On a recent trip to the U.K. we spent as much time in pubs as possible. We’d snoop out the proper pubs – old, dark buildings with low ceilings and beams with padding on them so when you walk into it you don’t hurt your forehead too badly.
Mainly we were in search of bitter beer, which is hard to find in SoCal, where we live. The pub food… well, the fish and chips were greasy and the chips didn’t taste as much of potato as they should. Anyone wanting a light meal was out of luck (try the antipasto plate, it’s as close as you’ll get to a salad, most places).
No one even seems to offer a ploughman’s – a trad lunch of Cheddar and/or Stilton Cheese, pickled onions and good bread.
But the architecture! The atmosphere! Oh to have a ‘local’. In one pub, in a seaside town on the edge of Exmoor, the owner’s dog came and settled on our feet. On them.
How dearly, dearly I wish there were a good pub ’round the corner from my house. Bars just aren’t the same, not by a long shot.
One of the first things I want to know about a building is when it was built. Brits can be very off-hand about this. “How old is your building?” the visitor asks. They blink. They say, “Oh, I dunno, not that old. 1750, maybe?” Oh. Ok. For North Americans, a building dating from 1750 is a big deal. I guess it’s different if your queen lives in a castle (Windsor) first built in 1100.
The Jolly Anglers, Wood Green, north London. Apparently they have a "Dirty Doctors and Naughty Nurses" night.
A freehouse is a fully independent pub. Others are more-or-less franchises from major breweries.
The Britannia, in Boston, Lincolnshire. The tower belongs to St. Botolph's Church, completed in 1390.
Only Nelson has more pubs named after him.
The White Lion, Barthomley, Cheshire. Dated 1614.
Naming pubs for military heroes is common. John Brunt died in Italy in WWII, age 22, after winning both the Military Cross and the Victoria Cross, the highest U.K. medals for gallantry.
The Oban Inn, Oban, Scotland, about 70 miles NW of Edinburgh. Est. 1790.
The Nutshell, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. About 90 miles NE of London. Calls itself the smallest pub in the U.K., but there are at least two other claimants to that particular throne.
'Admiral Benbow' was the name of the pub in Treasure Island. The name still gives me the shivers. There are several real Admiral Benbow pubs.
The Vines, Lime Street, Liverpool. During Victorian times, Liverpool was second only to London as a centre of wealth and commerce.
The Running Horses, Mickleham. SSW of London, just outside the ring road, not far from Epsom Downs, a horse-racing track. Probably first built in the mid-1500s.
Very common for several - or even many (The Royal Oak!) - pubs to share the same name.
One of the great joys of the too-short British summer is to sit outside boozing it up in a pub garden.
