Basically, what it says. Do you have any preconceptions of what an unknown pub, its owners, and its regulars, are going to be like based on its name?
Pub names tend to be a little like first names–you come upon the same ones time and time again: the Red Lion, the Rose & Crown, the King’s Arms etc. etc. Are there general trends related to these names, or is it as random as were they shuffled and allocated?
Nope, no way.
Two Red Lions within walking distance of here: one is a typical food-based chain-owned thing, the other is chav central.
I can think of a few White Horses and Black Horses, none of which fit any consistent pattern. Some are for chavs, a couple alternate between football & heavy metal, and so on.
There’s not a great number of Kings’ Anythings, which wouldn’t necessarily surprise me given the Parliamentarian background of the area.
I’m struggling to think of any other names I should look for which appear with enough consistency.
Well, if a bar is named “The Blowhole” it’s a good that you’ll find sea men there.
Or semen. :rolleyes:
When Dad lived in Bradenton, Florida, he pointed out a bar called Fast Eddie’s. The sign bragged, in big letters, of Bad Food & Warm Beer. Dad explained it was a really nice place, but they preferred locals to tourists.
In Evansville, when I went to school there, a new joint opened with a rowboat and crossed oars on the front. The Oar House. The city made them change the name. :smack:
Heh. I had to say it out loud before I got it.
I’ve never been able to tell what place is like until I’ve sat down and had a few pints. In Knoxville there’s the very chilled out Preservation Pub just a few blocks away from the rambunxious MacLeod’s.
I determine what a place is like by its location. The downtown pubs were generally (but not always) more laid back than bars close to campus. The closer to campus you get, the greater the presence of freshmen and the Greek social behemoth.
I have come to the conclusion, though, that any place with the word Brewery in its name is probably a very nice place to have a pint.
Many years ago there was a pretty rough place called the Gutlevel Bar and it was a good example of Truth-in-Advertising in my mind.
<snif> I sure miss that ol’ dive!
I wandered into the Bagpiper once (in Zurich, IIRC) and discovered it was a gay leather bar. You can imagine the painting of a bagpiper on the wall behind the barman.
Ouch. I bet that was an awkward couple of seconds while that sank in.
I had a gay friend who had a place like that as his local. It was on a popular tourist strip, and he said it was quite common for the doors to swing open in the middle of the day, and there silhouetted against the midday sun would be a suburban family squinting at the darkness of the bar, as the figures of leather-clad men slowly resolved themselves. He said these suburbanites fell into two categories. Firstly, there were those who stayed for ONE BEER to look polite, then got the hell outta there (casually), then there were those who just turned around and walked off. He always told me he had more respect for the second group.
More respect for the second group? Sounds rather heterophobic…
What about The Back Door, The Bolt, Buddies, The Tool Box, The Shaft, The Ramrod, The Tunnel, The Cockpit, Bronco’s, The Manhole, Members, Choices, Family, Different Strokes, The Village, or The Rainbow Club?
Translation? What’s “chav”? Is it gay? Biker? Gay-biker? Clueless in Chicago.
I have noticed no trend in names, but have noticed that the closer one is to a tourist attraction in UK, the crappier the lager and the nastier the food.
Best food in UK, ever, for me, was in Durham–nice lil pub, too. Can’t remember the name, sadly.
In the Great Lakes region, many bars and restaurants have names in the form of [possessive owner’s/former owner’s name] [some other name] [Bar/Grill/Tavern/Inn/Hotel/House/Tap/something else]. For example:
Joe’s Lakeside Inn
Eddie’s Oak Hill Tavern
Dave’s Valley Hotel
Dino’s Lady Luck Lounge
Vinnie’s Old Town Grill
Frank’s Wayside Tavern
Chuck’s Manor House Tap
Ed’s Tudor Lounge
Bill and Frank’s Corner Bar
… and so on. If a bar name is in this format, nine times out of ten it’s going to be a blue-collar gin mill, the tenth a shopworn but still servicable retro holdout from the 1940s that your grandparents considered the classy place to go in thier day.
In Western New York, “Hotel” is often used in the name of a hole-in-the-wall bar, usually located on the main street of an exurban hamlet or village. Even though the place has not rented a room since 1890, they still keep “Hotel” in the name.
In the late '80s I visited London with my girlfriend (now wife), her sister and boyfriend. I wanted to visit the 4AD/Beggars Banquet headquarters to see the source of so much good music (I know they didn’t make it, but they did market it) and maybe buy some stuff from the labels store. It took us a while to find it (since I didn’t have my London A-Z) and when we did there was a pub beside it. I wanted to go in to have lunch but sis and BF would NOT eat at a pub called the Slug and Lettuce. It looked very respectable from the outside. We ended up down the road at a hole with a ‘proper’ name. It appears to be a chain…
Nice rainbow, elmwood!
Chavs - are loud, obnoxious, swear a lot, wear expensive clothes like Burberry and Henry Lloyd even though they cannot afford their own houses, fight a lot, listen to bangin’ choons, drive Vauxhall Novas or Ford Cosworths, wear too much jewellery, the girls wear skirts so short they’re more akin to belts, the girls are normally pregnant by the time they’re 18, the girls have makeup on that looks like it was applied with a trowel.
Oh-our jumped up white trash.
I see.
No idea what bangin’ choons are (it sounds vaguely dirty) and no reference point for the Vauxhall or Cosworths…
but I think I catch your drift.
Question: we will be in UK in March. How does one know which pubs are OK to take kids into for a quick meal? (sorry if this is too OT, you can email me).
I mean, I know they are both cars, just dunno what kind they are. Sedans, compacts, SUV’s, whatever…
Must. Learn. to. Type.
The car references are about the guys who don’t have the finances or the know-how to pimp a car properly, and so make a humiliating spectacle instead. [L=This]http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/04/chavmobile/[/l] was a brilliant example - note that it was put together and sold by semi-spoof-gone-semi-serious band [L=Goldie Lookin’ Chain]http://www.youknowsit.co.uk/lowtech/[/l].
Um.
I have no words.
:eek:
(are these people who would revere the Dukes of Hazard or similiar?)
and can I just say that they seem to be very um, er–non-British?
How many of these people are there? <gulp>