My favorite pubs of all time from my bar-days (late 80’s early 90’s)…Both here in Atlanta
I used to be a regular in a little Pub called the Churchill Arms. There was always a piano player on Fri and Sat nites who played all these old WWII songs and standards. There is a fireplace and darts, etc… Lots of interesting folks there. Quite a few WWII vets. I heard lots of good stories there in those days. The original owner sold it about 5 years ago, so to me, it’s not the same anymore.
There was also an Irish pub called County Cork across the way that was really great. Live music and everything. It would get so crowded you couldn’t move but it was great fun. There has been no Irish pub like it here since. That is where I first got interested in Irish Music. They moved it years ago and it went out of business a few years later.
I could usually be found in one or the other on the weekends or stumbling between the two.
At my university, there is a bar in the basement of the graduate college called “The Debasement Bar.” D-Bar for short. See, it’s in the basement and etc etc.
My brother always wanted to open a bar called “Beelzepub.” His idea was not for stealing, but HAW HAW, too late!
-A combination gas station/eatery in Bayfield, Ontario: “Tank-N-Tummy”
-a little better than another find while traveling: “Squat-N-Gobble”
How appetizing!
ok so it’s my fault this started so here are some localish pub’s
The Drunken Duck,
The Black Cock … Stop that sniggering at the back
The Crow’s Nest,
The Wheelbarrow,
oh I forgot - The Tinner’s Rabbit
This list could go on for quite a while, Dalton-in-Furness, where I used to live (5 miles from where I’am now) used to hold the world record (a long time ago)for the most pubs per square mile of habitation, it was a small mining town but had nearly 100 pubs most are now houses!!
Pub names in England all run along the same lines, wherever you are in England you can be sure of finding
The Crossed Keys
The Cannon
The Royal Volenteer
The Old House (guess how that name came about?)
The Queen Victoria
A bar where I live(d) in England used to be called the Crooked Spire, on account of it being opposite the Crooked Spire (a Church with a bent spire), then new owners took over and renamed it:
“The Slug and fiddle” For no obvious reasons, but I think its pretty catchy( as long as you dont find any slugs in your pint)
When I lived in Ft. Worth, TX I used to go to a pub called The Pig & Whistle. It was started by a guy from the UK who missed home.
I also frequented a bar in St. Louis where they new my name (because I had a mug behind the bar with my name on it!). The bar was called The Boars Nest.
My favorite all time name is one here in Atlanta called The Tongue N’ Groove. I’ve never been in there, but I’m guessing guys are not too welcome. :roll:
There’s a tendancy in the last 20 years for pubs to get taken over by new management and the names get changed, or they get turned into a “theme” pub. Nobody seems to worry that this is part of our national heritage being chipped away - we have lots of history, but it’s not a bottomless well. I’m afraid the popularity of all things Irish, or rather, mock-Irish, is largely responsible. There’s a lot of Plastic Paddys in London.
My favourite pub name is one I saw years ago, the “Whodathoughtit?”, never seen before or since - maybe I was dreaming.
There’s a preponderance of Royal Oaks and King’s Heads in the West Country, commemorating the beheading of King Charles I and the legend of King Charles II hiding in an oak tree one night while he escaped the Parliamentary forces.
I really like one off names, so chain pubs all carrying the same name (Slug & Lettuce, Rat & Parrot, All Bar One) turn me off. We used to have a great old pub in Hammersmith called the Old Suffolk Punch (a breed of horse), now called the OSP. Lost all it’s charm, and the food and service is still crap.
Iam sure that Chesterfield, in Derbyshire holds the record now (where I come from) also a mining town, the town centre has about 50 pubs, all back to back, theres a road called the Brampton mile, it obviously a mile long and has 23 pubs, if you can make it down the Brampton mile, then you are a bit of a local hero!!!
Dalton-in-Furness has only about 15000 residents - a very small town may be just a mile across, In the street I used to live in the house numbers went up to number 96, and there had been 4 pubs - yep thats 1 pub for every 24 houses!
The same reason that many once traditional English pubs are getting renamed with mockrish chain names, like Finnigan’s Wake or O’Neill’s. An attempt to pull in more punters by trying to be trendy. In the Fiddler’s Green case I would guess they’re aiming for the tourist trade.
I’ve sung Fiddler’s Green in my Irish singing class, though, so the Irish like it enough to want to make it their own - at least the ones living in London do.
Most REAL Irish bars are named after the once or current owner - Joyce’s, Paddy’s Bar, Fitzgerald’s (by the dozen), McCarthy’s etc.
You are a fountain of useful information Martin, Thanks
There are still enough of the old pub names still kicking around though dont you think? As I recall we had one of those chain pubs O neils in our town, with the Flat pack “traditional” bar n all!!!´
Iam in Germany at the moment, and the Germans are Crazy about the Irish culture, there are loads of Irish pubs over here, but when you get inside, you normally get a crap pint of Guiness, and get to listen to some great German folk music
There are two which are ok, one in a town called Bielefeld, owned by an English guy, and one in Hannover owned by an Irish bloke. Both offer a great atmosphere!
Back in the late 60s early 70s there was a bar in Cleveland called the Library, one block from a university library. “Hey, Ma, I’ll be at the Library all night.” I admit to hanging out there perhaps more than I should have. It was in a 100 year old ramshackle house that has since been razed.
Mike
A fairly common one in England is the ‘Marquis of Granby’. Apparently the Marquis paid for and ran his own regiment. If any of his sergeants lived to complete their term of service he would buy them a pub which they invariably named after him. Unsurpisingly the Marquis eventually went bankrupt.
