]
• 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
• Horse Shoe Hole Inn, Leverington was located near the River Nene horse shoe feature.^[3]
• London Inn
• Mutley Tavern in Mutley Plain, Plymouth
• Plymouth Inn
• or Na Beanna Beola (Finsbury Park, London): the Twelve Pins mountain range in the west of Ireland.^[106]
• Cheviot Inn, Bellingham, Northumberland: a range of hills, the Cheviot Hills, of which the highest is locally called The Cheviot.
• Kentish Horse

An "arms" name, too, can derive from a pub's town.

• Bedford Arms, Bedford Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, shows the arms of the town of Bedford. The more usual derivation is for the Duke of Bedford whose seat is at the nearby Woburn Abbey.

Plants and horticulture[]

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

• Artichoke Tavern, Blackwall refers to a plant.^[107]
• Bush, Holly 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 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 tree growing nearby or in the grounds, as pubs are often free standing.
• Flower Pot, Mirfield, Maidstone, Kent, Aston, Oxfordshire, Henley-on-Thames and Wisbech, Isle of Ely.^[3] Flowerpots, Cheriton, Hampshire.
• Hand and Flower, Hammersmith, London, also Ham, Surrey. Hand and Flowers, Marlow.
• Major Oak, Nottingham. Named after an ancient tree, and locally associated with Robin Hood
• Pineapple, e.g. in The Pineapple, Kentish Town, also Berkshire and Oldham.
• Pink Geranium, a pub in Pontardawe.
• Rose Tavern, a pub in Wisbech, Isle of Ely.^[3]
• Tulip, Chelmsford.
• 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 High Street, London (reputed to be the city's oldest pub) and the Vine, Wisbech (now closed).^[3]
• Wheatsheaf, a Wetherspoon pub in Wisbech.^[3]

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.^[108]
• 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 in Caernarfon, North Wales, has received at least a dozen complaints from visitors over the name, which dates back at least 250 years.^[109] In 2021 brewer Greene King changed the names of three pubs called The Black Boy, and another called The Black's Head.^[110]
• The Black Bitch, a pub in Linlithgow, West Lothian, is named after the local legend of a black greyhound 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.^[111]

The pub itself (including nicknames)[]

The pub building[]

• Candlestick, West End, Essendon, Hertfordshire: 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, Hertfordshire: The pub's chimney is distinctively crooked.
• Crooked House, 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, has a cupola on its roof.
• Hippodrome : a former cinema. This March, Isle of Ely premises was once a cinema.^[112]
• Hole in the Wall. The official name or nickname of a number of very small pubs. One such at Waterloo, London, is spacious but built into a railway viaduct. The Hole in the Wall, Gibraltar was an iconic bar well frequented by the navy workers.^[113]
• 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 Jackson Stops. The name stuck.
• Kilt and Clover, Port Dalhousie, Ontario, named after the owners. The husband is of Scottish descent, and the wife is of Irish heritage. The split theme runs throughout the pub.
• Lattice House, King's Lynn. Historic pub named for its timbered structure.^[114]
• 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.^[115]
• Push Inn, Beverley: 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: red or reddish painted buildings.
• Steps, Scotland. Named after the steps outside.^[116]
• Swiss Cottage was built in Swiss chalet style. It gave its name to an underground station and an area of London.
• Swiss Gardens, Shoreham-by-Sea, originally the pub of a Swiss-themed Victorian picnic garden and amusement park.
• Three Legged Mare, High Petergate, York, named after the design of a gallows, an example of which may be found in the pub's garden; affectionately known as the Wonky Donkey.^[117][118]
• Vaults, a number of pubs, not all having vaults as an architectural feature; the word also had the general meaning of 'storeroom'.^[119] 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. Originally built as a hotel to accommodate visitors to the adjacent Northampton Racecourse, the building became a "white elephant" (useless object) when horse racing was stopped at Northampton Racecourse in 1904.

Services provided by the pub[]

• Coach & Horses, for a coaching inn^[2]
• Farriers Arms, for a pub with a farrier who could re-shoe the traveller's horses^[2]
• Free Press, named for when part of the building in Cambridge was used to print a newspaper.^[120]
• Horse & Groom, where the traveller's horse would be cared for while the traveller drank^[2]
• Pewter Platter, Cross Street, Hatton Gardens (now closed), for a pub where meals were served.^[121]
• Stilton Cheese Inn : named for the cheese sold locally that led to the cheese acquiring its name of Stilton cheese.^[122]
• Wheelwrights, for a pub where a coach's wheels could be repaired or replaced^[2]

Beer and wine[]

Many traditional pub names refer to the drinks available inside, most often beer.

• Barley Mow: a stack (or sheaf) of barley, the principal grain from which beer is made.
• Barrels: A cask or keg containing 36 Imperial gallons of liquid, especially beer. Other sizes include: pin, 36 pints; firkin, 9 gallons; kilderkin, 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 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.^[3]
• 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.^[3]
• Cock and Bottle, or simply Cock: The stopcock used to serve beer from a barrel, and a beer bottle.^[123]
• Coffee Pot Inn, (Downham Market) : another popular drink.^[124]
• Hop Inn: Hop flowers are the ingredient in beer which gives it its bitter taste, though this name is often intended as a pun.
• Hop Pole: The poles which support wires or ropes up which hops grow in the field.
• (Sir) John Barleycorn: A character of English traditional folk music and folklore, similar to a Green Man. He is annually cut down at the ankles, thrashed, but always reappears—an allegory of growth and harvest based on barley.
• Leather(n) Bottle: A container in which a small amount of beer or wine was transported, now replaced by a glass bottle or can.^[3]
• Malt Shovel: A shovel 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.^[125]
• Three Tuns: Based on the arms of two City of London guilds, the Worshipful Company of Vintners and the Worshipful Company of Brewers.
• The Tankard, London. Named after the drinks container.^[126]

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.^[127]

• Red Herring, Great Yarmouth. Named after Red herring (fish) a product of the local fishing industry.^[128]
• Shoulder of Mutton, Wisbech is another pub named for a joint of meat.^[3]

Puns, jokes and corruptions[]

Although puns 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 Harbour.^[129][130] 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 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".^[131]
• Bag o'Nails: Thought by the romantic to be a corrupted version of "Bacchanals" but really is just a sign once used by ironmongers. 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, 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 at their fair.^[132]
• Bent Brief, once close to the Honest Lawyer on Lodge Road, Southampton.
• Bird and Baby, the familiar name used by the Inklings for the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford (see above under Heraldry).
• Bird in-hand, Wisbech. Alludes to the expresssion.^[3]
• Buck and Ear in the Steveston area of Richmond, British Columbia. 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".^[133]
• 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, 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^[134] The Case is Altered (now closed) and a later new build pub 'The Case' also now closed both in Wisbech, Isle of Ely.^[3]
• Cat and Fiddle: a corruption of Caton le Fidèle (a governor of Calais loyal to King Edward III).^[135] Alternatively from Katherine 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 pun on "do drop in".
• Dirty Duck: The Black Swan, as in Stratford-on-Avon; also The Mucky Duck in Portsmouth and the Students Union pub at the University of Warwick
• Dirty Habit: Sited on the route of the Pilgrims' Way, the name is a play on the contemptuous phrase and a reference to the clothing of monks who passed by on a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral.

• Elephant and Castle: By folk etymology, a corruption of "la Infanta de Castile". It is popularly believed amongst residents of Elephant and Castle that a 17th-century publican near Newington named his tavern after the Spanish princess who was affianced to King Charles I of England. 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 can also be seen on the arms of the City of Coventry.
• Fawcett Inn ("force it in"), Portsmouth.
• 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[es]: Possibly based on the arms of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, whose coat of arms contains three goats, together with the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, whose coat of arms contains three compasses.^[136] (either that, or from "God encompass us")^[131]
• Honest Lawyer Folkestone, The Honest Politician, Portsmouth.
• Hop Inn: similar to the Dew Drop Inn. A double pun in that hops are a major ingredient in beer making.
• Jolly Taxpayer in Portsmouth.
• 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: Wife calls husband on his mobile and asks where he is. He answers truthfully "Nowhere".
• Office: as above.
• Ostrich, Ipswich: originally Oyster Reach (the old name has since been restored on the advice of historians).
• Paraffin Oil Shop (now closed, at the crossing of and in eastern Liverpool, Google Earth view here: So people could say that they are going to buy paraffin.^[137]
• Pig and Whistle: a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon saying piggin wassail meaning "good health".
• Swan With Two Necks: In England and Wales, 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 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.^[138][139]
• Three Chimneys, Biddenden: 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.^[31]
• Anchor, Hope & Anchor, Anchor & Hope: From the Letter to the Hebrews (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.^[3]
• 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 (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, and St John's College, Oxford. A pub of this name appeared in the popular BBC sitcom Bottom.
• 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, the lamb a symbol of the Redeemer.
• Mitre: A bishop's headgear, a simple sign easily recognisable by the illiterate. In Glastonbury and in Oxford 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).^[3]
• Salutation: The greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary when informing her she was to carry Jesus Christ.
• Shaven Crown, at Shipton under Wychwood. One belonged to monks.^[140]
• 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.^[141]
• Three Crowns: The Magi, but also see Heraldry above.
• Three Kings: The Magi.
• Parish: In Huddersfield, Originally called "The Parish Pump", Referring to its close proximity to Huddersfield Parish Church.
• Virgin's Inn, Derby : named after the Virgin Mary.^[142]

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.
• King of Prussia, Gosport: named after Frederick the Great^[143]
• Prince Arthur: (e.g. in Brighton) third son of Queen Victoria. His son, also Arthur, is usually referred to as the Duke of Connaught, another pub name.
• Prince Leopold, Southsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire: Queen Victoria's fourth son.
• George the Fourth, Wisbech. After King George IV.^[3]
• Queen Victoria reigned at the time of greatest expansion of housing stock and associated pubs, and at the height of the British Empire. She inspired great loyalty and affection, and publicans aimed to reflect this.
• Prince of Wales: 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. 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: the title of the future George IV, in the Regency period.
• Queen of Bohemia, Wych Street, London. A former pub named after Elizabeth, daughter of James I and Anne of Denmark.^[144]
• Three Queens Inn, Burton : named after three royal ladies.^[145]

Ships[]

• Albion: at Penarth, near Cardiff, South Wales, and at West Kensington, London
• Ark Royal : the name of five ships of the Royal Navy 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, Norfolk.
• Cutter: Wisbech, Isle of Ely. (now closed) ^[3]
• Cutty Sark, a clipper in dry dock and a pub nearby in Greenwich.
• Endeavour, on Whitby's east side, Captain Cook's ship.
• Golden Hind, Portsmouth: Sir Francis Drake's galleon.
• Invincible, 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.^[146]
• Llandoger Trow, Bristol: a 17th-century pub with literary connections.
• Mary Rose, Southsea: named after Henry VIII's battleship of that name.
• Mayflower, famous for sailing the Pilgrim Fathers to Plymouth Colony in 1620. A pub in Rotherhithe.
• Old Ferryboat, Holywell, Cambridgeshire ^[147]
• Pilot Boat, Bembridge, Isle of Wight and Lyme Regis, Dorset
• Prospect of Whitby, on the north bank of the Thames at Wapping, London.
• Resolute, Poplar High Street, London.
• Royal George, Salisbury, Shoreham-by-Sea, Soho, Workington and may others.
• Sheffield, Barrow-in-Furness (now closed): After HMS Sheffield, built in the local shipyard and sunk in the Falklands War.
• Ship Defiance, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) ^[3]
• Ship Leopard, near Portsmouth Hard: named after several Royal Navy ships, the most recent having been an anti-aircraft frigate.
• Ship on the Stocks, Great Yarmouth.^[148]
• Sloop, Wootton Bridge, Isle of Wight
• Steam Packet Tavern, Rose Corner, Norwich.^[149]
• Vanguard, Keal Cotes, Lincolnshire (now renamed)
• Victory, Station Road, Chertsey, Surrey, Marble Arch, St. Mawes and elsewhere
• Waverley, Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight: named after the paddle steamer.

Sports[]

Games[]

• Double Six, Stonebroom, Derbyshire, now closed, had Dominoes displayed on the sign.

Football club nicknames include:

• Hammers, London E6: West Ham United although elsewhere in the country it could refer to blacksmiths (see Heraldry above).
• Magpies, Meadow Lane, Nottingham: Notts County who play close by at the other end of Meadow Lane.
• The Peacock Inn: Elland Road, Leeds. Opposite the Leeds United football ground whose original nickname was taken from the pub.

Hunting and blood sports[]

• Bird in Hand: the bird sitting on the left gauntlet in falconry.^[2]
• Blue Posts: boundary-markers of Soho Fields, the (former) royal hunting grounds to the north-east of Whitehall Palace.
• Dog and Bear: Bear-baiting, 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 coat of arms of a prominent local family.
• Dog and Duck where duck-baiting events were held.^[150][2]
• Dog and Gun: Referencing gun dogs. Similarly, Dog and Partridge.
• Fighting Cocks (or just 'Cock'): Cockfighting; but the fighting cock also could be a heraldic charge. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in Saint Albans rivals Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham for the title of oldest pub; its name advertised actual cockfighting entertainment in the pub.^[2]
• Fox and Hounds (or 'Dog and Fox'): Fox hunting^[2]
• Gin Trap Inn, Hunstanton. After the animal trap.^[151]
• Greyhound: for Henry VIII's favourite hunting dog^[2] among others
• Hare and Hounds: hunting by beagling or hare coursing,^[2] or greyhound racing
• Hark to Bellman: Clitheroe^[152] later (1826)^[153] 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 : a frequent object of shooting.^[154]
• Tally Ho: A hunting cry which was also used as a name for a stagecoach. The Tally Ho at Trumpington, Cambridgeshire shows a Spitfire as the call came to be used by some local wartime RAF pilots.
• Bay Horse: West Woodburn, Northumberland. Refers to the use of horses in fox hunting, bay being a colour of horses.
• See Ho Shorne, Kent: a hare coursing term.
• Fox Goes Free (Charlton, West Sussex). 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, Cambridge—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.^[155] The Bowling Green Hotel in Grafton Street, Chorlton on Medlock, no longer has a green.^[156]
• Cricketers: can be sited near or opposite land on which cricket is (or was) played.
• Cricket Players: a version of the Cricketers found in Nottingham and probably elsewhere.
• Hand and Racquet, Wimbledon, near the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. A fictional version is referenced several times in Tony Hancock scripts.
• Larwood and Voce, West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire: Harold Larwood and Bill Voce were two internationally renowned fast-bowlers who played for Nottinghamshire and England between the world wars. This pub is at the side of the Trent Bridge cricket ground, the home of Nottingham County Cricket Club.
• Test Match, West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire: an international game of cricket. This beautiful art deco Grade II listed pub is to be found near Trent Bridge at the other end of Central Avenue, a ground on which test matches are played.
• Trent Bridge Inn, West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, the most famous of cricketing pubs sited on the edge of the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, is not named after the ground but for the bridge itself. This was a strategic crossing place of the River Trent protected by Nottingham Castle. Ben Clark, the owner of the Inn in 1832, was a cricket 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 venues.
• Old Ball: Horsforth, Leeds. next to the Horsforth Cricket club pitch.
• Popinjay Inn, Norwich : a Popinjay is a target used in archery.^[157]
• Wrestlers: Great North Road, Hatfield, Hertfordshire and Wisbech (now closed) named for the sport.^[3]

Topography[]

• Barrack Tavern, Woolwich Common: near the army barracks.^[158]
• Bishop's Finger: after a type of signpost found on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, said to resemble a bishop's finger (also used as the name of a beer by Shepherd Neame Brewery).
• 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).^[3]
• Bunch of Carrots, Hampton Bishop. Named after a rock formation.^[159]
• 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.^[3]
• 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, itself named after an early watercourse.^[160]
• 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. Named after the Horsefair (now a shopping mall, formerly a site for selling horses).^[161]
• 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 Northumberland.
• Five Miles from Anywhere Inn: No Hurry, Upware. An isolated hostelry.^[162]
• (number) Mile Inn : Usually the distance to the centre of the nearest prominent town, as in the Four Mile Inn at Bucksburn, Aberdeen, and the Five Mile House, near Cirencester.
• Strugglers, near a gallows, refers to how people being hanged would struggle for air. Ironically the famous executioner Albert Pierrepoint was landlord of the Help the Poor Struggler at Hollinwood, near Oldham, for several years after World War II, and had to hang one of his own regulars, James Corbitt.
• Hangmans Inn, on site of gallows Guernsey
• Harbour Hotel, Wisbech, Isle of Ely. next to the harbour.^[3]
• Nene Inn, Wisbech, Isle of Ely. Near the river of the same name.^[163]
• Theatre Tavern, Gosport. Both theatre and adjacent tavern had the same owner.^[164]
• Tunnel Top: near Runcorn, Cheshire, named for its position over a canal tunnel.
• Turnpike: named for a former toll point, as in Turnpike hotel, Wisbech.^[3]
• West End, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now renamed BLUES), a pub on the West of the town.^[3]
• 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.^[3]
• World's End. A pub on the outskirts of a town, especially if on or beyond the protective city wall. Examples are found in Camden and Edinburgh.
• Three Hills. A pub in the village of Bartlow, Cambridgeshire, named after three barrows close to the border with Essex.

Trades, tools and products[]

• Axe 'n Cleaver in Much Birch, or Altrincham, also Boston, Lincolnshire and North Somercotes
• Bettle and Chisel in Delabole, Cornwall, from two tools of the slate quarrymen
• Blackfriars, Wisbech: named for the local friars. (now closed) ^[3]
• 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.^[3]
• British Rifleman, Wisbech : (now closed) named for the British Army infanteers equipped with rifles.^[3]
• Butcher: the Butchers Arms can be found in Aberdeen, Chester-le-Street, Hepworth, Sheepscombe, Stroud, Woolhope and Yeovil
• Compasses, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, dates from the 17th Century.
• Chemic Tavern, Leeds, West Yorkshire. Named for the workers at the nearby Woodhouse Chemical Works,(C. 1840-1900) it was a beer house on the 1861 census. The licensee was James Lapish.^[165]
• Custom House Tavern, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local customs post in the port.^[3]
• Engineers Tavern, Wisbech: named for the local rail industry.^[3]
• Fen Plough, Chatteris : named after the local farming equipment.^[166]
• Foresters, Brockenhurst in the New Forest
• Golden Fleece, for the wool trade^[2]
• Gun Barrels: at Edgbaston in Birmingham, a city known for its metal-working and gunmaking trades.
• Harbour Hotel, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local maritime industry.^[3]
• Harrow: A 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.^[167]
• Lathrenders Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the local lathe industry.^[3]
• Locomotive, Wisbech: named for the former local rail industry.^[3]
• Masons Arms, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local masonry industry.^[3]
• Midland Counties, Wisbech: named for Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway one of the local railway companies.^[3]
• New Holly in Forton, Lancashire, named after the busy trade in the supply and cultivation of wreaths and decorations.
• Olde Murenger House 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, Ipswich
• 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 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.^[3]
• Printers Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the local print industry.^[3]
• Propeller, Croydon (now closed) and Bembridge.
• Railway Inn, Wisbech: named for the local rail industry. (now closed)^[3]
• Rifle Volunteer, Oxhey village, Gunnislake etc.^[168]
• Roadmaker, Gorsley and elsewhere.
• Ropers Arms, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the former local rope making industry.^[3]
• Ship carpenters Arms, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the local ship building industry.^[3]
• Ship Inn from Irvine to Oundle. However, the Ship Inn in Styal, Cheshire, states that its derivation is from 'shippon', a cattle shed or manure shed.^[169]
• Shipwrights Arms, Wisbech: (now closed) named for the local boatbuilding industry.^[3]
• Sailor, Addingham near Ilkley; Jolly Sailor at St Athan and at Sandown, Isle of Wight.
• Sailor's Return, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: (now closed) named for the local shipping industry.^[3]
• Spade and Becket, Chatteris, (now closed) Isle of Ely, and Cambridge (also now closed): a combination of two peat digging implements.^[170]
• 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 Wheeltappers and Shunters fictional pub of the 1970s show.
• Three Jolly Butchers, Wisbech, Isle of Ely: named for the local meat industry.^[3]
• Town and Gown Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, is named for the non-academic and academic communities of the city respectively.
• Trowel and Hammer, Norwich : thought to be named after local bricklayers.^[171]
• Two Brewers, Diss : takes its name from the beer makers.^[172]
• Valiant Sailor, King's Lynn named for the mariners of this port.^[173]
• Volunteers Arms, Llanidloes (closed). One of many pubs named after Militia or rifle volunteers etc.^[174]
• Woodman or Woodman's Cottage Inn.^[175]
• 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.^[3]

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.^[176]
• Canopus, Rochester, Kent: Named after the flying boats produced at the nearby Short Brothers aircraft factory (now demolished).
• Comet, Hatfield, Hertfordshire: 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 the prototype aircraft which eventually led to the development of the Harrier VTOL jet.
• Flying Boat (now demolished) in Calshot, Hampshire, 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, Hampshire.
• 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 RAF 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, Elephant & Castle, Angel, Manor House, Swiss Cottage. The area of Maida Vale, which has a Bakerloo line 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 in Sevenoaks.

• Atmospheric Railway, Starcross, Devon: after 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. The Flying Scotsman, Kings Cross, London.
• Golden Arrow, Folkestone, Kent is named after a luxury boat train of the Southern Railway and later British Railways, which linked London 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 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 King and Castle classes of steam engines on the Great Western Railway.
• A number of Mallards are named after the 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, Liverpool: 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.

Road[]

• Bullnose Morris, Cowley, Oxfordshire: Named after the motor cars once produced at the nearby factory.
• Coach and Horses: A simple and common name found from Clerkenwell to Kew, Soho to Portsmouth.
• 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.^[177]
• 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.^[178]
• Perseverance: Name of a stage coach. The Perseverance in Bedford 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, Welwyn, 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.^[179]
• Terminus: Usually found where a tram route once terminated, sited near the tram terminus.
• Traveller's Rest, Northfield, Birmingham: 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',^[180] retained on pub signs such as this one).
• Wait for the Waggon, Bedford 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.

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 King Charles II and later renamed after a type of Channel marker buoy, as the owners had nautical connections.^[181]
• Grand Junction, for the canal in Bulbourne, Hertfordshire; High Holborn and Harlesden, London
• Grand Union, for the canal in Westbourne Park, Camden and Maida Vale
• Great Northern, for the 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.^[182]
• North Western: London and North Western Railway Company
• Shroppie Fly: Audlem, named after a type of canalboat called a 'Shropshire Fly'^[183]
• Trent Navigation: for the Trent Navigation Company
• Fellows, Morton and Clayton: for the Fellows Morton and Clayton Canal Company
• Tide End Cottage: in Teddington, at the end of the tidal reach of the River Thames^[184]

Other[]

• Air Balloon, Birdlip, Gloucestershire. Near a field where early ascents were made.^[185]
• Goat and Tricycle, Bournemouth, Dorset, a humorous modern name.
• Rusty Bicycle, new name of the Eagle in Oxford. Oxford's students often cycle round the town.^[186]
• Tram Depot, Cambridge: 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 pub 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 CAMRA.

According to BBPA, the most common names are:^[187]

1. Red Lion (759)
2. Royal Oak (626)
3. White Hart (427)
4. Rose and Crown (326)
5. King's Head (310)
6. King's Arms (284)
7. Queen's Head (278)
8. The Crown (261)

and according to CAMRA they are:^[188]

1. Crown (704)
2. Red Lion (668)
3. Royal Oak (541)
4. Swan (451)
5. White Hart (431)
6. Railway (420)
7. Plough (413)
8. White Horse (379)
9. Bell (378)^[189][190]
10. New Inn (372)

A more current listing can be found on the Pubs Galore site, updated daily as pubs open/close and change names.^[191] As of 18 December 2019, the top 10 were:

1. Red Lion (558)
2. Crown (509)
3. Royal Oak (432)
4. White Hart (317)
5. Swan (296)
6. Plough (294)
7. Railway (294)
8. White Horse (286)
9. Kings Arms (245)
10. 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.^[192] The longest name of a London pub, I am the Only Running Footman,^[193] was used as the title of a mystery novel by Martha Grimes.^[194]

There is a "pub with no name" in Southover Street, Brighton,^[195] 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.^[196]

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.^[197]

See also[]

• List of pubs in Australia
• List of pubs in the United Kingdom

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, ISBN 978-0-9525343-0-3
• Dunkling, Leslie (1994) Pub Names of Britain, London: Orion (1994), ISBN 1-85797-342-9
• Dunkling, Leslie & Wright, Gordon (2006) The Dictionary of Pub Names. Ware: Wordsworth Editions ISBN 1-84022-266-2
• Myrddin ap Dafydd (1992) Welsh Pub Names. Llanrwst: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch ISBN 0-86381-185-X (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 ISBN 0-900943-81-5

Further reading[]

• [Anonymous] (1969) Inn Signs: their history and meaning. London: the Brewers' Society
• Douch, H. L. (1966) Old Cornish Inns and their place in the social history of the County. Truro: D. Bradford Barton
• Richardson, A. E. (1934) The Old Inns of England. London: B. T. Batsford

External links[]

Media related to Pubs by name at Wikimedia Commons

• The Inn Sign Society
• Collection of images of Pub Signs
• Brewery Arts, a short history of studio inn signs