On My Pub Name Top Ten

[danieldwilliam]

I would never actually want to own a pub. At least I’d never want to the be the owner / manager of a pub.  It strikes me as a job with long hours, which requires compulsory sociability and which isn’t particularly financially rewarding. Also, you don’t get to sit and enjoy the beer. I’m much more likely to set up a rum distillery in Grenada than a pub but in keeping with my general life philosophy, often discussed with MLW(1) and widgetfox (2) that all of life can be usefully considered in terms of a top ten list here are the top ten of names I would give my pub if I owned one.

1. The Fighting Thomas Cochraine (in honour of my favourite Georgian naval captain, radical politician and the larger than fiction model for Lucky Jack Aubrey)
2. The Monkey Puzzle
3. The Preferential Vote
4. The Righteously Bare Arms (this pub would feature a weekly burlesque evening)
5. The Gravitas Out
6. The Twenty-First Amendment (clearly an over 21 only venue)
7. The Spanker (if the pub were near a yachting club)
8. The Gastro-Pub at the End of the Street
9. The Truth in Comedy
10. The John Cartwright

(1) my list of top sandwiches (3) was included in MLW’s speech at our wedding.

(2) I actually have a top ten of widgetfoxes.

(3) pastrami, gherkin, tomato, with whole-grain mustard on a savoury bagel.

Comments

[hano.livejournal.com]

Some other 20th C notables could be:
The Sidney Camm (designer of the Hawker Hurricane, Tempest, Fury & Hunter to name but a few)
The Barnes Wallace (complete with a picture of a bouncing bomb for the pub sign...)
The Roy Chadwick (designed the Lancaster and Vulcan bombers)
The General Slim (After Bill Slim of Burma)


Also The Three Pigs in Corsham has a sign above the door that says 'This is a real ale pub. Lager drinkers will be tolerated as long as they keep quiet' a sentiment I've always rather admired. It's certainly possible to run a successful pub without selling the usual crap beer, you just have to make sure that you make it a selling point and that it's well publicised.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Cloisters, my local in Edinburgh is definitely a craft beer pub and makes quite a decent living from being so.

Also the Helter Skelter in Frodsham.