2.) Anyone got any ideas for clever US pub names? Like “The Wrestler’s Arms” or “The Myopic Optometrist” or something.
We need more individuality, and fewer Starbucks and McDonalds.
Not in the US, but is Canada close enough to count? If so, then I’ll offer “The Flying Scot” and “The Earl of Whitchurch,” both of which I used to drink at. Sadly, each has closed down now, but they were nice little independent places with their own character.
Now if I want a beer in Calgary, I usually head for BP’s. In Edmonton, I’ll head for Hudson’s. Nice places, even if BP’s is kind of a cookie-cutter North American sports bar. But the names and the character just can’t compare to my old watering holes, the Scot and the Earl.
Here in my neighborhood, we have The Brick Store, The Angel, and The Universal Joint. The Angel was designed to be a faux-English pub, but the Brick Store and the Universal Joint are the real deal. The U-Joint’s name is particularly clever because it’s in a converted gas station. In another part of town they’ve opened up a sister pub, also in an old gas station, called The Brake Pad!
Well, thinking about Portland, the ones in my neck of the woods were, in no particular order, The Barley-Mill Pub, the Lucky Labrador, The Horsebrass Pub, The Space Room, The Laurelthirst (pun on Laurelhurst neighborhood), Dots (does that date me?), Pub at the End of the Universe, Belmont’s, and a place with a neon sign that said “Tavern” but the T and A were always burned out so it was called Vern’s but I don’t know if that was the real name.
There’s a bar in Cleveland called The Office, so that its patrons can - truthfully! - call home to say they’re “still at the office.” There’s an Irish-themed pub in Cleveland Heights named after the Irish republican hero Charles Stewart Parnell.
A lot of British pubs have names with some historic significance or evocative quality. Why not pubs named after American statemen (“The George Washington”), sports stars (“The Jackie Robinson”) or fictional heroes (“The Sam Spade”)?
Well, I used to stop in a bar named “The Black Rooster” near my old office. There were two others nearby called “The Mad Hatter” and “Sign of the Whale”. There’s also one with the name “The Big Hunt”, which has made people look at me funny when I was telling them about it.
The Irish/English pubs around here, off the top of my head:
The Little Shamrock
The Pig & Whistle
The Dog’s Bollix
Durty Nelly’s
Abbey Tavern
Blackthorn Tavern
The Blarney Stone
Edinburgh Castle
The Philosopher’s Club
Shannon Arms
Costello’s Four Deuces
The Dubliner
Genuine brogues can be found in all but two of these places.
Jacko’s Rocketship
The One Eye Jack
My Sin &
The Lucky Star
AT THE HI-D-HI
& THE HULA GAL
BEE-HIVE BAR AND
THE ZIRCON LOUNGE
G.G.‘S COZY CORNER &
THE GIFT OF LOVE
STOP N’ DRINK, SIT N’ SIP, REST N’ PIECES
DEXTER’S NEW APPROACH
& THE GET DOWN LOUNGE
THE AORTA BAR, DETROIT’S MAIN VEIN
My local bar is called 3rd Base. Their slogan is “Your last stop before home.” Kinda clever. But the other two local bars, Spectator’s and The Dugout, also have the same baseball theme.
We also have a bar called “The Bar”. So, if you say you’re going to “The Bar”, it’s assumed you’re going to “The Bar” and not just the bar - so you have to specify. Jerks.
Ireland does have a significant number of pubs names in similar ways rather than the more English tradition of pub names.
Elendil’s Heir makes a good suggestion. There’s no need to have centuries of history to come up with a decent name: a housing estate built on a former RAF airfield near here has a pub named after Douglas Bader, the WW2 pilot who was briefly stationed there.
