Colourlovers has just posted a great collection of pub sign photos picked up from Flickr. The derivations of most are pretty obvious although there are a couple of interesting variations on a theme.
Another blog, Existing Visual showed similar photos but includes the sign for the Lion & Snake, presumably in Lincoln.
If anyone has any idea how or why this pub got its name, I'd be fascinated to know. Leave a comment here or email me through my website at Complete Text where you're also find extracts from A Book About Pub Names, free pub history articles and details of how to buy.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Monday, 21 September 2009
The Snowdrop Inn
This week I came across the sad story of The Snowdrop Inn in Lewes. Whilst you might assume that the inn takes its name from the local snowdrop growing industry, nothing is further from the truth and it actually commemorates a natural disaster in the town.
On the 27th December 1836 Lewes was gripped by a terrible snowstorm that had been raging since before Christmas. Many roads in the South East were impassable and the mail had been unable to get through 10ft snowdrifts for days.
The present Snowdrop Inn stands in the shadow of a cliff and was once the site of a row of workers' cottages. Snow had piled on the clifftop for a week and, on the morning of the 27th, the pile gave way, bringing an avalanche of snow and rocks down on to the houses.
Townspeople spent a day digging families out but there were eight fatalities. When the inn was built it was named to commemorate the rare event of an avalanche in Britain. For the full story from Secret Britain, click here
On the 27th December 1836 Lewes was gripped by a terrible snowstorm that had been raging since before Christmas. Many roads in the South East were impassable and the mail had been unable to get through 10ft snowdrifts for days.
The present Snowdrop Inn stands in the shadow of a cliff and was once the site of a row of workers' cottages. Snow had piled on the clifftop for a week and, on the morning of the 27th, the pile gave way, bringing an avalanche of snow and rocks down on to the houses.
Townspeople spent a day digging families out but there were eight fatalities. When the inn was built it was named to commemorate the rare event of an avalanche in Britain. For the full story from Secret Britain, click here
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Labour In Vain
Pub signs are not always PC. The Nag's Head sometimes displays a picture of a horse but often shows a woman scolding her husband, and this is not the only example.
The sign for a Staffordshire pub called the Labour In Vain showed a black boy in a tub being scrubbed by a white couple. The sign was removed by the brewery in 1993 after complaints. It was replaced by a picture of a farmer sowing seed that was immediately eaten by a flock of birds. The original sign was then hung in the pub garden but is to be reinstated this week.
Apparently the pub was originally a hiring station for people seeking work, pubs often acting as unofficial employment agencies at one time.
For the full story from The Sentinel Newspaper see here
The sign for a Staffordshire pub called the Labour In Vain showed a black boy in a tub being scrubbed by a white couple. The sign was removed by the brewery in 1993 after complaints. It was replaced by a picture of a farmer sowing seed that was immediately eaten by a flock of birds. The original sign was then hung in the pub garden but is to be reinstated this week.
Apparently the pub was originally a hiring station for people seeking work, pubs often acting as unofficial employment agencies at one time.
For the full story from The Sentinel Newspaper see here
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