Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Jul 01 - 05:51 PM

"Finnegan's Wake"

That'd be a great one if you had a combined pub and undertakers the way that is still customary in Ireland. (Tourists seem to find it strange, but surely it seems the most obvious thing in the world to me. Is it normal practice in any other countries?

The Cats is a good name for a pub, and I know of at least one with that name.. Kilkenny Cats or Mudcats according to choice.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: GUEST,shona
Date: 18 Jul 01 - 01:23 PM

the ducks bum. well you get ducks in ireland!

o'donahues?

hope you find one everyone likes!! :)

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: BobP
Date: 18 Jul 01 - 10:58 AM

Call it "Molly's Place" & include a shamrock in the logo.

Molly? There's no Molly!

Because It's Irish, that's why. Just like the name . . . sounds kinda friendly.

Makes no sense?

Does to me . . . I'm Irish and I like it.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: paddymac
Date: 18 Jul 01 - 09:23 AM

Gnu - the "gator" thing definately would not work in Tallahassee. Tally is the home of Florida State University, whose american footbal team has had quite a good run of success over the last 25 years or so. Their arch rival is the University of Florida, in Gainesville, about 140 miles down the road. Their mascot is one of those slithering reptiles, and their nickname is "The Gators".

Anybody who ever thought about opening a pub would be hard pressed to find better advice about naming than 'Catters have posted here. Thanks to all of you.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Hillheader
Date: 17 Jul 01 - 03:21 PM

What about "For Folk's Sake"?

After all is that not what the pub is for?

Any Irish ex pat's would surely be able to pronounce it beteer than I can!

Davebhoy

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Susie
Date: 17 Jul 01 - 02:20 PM

How about "Finnegan's Wake"?

We have a pub close by of that name and all the verses from the song which are posted around are good "mood" stuff. The walls are plastered with posters and old newspapers - makes for good reading if there's no live music. Susie

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Jul 01 - 01:32 PM

The Lakes of Pontchartrain is not that far off is it? - then it'd be called the Lakes, which is a good ame for a pub (especially a Dive) (And there's another of those songs that didn't start off as Irish, but has been naturalised now.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: GUEST,Guest - Jim McDonald
Date: 17 Jul 01 - 09:11 AM

Not an Irish name but there was a wonderful boozer in Exchange Square, Glasgow which changed it's name from the Exchange Tavern to become the Muscular Arms my favourite is from cartoonist Bill Tidy's Cloggies book they danced at a pub called the Kings Thighs Glug Jim

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: gnu
Date: 17 Jul 01 - 08:28 AM

The reason I wanted to know the location was to attempt to tie the Irish theme with the location or it's history. Unfortunately, I know little of the history of the city, or even the state, for that matter. All I can think of off hand is aligators.... The Green Gator or The Gator's Garter, repleat with mascot. Pretty lame, but it was worth a shot.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Jul 01 - 08:05 AM

But who'd ever have heard about the Marquis of Granby if he hadn't got all those pubs called after him? (He was a military fella in the 18th century who pensioned off lots of his soldiers with pubs.)

God save us from jokey pub names, like the Ferret and Faggot and so forth. (But I think the trend for that might be dying off - near us a Tap and Spile on Stortford went back to being called The Half Moon, and the Firkin and Forest (or whatever) in Epping has gone back to the George and Dragon; and in Harlow they've reverted to the old name for what they tried to call he Pavilion, and it's the Willow Beauty again.

(On the other hand regulars change the name of pubs too - so The Rising Sun in High Wych - a lovely pub with sessions on most Sundays - is always referred to as Sid's, even though the former landlord Sid is long retired and he died a couple of years ago.)

(JohninKansas - it's just that I always feel the English traditions tend to get undervalued - especially by the English, so you could say it serves them right.)

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 17 Jul 01 - 06:45 AM

I agree that naming after a real person, with a suitable musical connection or background is a good idea. It might be wise to avoid somebody who might just be a current short term hero. In my home town of Bradford we have a sports centre named after Richard Dunn, who used to be a boxer. He put up a good fight against Mohammed Ali, knocking him down in one round. At the time the centre was built this was a recent event, so it was named after him as a local hero. Twenty years down the line, very few of the users know who he was, or why the centre has its name. Sad but true!
At the end of the day (23.59 ?) it is what happens regularly at the bar which keeps people there, not what the bar is called.
Quack!
GtD

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 17 Jul 01 - 04:15 AM

Big Tim mentioned the Slug and Lettuce. This is now a chain pub name. The one in Winkfield has now reverted to being The Winkfield. UK comedy show I'm Sorry I'll Read that Again had a pub called Ferret and Terrapin but Ferret and .... is now also a chain.There are a lot of pubs based on old jobs: "Blacksmith's Arms" etc. perhaps we ought to go for new ones: "Web Developer's Arms"? (Nah!). To really draw the punters: Banjo and Bodhran or Kazoo and Washboard?
I understand many Irish pubs are named after present or previous owners so folk pub could be Seeger's or Ledbelly's or Guthrie's . Ramblin' Jack's would be a good one.
But I must get down to work...
RtS

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 16 Jul 01 - 05:09 PM

McGrath of Harlow
Appreciate your comment on the etiology of the Old Dun Cow. I guess I hadn't thought much about where it came from, but a guy I heard once had it mixed in with a bunch of sorta Irish stuff. Hope no one thought I was trying to offend.
Note that I wasn't trying to suggest it as a name for the pub. I was only looking for something that most everyone might know, to illustrate the "approach to how you name it."
Maybe I should have said "Out in cow country, you might name it 'Sue's' and teach everyone to sing "Boy Named Sue."
The suggestion is that the pub name should be something broadly acceptable, and the "hook" is established by associating an 'inside' joke. You can quit telling the joke if it wears out, much more easily than you can change the name of an established business - i.e. you can write a new commercial if you observe 'audience drift' and want to appeal to a new clientel, or modify the "association" for your existing customers.
It's a way to get the hook in - but keep your options open if you later find out you're not catching the "keepers."
A local place in my area (to be left anonymous) went to some lengths to attract a "special" clientel (anonymous, but think euro football teams). They were somewhat successful, but have observed recently that maybe they didn't really want that group as much as they thought. They accurately picked the "association" that would attract a specific customer base, then found that the thing they had associated meant a little more to the customers than they originally thought.
To greatly over-dramatize, one of the "rules" used by a famous (US) frontier leader was "never engage the enemy unless you have a clear line of retreat." Flexibility is good.
John

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Jul 01 - 01:47 PM

Nothing Irish about The Old Dun Cow that I've ever heard. I'd see it as quintessentially English. The kind of thing that makes people love them in spite of everything.

Just because it's a good song doesn't automatically have to mean it's Irish, it just means that sooner or later it'll find a place in the Irish canon.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 Jul 01 - 12:47 PM

Planxty Irwin

Jock

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 15 Jul 01 - 10:27 PM

As it sounds like it's pretending to be what it's not, how about The Contradiction? It is a reel.

Jon

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 15 Jul 01 - 10:17 PM

A thought on method. Most of the suggestions here appear to be looking for a "cute" name. While almost any of the examples will attract some, almost any of them will turn others off.
The suggestion would be to use an "ordinary" name that can be associated with something "cute."
I don't kow that it would be a particularly good choice, but an example would be the name "The Old Dun Cow." Inocuous for the public visitor, but when the regulars learn the song - it's mildly rowdy, parodies "commercial" Irish stereotypes - fairly gently, and would be an "inside" joke for the regulars.
The problem is that you have to get at least a few of the regulars to sing it fairly often - at least at first.
Then if the joke runs itself out, you just quit singing it.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Jul 01 - 05:01 PM

On principle I'm against changing the name of any pub (apart from the one called after General Haig in Hertford a few miles from me - and there's a few more like that I suppose - most "principles" need to be broken on occasion).

Still, if it's only been going a year it's not a settled name, I suppose.

The Four Provinces is a good name; or the Fifth Province, meaning the diaspora.

The Hanging Chad or the Gerrymander would perhaps be divisive, and dated as well in time. But they sound quite Irish, as well as being indisputably Floridan, and they trip off the tongue well.

The Pogues wouldn't be bad - after all it just means the kisses.

Or The Irish Rover - since that's one song people might have heard of.

The Wild Rover, since most people are (mistakenly) under the impression it is an Irish song, and it's got a good rowdy sound to it might appeal to a management trying to get in a young mob. (Of course it's strictly speaking a Temperance Song, but they might not realise that, since most people singing it certainly don't seem to.)

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Jul 01 - 04:40 PM

Shields Folk, who wrote, "shouldn't the name reflect the people and the area it is in?" For one thing, I'll bet Tallahassee already has many bars that do that, and the owners want something distinctive. For another thing, it's traditional in America to be fake!

I was made aware of this when we had some visitors from the Netherlands. We took them to our Viennese Sommerfest (which happened to be the only outdoor festival going on at the time) which is held annually on the plaza outside Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. They sell Viennese-style sausages, Austrian beer, Austrian wine, etc. Our guests remarked, "Why do they try to make everything look foreign?"

Well, we do it because (a) most of us have European roots, (b) we're so far away from anything genuinely foreign, and (c) we haven't been around long enough to develop many traditions of our own.

Now, I recommend to foreign visitors that they go to the State Fair. You can't get more indigenous than that. Corn dogs! Miller Lite! Fried cheese curds! See the crop art! The butter sculptures!

But that's only if you come during the last week of August. The rest of the time, you might need to settle for Sommerfest.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: GUEST,Karen
Date: 15 Jul 01 - 02:48 PM

Okay, here's a jump. How about "The Tallahassee Lassie"?

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Mudlark
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 10:17 PM

If you go to Tallahassee, put some money in your shoe, Those Tallahassee women sure make a fool outta you...

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: paddymac
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 09:32 PM

Gareth - "Vote early, Vote often" was the order of the day when I was growing up in Chicago land. And then there was all the block-voting by people in the cemeteries. Although Tallahassee was home to an army of reporters for about six weeks, the problems were mostly in heavily democratic counties of south florida. Our bars, restaurants, hotels, dry cleaners and hair salons all had a windfall, however. The Capital Police did a wonderful job of keeping things trouble free in an unobstrusive fashion. High praise to them say I. There was one idiotic TV reporter from Tampa who literally ran over another reporter to take a parking space. A felony assault, but I think it got the "quiet resolution" treatment. The greatest comment I heard was from an Italian press diva at dinner one evening in my favorite restaurant: "In many other places, the streets would be filled with tanks and soldiers by now." Sadly, there is a strong element of truth in her observation.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Gareth
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 02:39 PM

Emmm !

Tallahassee, Florida, and with a name that is essentially conected with Ireland ?

It can only be "The Fradulent Election !"

Gareth (Vote Early, Vote Often !)

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: paddymac
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 02:20 PM

Karen, Gnu - the pub in question is loated in Tallahassee, FL, USA. Tallahassee, the state capitol, is a government and college town, with a metropolitan area population of about 240,000, average age somewhere in the upper twenties, and 39% of the population has at least one collegiate degree. It has its drawbacks and limitations, just like any other community, but on the whole it's a pleasant place to live, as long as the AC doesn't crap out. Hope you have an opportunity to visit some day. It would be my pleasure to stand a round.

Thanks to all for some great suggested names, and suggested considerations in choosing one.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: clansfolk
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 02:16 PM

Have taken medication now......

Just read my last post and it didn't make sense to me! missed a word out.... I'm sure you noticed - I am a silly arse (hello Guest! there's a new thread for you!)

What about the "Broken Bodhran" - you can't beat it!

Pete

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: gnu
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 09:33 AM

Well, it doesn't matter what you name it, I'll never go to it.... because I still don't know where it is. PLEASE forgive me if I missed the location. Sometomes my lysdexia flares up and my interpretation and retention of text suffers. Can you give me a hint ? narrow it down ? Europe ? North America ? ....

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Mr Red
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 08:16 AM

How about "Puck Fair"
because it exists , is traditional, and very Irish
AND everyone can have a snigger at the spoonerism.
Steve "the Gate Hangs Well" in Headless Cross, Redditch has a session every Tuesday

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: clansfolk
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 08:07 AM

What about the "Broken Bodhran" - you can't it!

ok so it's medication time again......

Pete

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Shields Folk
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 07:07 AM

'Eh?'

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: CRANKY YANKEE
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 04:07 AM

AH,but, SHIELDS FOLK, Only American crews sang, "Paddy Doyle's Boots. It is a "specific" chantey for harbor furling sails, something that Other English speaking crews didn't bother with. (They) didn't know how to cut sails either) You could (and still can) pretty much determine the nationality of another vessel by the "cut of his jib") Nowadays, I guess, you can only determine where the sails were cut.

If y9u're singing "The boots" for audience or your own enjoyment, that's another story, and good on you, sport.

You probably already know this, but I might as well dazzle you with my vast store of nautical lore> (gee it rhymes) showoff that I am.

The crew gets on the stick, and mounts the footrope in question. Furling lines (bunts, clewes, leeches) are cast off (as are the sheets) and the sail fl;ops down, more or less (not to be done in REALLY bad weather, in which case you do as the English do and just bunch the sail up under the yard and throw a gasket arund it)The chanteyman sings, something like, "TO ME WAY HEY YAAAH (OR WAY HEY SHIT OR SOMETHING) and everyone grabs a piece of sail, as far down as they can reach (in front of the yard, stupid) ( NOT YOU, THE OTHER GUY) note: everyone yells "Yaahh" or " shit" or what ever, just so they yell as they reach. the Chanteyman AFTER MAKING SURE EVERYONE HAS A PIECE OF SAIL, sings"Paddy will dive for his BOOTS.oN THE WORD bOOTS, EVERYONE HAULS UP WHAT HE HAS GREABBED AND TUCKS IT BETWEEN HIS ABDOMEN AND THE YARD. The process is repeated until there is only one more fold which is about two feet of the head of the sail. Then the chaneyman singAnd we'll all throw shit at the COOK (so help me)This process has the entire sail accordion folded on TOP of the yard. If it's done up properly, it's "up tight and out of sight" ie, it can't be seen fom the deck. You Britts don't believe me, do you? THAT'S WHY YOUR SAILS ALWAYS LOOK LIKE A BUNCH OF ORANG-OUTANS FURLED THEM. God Bless you anyway (sincerely) (not at all like, "lots of Brittish luck")

Jody Gibson

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: GUEST,chrisj
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 04:06 AM

I for one am sick to death of the stage-Irish clap-trap that large multi-national brewing concerns have latched onto for the "Irish Pub'phase now happily on the wane. If there must be an Irish connection in the pub's name why not: 'The Hound of Cullen','The Great O'Neill', 'The Prince of TyrConnell' 'The Silken Thomas', 'The Earl of Desmond', 'The CS Parnell' or even 'The Captain Boycott'. All of the above are quintessentially Irish and have a timelessness that does not give the impression of a 'lets jump on the bandwagon' attempt to cash in with a few signposts showing Killarney and Galway. Here in Melbourne we have sundry 'Bridie O'Reilly's', 'Pug Mahone', 'Kitty O'Shea', 'The Quiet Man' and 'Molly Bloom's'.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Mudlark
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 03:22 AM

O'Driscoll's.....never was piping so sad and never was piping so gay....

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: GUEST,Les/Manchester
Date: 14 Jul 01 - 03:03 AM

I was fascinated by the Craic/Crack connection. Their was (still is?)a great pub in Liverpool called the Crack. Is 'the craic' the origin of the name of that pub?

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: thosp
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 10:44 PM

Medicinal Purposes
Emergency Rum/s
Ink a dink a drinks
Snouts
who's to say it's not an irish theme

peace (Y) thosp

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Haruo
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 10:12 PM

Speaking of Jim Dixon's suggestion to honour an Irish luminary like James Joyce, how about the "Æ" (honouring the playwright)?

And free-associating from James Joyce, I just noticed the local Irish pub here in Seattle's Fremont District, The Dubliner (imaginative name, eh?), which closed early this year to make way for Progress, is about to reopen at 36th & Fremont, a block from my church where I'm typing this, and just across from Dad Watson's brewpub. If "The Dubliner" is too imaginative for you, the other local Irish spots that come to me mind are "Murphy's" and the "Galway Arms" (Galway is a Sister City of Seattle's).

Liland

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 09:15 PM

Not an actual suggestion, but perhaps a mode of thinking: One of Seattle's best coffeehouses back in the Sixties got its name by thinking outside the box. The owner of the Guild 45th Street movie theater, a fellow named Bob Clark, leased the storefront next door with the intent of opening a coffeehouse. All the time he was renovating and decorating the place, he agonized over what to call it ("The Pit," "The Dumpster," "The Anxiety Attack," what, what???). While this was going on, he kept referring to it as "the place next door." Finally, someone said, "That's it!"

"What's it?" said Clark.

"Call it 'The Place Next Door!' People will invariably want to know 'next door to what?' Well, next door to the Guild 45th Theater. It ties right in with your other business."

He did, it did, everything worked out fine, The Place Next Door thrived, and his business at the theater actually improved as well. What's in the immediate vicinity? Any possible tie-ins?

I always thought that if I opened a coffeehouse or a pub, I would like to call it "Plato's Cave." Considering the Plato's Allegory of the Cave -- we cannot perceive reality directly -- all we know of it is like shadows flickering on the wall of a cave -- I kind of like that. Shadows flickering on the wall. Metaphysical.

Since it is doubtful that I will ever actually get around to it, if you like the name, I give to you. Good luck!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Shields Folk
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 09:02 PM

The Crack

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Shields Folk
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 08:51 PM

Walking through Newcastle from Manors to the City centre the other day, I saw a banner advertising an Irish bar. Nothing unusual there, I'd seen the sign many times before, but this time I noticed the invitation to come for the 'Craic'. Now come on, this is Newcastle. Defining the origins Crack/Craic has already been covered, but the word has probably existed here long before it has in Ireland, so why does any purveyor of fake Irish culture need to return the phenomenon to Tyneside. The local cultural journal even goes by the name of 'The Crack' (would have been a good time to put in a blue clicky thing). This may seem as a bit of a whinge, but to me it's a swipe at all those who try to force the latest culture (to me that involves is a direct correlation to pub) on us. If you have a pub that attracts Irish customers or folk who like Irish music fine. But shouldn't the name reflect the people and the area it is in? Back to my earlier suggestion, name it after the publican!

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: gnu
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 07:32 PM

paddymac.... Karen asked... where is the pub ? Perhaps I missed it, but, where is the pub ?

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: GUEST,Anon Brit.
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 07:30 PM

We buried our cousin some years ago. With full honours, flag, and firing party. Only a poor squaddy. The coffin was full of bits of corpse, and a sand bag to make up the weight. His death ?, trying to clear a shoping area of Belfast before a reported car bomb went off.

The warning was late, he was standing next to the nondescript car when the explosion happened.

His wife was 5 month pregnant when he died.

I am mature enough not to hold the Irish people guilty for the crimes of the few, but please don't make the mistake of confusing terrorists with heros.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Amos
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 06:23 PM

I think you ought to call it "The Fairly Recent Pub", just as you did at the start of the thread, and let it stay that way!!

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 04:04 PM

The House

Nice... simple... direct...

;-)

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Big Tim
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 04:00 PM

When I was young I thought I would like to own a pub and to reflect my Irishness( and my father's name) and my love of Bobby D, would call it "Barney Dylan's."

Nowadays my favourite is The Slug and Lettuce (in ["Royal"] Berkshire)

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: CraigS
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 03:57 PM

The first thing that springs to mind is "The Harp and Shamrock", which upon reflection might be seen as offensive by NI Unionists. The best suggestion I can give is "the Friend at Hand", which was a name borne by a pub recently closed in High Wycombe. Other suggestions -

The Hourglass

The Miller's Reward

The Sean Barleycorn (if it has to be Irish in England)

The Hand and Heart

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Shields Folk
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 01:30 PM

Paddy Doyle's Boots?

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: GUEST,Karen
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 12:18 PM

Great suggestions Jim Dixon! I hate the leprechaun crap!
Sounds like you might want to keep the word "pub" in the title. That way people will know for sure they can go there to drink. How about something like "Paddy's Pub"?

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 12:17 PM

Relating to Jim Dixon's post just above, how about "Irish Heroes", with the photos or drawings or whatever on the walls?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 12:17 PM

The Top Ten Rejected Irish Pub Names

10. The House of Tudor
9. The Pink Shamrock
8. O'Shaughnessy's White Wine Emporium
7. The Beloved English Landlord
6. Four Green Sausages
5. Anthrax and Thistle
4. The Cricket Ground
3. The Black and Tan
2. The Hurling Spot

And the number one rejected Irish pub name...

The Pedophiliac Leprechaun

(Found at http://www.amurgsval.org/squishy/topten.5.9.html)

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: paddymac
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 12:12 PM

Amazing. I was pretty sure that my post starting this thread last night would read like mish-mash, but this morning, with a clear, albeit slightly aching, head, it didn't seem as bad as I thought it would be.

The pub in question is one of a few owned and operated by a local corporation. Each of them is different. This one has been up and running less than a year, but has developed a clientele within their target demographic. Being observant and progressive, the management has had time to get a feel for what they did right and what they can do better, and are now planning those adjustments. Physically, I'd call it a cellar club, and it's probably about 4500 sq ft in area. Not the cozy little neighbohood joint that often comes to mind with the word "pub".

They are open to virtually any name, but I imagine they're most interested in something that would appeal to the clientele, as opposed to management. Thus, something rowdy, bawdy or rebellious, with appeal to younger folks, is probably what they're looking for. I appreciate all the suggestions already posted, and look forward to others. I told the management to come here for input from around the world, so they'll be reading this thread, and the "winner" could very well be the brainchild of a 'catter.

Subject: RE: Name suggestions for a fairly new pub.
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Jul 01 - 12:09 PM

Here are my ideas, for what they're worth.

Avoid Gaelic. It won't be understood by anyone not familiar with Celtic culture. They won't even know it's a bar.

Avoid anything obscene or insulting, no matter how subtle. Even if it's clever, the joke will grow old, and you'll be stuck with the name.

Avoid puns. For every person who loves them, there's another who hates them.

In your décor, avoid anything with leprechauns or shamrocks. That will annoy the real Irish in your community, though they might attract the pseudo-Irish on St. Patrick's day. Also avoid the Notre Dame "Fighting Irish" emblem, mascot, etc. Those are stereotypes the real Irish are trying to overcome.

Consider honoring an Irish or Irish-American hero, preferably one who's not too controversial. John L. Sullivan? James Joyce? Whoever strikes your fancy. Better yet, consider honoring a LOT of heroes, by hanging their portraits in the bar. Nothing wrong with teaching a little history while you're at it.

Irish place names might work. The County Clare? The Blarney Castle? Study a map or guidebook for more ideas. Try to find a name that a lot of Americans will recognize.

If you want to see what others already exist, go to Google and type "traditional Irish pub" (in quotes) into the box. You'll find lots of them.