Folklore: Odd pub names

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Banjo-Flower
Date: 21 Oct 11 - 06:13 AM

"if you went in and asked for a lager the landlord would say "you dont want that crap" and would pour you a pint of real ale"

which I would leave untouched and unpaid for and leave telling the landlord I don't want what he cannot otherwise get rid of

Gerry

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,Zalby57
Date: 21 Oct 11 - 07:47 AM

ny personal favourite can be found in County Carlow in Ireland..a pub with a long history..."The Fighting Cocks"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,guest porkypig
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 05:51 PM

There used to be a pub in Burnley called HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE WORLD

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 06:26 PM

Wow, it's still here :-)

I have told my youngest grandson, now 4, that we are going to buy a pub and call it 'The Queen's Bum'. We both think it is hilarious...

:D tG

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 06:31 PM

I recall from way back a pub around Hanger Lane/Western Avenue called The Band At Rest, where some sf-oriented friends used to meet periodically,

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 06:37 PM

Reminded by DtG's joke name of a terrible joke from my 70-odd years ago schooldays, about a pub called The Queen's Legs, and one of a queue waiting outside telling a curious passer-by, "We're waiting for The Queen's Legs to open so we can have a drink."

Don't let anyone kid you that the old ones were the best.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,Ebor Fiddler
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 08:28 PM

Have we had the Bull in Spectacles in Blithbury, Staffs?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,DTM
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 08:51 PM

I think there used to be a pub in Edinburgh was called "The Ferret & Trousers".

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Sir Roger de Beverley
Date: 31 Oct 15 - 07:40 AM

This week they have just finished demolishing a pub in Harrogate called the Little Wonder - named after a racehorse. There is also a racehorse named pub in York called Beeswing (nothing to do with Richard Thompson).

R

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Thompson
Date: 31 Oct 15 - 07:38 PM

There was a pub beside Emmet Bridge in Harold's Cross, Dublin, called The Old Grinding Young. My mother knew it as a young girl in the 1920s, and said it then had a swinging inn sign, with paint almost an inch thick from eternal repainting, showing an old man in 18th-century dress being fed into a mincer and coming out the other side as a young man (presumably from the revivifying effects of the beer).

The house on the site looks ancient; it's attached to another pub which has recently closed. I live in fear that they'll be knocked down and an apartment block built there. My suspicion is that this house is far, far older than the 18th century.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 01 Nov 15 - 07:32 AM

The Band at Rest which I mentioned above had, I recall, a fine eastward view clear across to St Paul's thru the windows of its upstairs meeting-room.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 01 Nov 15 - 06:33 PM

Has nobody mentioned (read the whole thread) "The Nobody Inn" at Doddiscombsleigh in Devon? We used to go there regularly when we lived in Devon many 40-odd years ago. Seems it still exists, as it has a website.
Nearer home now, Boozer in 2003 mentioned "The Black Bitch" in Linlithgow: not just part of the town's coat of arms but a local legend, which is portrayed on the walls of the lounge bar. (And a very non-PC friend calls it "The Winnie Mandela").
And where I live, in Balerno, SW Edinburgh, one of the local pubs is known as "The Honky" (real name "Malleny Arms"). Again the reason, in local history is shoen in a sign outside the pub. It dates from WW2 when US servicemen were stationed at Kirknewton airfield a few miles down the road, and christened it "The Honky-tonk".
The other pub, The Grey Horse, is known to many as "Brow's" after the landlady who retired possibly as much as 20 years ago.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,Bill S in Adelaide
Date: 02 Nov 15 - 12:51 AM

Couldn't help it, looked again. But it seems like a good place to ask about the Trigger Pond in Bucknell as the locals don't seem to know for certain.
Nearest back street boozer here is the Lord Exmouth known to one and all as the Monkey House for reasons that are obvious when you go inside. Also nearby is the Checkside Tavern which is named after a kick from a narrow angle in Ozzie rules footy.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Mr Red
Date: 02 Nov 15 - 03:55 AM

Going through Rochdale I saw a pub called "the Ladyhouse" and wondered what it was before it was a pub. But reality is that there is a road called Ladyhouse Lane, which still begs the same question. map the roads have been modernised but I would guess the pub was in that lane.

In Beverley the pub in the centre was always known as the "Push" because it had a swing door with the words "Push" in big letters. I believe it has reverted to "the Punch" now.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 02 Nov 15 - 05:17 AM

Looking back to my time in Huddersfield there was Wills O' Nats, Nont Sarahs and the Golcar Lily. There was also the Warren House, now closed. Closer to where I live now we have the Cod and Lobster in Staithes.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 02 Nov 15 - 11:20 AM

Thinking back to my student days at The London Hospital in Whitechapel, The pub most used by students (other than the students' union bars) was The Good Samaritan: an appropriate enough name for a pub sandwiched between various hospital and medical college buildings.
After you graduated, it was more likely you would go to "The Grave Maurice" - just over the road near Whitechapel tube station. There was a code for this, when speaking in front of patients - "See you in the chapel later" - so the patients assumed their junior doctors were all religious....?
"The Grave Maurice" and "The Blind Beggar" were both frequented by the Kray brothers, and indeed the murder of Cornell by Ronnie Kray took place during my time at medical school. Some info about these 2 pubs and the goings on there in this article:
Pubs with a secret history

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,Faye
Date: 02 Nov 15 - 03:18 PM

There's "Middle Earth" in Nottingham, "Eagle and Child", "Angel and Greyhound" and "Far from the Madding Crowd" in Oxford, "The Drunken Duck" in Ambleside... There are many unusual ones!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Nov 15 - 05:11 PM

"The Black Bitch" in Linlithgow: not just part of the town's coat of arms but a local legend, which is portrayed on the walls of the lounge bar. (And a very non-PC friend calls it "The Winnie Mandela").
This was the home of Llinlithgow folk club which was run by Nora Devine, a Folk club I played many times.
Nora Devine, was a great organiser, who got some fine artists to play in her club. R.I.P.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Nov 15 - 05:22 PM

Cambridge's The Baron Of Beef is a name I have not come across elsewhere.

Hampstead Heath, near where I grew up, has its famous trio of The Old Bull & Bush [famous eponym of a music hall song], The Spaniards Inn, and Jack Straw's Castle.

And don't forget The Elephant and Castle, which gave its name to a London District —— I have heard it said that the name was a corruption of The Infanta Of Castile; but I have always thought that it must be at least infuenced by the way that the rook of a fine chess set is often modelled as an elephant carrying the castle on its back as a sort of howdah -- sometimes filled with soldiers.


≈M≈

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Thompson
Date: 02 Nov 15 - 06:46 PM

There's a pub near Athy called The Bleeding Horse, built by the roadside where a man's gunshot horse finally collapsed under him as he fled an English massacre of 400 people invited to a peace conference in 1577. Or there was; I think this old pub may have closed during the recession. Maybe it'll be open again.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Nov 15 - 11:48 AM

Rose and Lion Bromyard is a grand pub for performing outside at festival time.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Nov 15 - 12:03 PM

GSS: yes, Nora Devine is sadly missed: she died in 1999. No longer a folk CLUB as such, but still a thriving Folk Festival Association, with an annual festival and other events throughout the year. Ian McCalman of The McCalmans recalled that Nora gave him their first booking, and Aly Bain was also an early player. They also used The Footballers' and Cricketers' Arms, which is now one of our monthly session venues.
And Nora's name lives on as we run an outdoor stage every year at the Festival, which is "The Nora Devine Stage".

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Mr Red
Date: 04 Nov 15 - 04:38 AM

Rose and Lion Bromyard
a strange combination which may have evolved from two pubs. I always remember a lass climbing in through the window at the Festival because of the crowds.

And while we are on the subject of two pubs: My uncle hailed from Knighton where they had a pub called the Lion and and two doors away a pub called the Lamb. His relative who lived in the house in between acquired the nickname "Hugh the Peacemaker" because he lay betwixt the Lion & the Lamb!!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 04 Nov 15 - 06:02 AM

I spent some WWii time in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, staying in The Old George [cafe not pub] in the High Street, near the neighbouring signs of The Cock & The Bull; supposed by local folklore [tho disputed* like so many origin-claims] to be the eponyms of the idiomatic name for a tall tale, "Cock-&-Bull-Story", as by the time a story had travelled out of one and into the other it had got a bit garbled.

≈M≈

*See section in Wikipedia article on 'Coaching Inns'

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 04 Nov 15 - 06:15 AM

Various posts have mentioned a "Hark To" insert name of Dog. In the Kirkstall area of Leeds there is a Hark TO Rover who legend has it was a dog at the nearby priory. He supposedly woke the monks when the priory was on fire. There is another tale which can be found at:


Hark To Rover

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: severed-head
Date: 04 Nov 15 - 11:00 AM

There is a pub called The Wonder in Enfield, Middlesex which hosts a monthly singaround. Also the United Brethren pub in Chelmsford, which hosts trad music sessions and occasional singing.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jul 20 - 11:25 AM

I lived near the 'Cabbage Patch' near Twickenham station for a while- nobody could remember when there were gardens there!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 03 Jul 20 - 11:44 AM

Not far from here, there’s a pub called the “White Lion”. Not a particularly unusual name but the sign has always been a picture of a zebra.

I also know a pub called “The Polygon” which has a sign showing an empty birdcage with the door open!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 03 Jul 20 - 01:02 PM

Martha Grimes, when she started writing and publishing
her series of police-detective murder mysteries featuring
the character of Richard Jury,
always named each mystery after a pub or club of some kind.
Several pubs named in this thread
have become titles of Richard Jury mystery books,
such as The LaMorna Wink.

A more recent installment, however, is titled
'The Knowledge' and it refers to the arcane mysteries
known to taxicab drivers in Greater London --
but I really don't know that there actually exists
a pub called 'The Knowledge.'

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Jul 20 - 01:36 PM

Sean oggs.
irish name sean og? which would mean, when translated young Sean

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Raggytash
Date: 03 Jul 20 - 04:30 PM

There is a village in Cornwall called Lamorna and there is a pub there named "The Wink".

Not fiction but fact.

As an aside people sing a song which I know as Pomona which some people claim to be from Cornwall.

Abject nonsense I have to say, Lamorna is not even a one horse town, it certainly doesn't have an Albert Square for one and it would take an age to get a taxi to get there from any surrounding town

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Jul 20 - 05:16 PM

In Horsham St Faiths, Norfolk UK there's a pub called the Black Swan.
But most of the locals there call it the Datty Duck. (We used to live in that village)
The Murderers pub in Norwich (dates back to the 17th Century) is so-called because one of the landlords murdered his wife there in the 19th Century. Before that the pub was known as The Gardeners.
The Adam and Eve in Norwich was founded in 1249, and is haunted. There's a bar down in the basement and lots of people have seen/felt the ghosts down there.
Then there's the Pig and Whistle. Medieval one, and piggen is an Anglo-Saxon word for a drinking vessel. Whistle was once 'wassail'.
Finally, naughty Jamie Oliver, a TV chef, set off in a travelling pub-on-wheels for a programme, and he called his pub the Cock In Cider. Tut tut!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 03 Jul 20 - 06:43 PM

Raggy tash, Albert Square was supposed to have been in Penzance. A horse drawn cab would have taken you 'Way down to Lamorna'

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Murpholly
Date: 03 Jul 20 - 06:48 PM

Halifax has The Running Man. They used to send men to the guillotine which was at the bottom of a hill. If the man could run to the pub without being caught he was reprieved.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 04:10 AM

Makes a lot more sense with Pomona gardens and Albert Square in Manchester, Tug. See https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/nostalgia/fascinating-history-behind-pomona-greater-13340688

Nice to see a thread I started all that time back resurrected.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 04:56 AM

I used to play music in a lovely old pub called the 'Compasses' at Crundale, near Canterbury. It meant nothing until I was shown the old pub sign, for the 'God Encompasses'.
I later lived & worked at Thames TV in Euston & the local pub was the 'Goat and Compasses' which I presume had a similar origin?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 05:20 AM

There is a Moody Cow just outside Bradford.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 05:48 AM

I used to pass that sometimes, Dave.

Have I mentioned the Railway and Naturalist in Prestwich?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,John from Kemsing
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 06:33 AM

There is a pub in Sevenoaks, which, for over a hundred or more years is called "The Black Boys". There is a plaque on the wall detailing the history of this pub and how it`s name may have originated. We are informed the brewery owners of the pub are to change the name to "The Restoration" for fear of offending some people.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 06:41 AM

Don't let The Morris Ring know FFS


Dave H

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 06:56 AM

Hi John- I also used to play music at an old miners' Black Boy, in Low Moorsley, Co Durham. The sign was of a classic black (forgive me) sambo & I often wondered why.
I just looked it up on Google Earth- it's still called that, but the old sign is nowhere to be seen....

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 08:18 AM

There was a "Black Boy" on Liverpool Road in Patricroft too. Now a "Best One" convenience store.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Jos
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 08:37 AM

There are Black Boy Inns and Black Boy pubs all over England, many thought to be named after Charles II who was nicknamed 'the black boy' because of his dark hair. Nothing to do with slavery.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST,Roger
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 10:06 AM

Going back to a previous post about Wigton in Cumbria. There is a pub called the Blackamoor, known locally as the Blackie.
Also, the Green Bank on the A6 south of Carlisle has reopened after being shut for a few years. Its now called the Nosey Cow!!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 11:01 AM

no it's just a perceived' connection with unacceptable attitudes & we have to live with it, as a lot of people are offended by the connotations, right or wrong.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Raggytash
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 12:49 PM

Tug the Cox, This is one of my bug-bears. The song was written about Pomona Docks in Manchester. Manchester has an Albert Square till today. I know I used to live there. Penzance does not have, and has never had an Albert Square. Some try to claim it for Cornwall, bugger off I say, write your own songs!!


Pomona Docks, Manchester

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 01:50 PM

I don't think it was Pomona Docks, Raggy. I think it was the Royal Pomona Palace and botanical gardens which became the Pomona Docks later. Apart from that, spot on. The palace and gardens had their heyday in the late 19th / early 20th century when the song was written. It was very popular in Manchester around then but was not really known as Lamora until the 1960s when the Yetties did their version.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 01:53 PM

...and of course the other clue to it being Manchester was the evening being wet (wet wet) :-)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 04:54 PM

LTS here - Ian Bainbridge - the Goat and Compasses was my 'local' when I worked in Euston Tower. Had many a happy lunchtime in there, but the beer was awful.

LTS

Subject: RE: Folklore: Odd pub names
From: Anne Lister
Date: 04 Jul 20 - 05:26 PM

My Dad's favourite discussion was how names of pubs were distorted. So the Goat and Compasses, as mentioned above, from God Encompasses Us, and he reckoned that the Elephant and Castle was from "Eleanor Infanta of Castile". Which is possible, but it's also true that the Elephant and Castle sign was a guild sign. Was that because they had misheard "Eleanor Infanta ..." - or was it a reference to the merchant cargoes?
There are books on this stuff, of course.
The pubs in my old stomping ground of Wapping were always fun. The Town of Ramsgate, named after a ship, as was the Prospect of Whitby. Around here they're mostly from the coats of arms of the landowning families, like the Bear for the Nevills.