The importance of a pub name
Hundreds of years ago, when the majority of the population were illiterate, any business that sold beer was required by law to display a sign. Painted signs were used, but were expensive, so alehouse, tavern and inn owners would sometimes just hang up a lump of wood or plant a bush outside. Customers would agree to meet in the establishment “at the sign of the tree”, or “at the sign of the king’s arms”.
As times progressed, the signs would display images relating to local life, to national events, or to things that mattered to the people of the time. The sign of the “dog and duck” would relate to the sport of duck hunting which may have happened on the land owned by the pub; the sign of “the railway” to towns affected by the coming of the railways; the sign of “the angel” sometimes a coded sign that advertised the owner’s allegiance to the church during the break from Rome in Tudor times
Pubs became to be known by their signs and the signs began to take on meaning and legend. Many “King’s Arms” would acquire the myth that the king himself once drank there for example. Because the pub was historically the centre of social interaction, things used to happen in pubs. The Trade Union Movement grew out of meetings in pubs, things were invented in pubs, people hid in pubs. All of this history is remembered by the name of the pub, not its address.
These days, it seems as though the pub is named first and a sign will follow, if at all. A pub should be a part of the community it serves and its name often contains links back to that community that stretch back many years.
A fellow blogger, Stonch, has recently written a couple of posts about pubs being taken over, modernised and renamed. I’ll agree that sometimes a pub needs refreshing, and some modernisations can really help a place, but the renaming is such a shame. Stonch brings two examples. “The Old Rising Sun,” which traditionally was an old heraldic reference to Edward III, Richard III or the original landowning family on which it was built, is now Coco Momo. “The Queen’s Head,” most likely a reference to the reigning Queen Victoria, is now The Marylebone Tup.
I’ll concede that change happens. Indeed, one of Leeds’ oldest and best pubs, Whitelocks was renamed from The Turk’s Head after being acquired by William Whitelock in 1880. It still stands in Turks Head Yard in Leeds.
But please stop messing with the names of pubs, especially if like in Stonch’s examples, the original name is part of the brickwork of the building. It’s a shame and it should stop!
