Whether it’s down to history or just a quirk landlord, some pubs have the most extraordinary names – it’s worth a visit to see if they live up to their unconventional expectations!
The oldest pub names were created in a world where most people couldn’t read or write, so they typically featured animals or elements that could be depicted on a pub sign – such as a red lion, fox and hounds or lamb and flag. Thanks to near-universal literacy that requirement is, of course, no longer so necessary, liberating the nation’s hostel-keepers to come up with some truly unusual names.
Some of our favourites are listed below, and include the Case Is Altered (for paranoids everywhere), the Jolly Taxpayer (not too many of these around), the Nobody Inn (the punchline to a joke, surely) and the Skiving Scholar (which is probably always crowded, if our recollection of college is anything to go by).
But the winner – by a whisker – has to be My Fathers Moustache in North Holme, Lincs. We’re not sure if it’s in memory of a particularly fine nose beard (presumably a handlebar?) or a permanent Movember tribute, but it’s the kind of pub name that, once heard, is unlikely to be forgotten.
Landlords of Britain, we salute your originality!
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