Some people here seem (to my way of understanding this thread) to be equating what I would call the English inn with British pub. Am I right about that? Do English people see the village inn (as it would likely be referred to here in the States) as the modern day equivalent of the British pub? Do the British view the pub as quintessentially British?

Then, I'm also curious about Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. All of them have pubs now, but historically was there the same sort village inn/English inn in those areas. I know the public house came to Ireland late, except in those cities ruled by the English. But the pub tradition in rural Ireland is modern (in that I mean post-Famine modern). Are Wales and Scotland historically more similar to England or to Ireland when it comes to the pub?