Pub names

My historian friend, Susie, lives in County Durham and one of her favourite pubs is the Beamish Mary, right on the doorstep of the wonderful Beamish Open Air Museum, where she used to work many years ago. If the name of the pub is a little unusual, then its location is even stranger; it's in a village called No Place. Susie used to take great delight, when anyone asked her if she'd been anywhere over a weekend, in replying, "I've been to No Place."
 
Our haunt (pub) is Teerenpeli in Lahti. They have their own brewery and whisky distillery. "Teerenpeli" means flirtation - with the lemma/basic form "Teeri" (teeren - genitive) meaning black crouse/heathbird and "peli" meaning game or play.
teer.jpg

Photo source

One local pub is called "Virasto" = Office. The furnishing is simple - in line with the pub being situated in a dull former main office building of an electric company. One summertime pub on the harborfront is called "Brygga" which is Swedish (second official language) for brewing. Another is "Paloasema" = fire station; situated in an old voluntary fire brigade building. What inventiveness💡! Waiting for pubs called "Public Toilet", "Pharmacy" and "Dental Hygienist's Reception".

There used to be a pub called "Metro" aka subway in the city center. It was a former public toilet beneath the ground level. Tourists sometimes asked: "Is there a subway/metro in Lahti?" Some helpful locals guided them towards the restroom entrance - thus the name "Metro".

I've visited some pubs in the UK but I can't recall their names. It was more popping into the first pub next to the hotel than getting to know the pub culture :cheers:.
 
Last edited:
Quite a few old banks in the UK have been turned into pubs. The aforementioned Wetherspoon's have done this a fair bit. There's one in Edinburgh called the Standing Order and plenty of others around.

In a curious reversal, I saw the opposite happen when I worked in Eritrea. There was a nice little bar called the Saba close to where I lived. It got turned into...well, you've already worked it out.
 
TastyReuben said:
We have those here. I've been. Not impressed.

In recent memory, we also had "genuine" Irish pub chain restaurants Claddagh and Brazenhead. Both were crap and both are no more (at least around here).
Click to expand...

We had an English Pub in Frisco for a long time, owned and operated by a British husband and wife. The food was excellent. They had fish and chips on the menu, with your choice of cod or haddock. The haddock and chips were outstanding. It went out of business within the last year, or so. The owners were up in age 20 years ago, so it is likely they sold it, or just closed it down.

The husband had a blue and white MINI like mine, with a Union Jack on the roof.

CD
 
caseydog said:
We had an English Pub in Frisco for a long time, owned and operated by a British husband and wife. The food was excellent. They had fish and chips on the menu, with your choice of cod or haddock. The haddock and chips were outstanding. It went out of business within the last year, or so. The owners were up in age 20 years ago, so it is likely they sold it, or just closed it down.

The husband had a blue and white MINI like mine, with a Union Jack on the roof.

CD
Click to expand...
We have a couple of places like that. They don't advertise that they're British-themed, or that the owners are British, but once you sit down and look at the menu...it becomes obvious.

One is a tea cafe/caff, but not your Aunt Matilda's tea shop - just a little diner-like establishment that happens to serve hearty British foods and rustic afternoon teas. The other is a little bar & grille, and the menu has nice things on it like shepherd's pie and scotch eggs and the like. Both places are owned and run by British couples.
 
Pubs in Italy are pretty widespread nowadays, but of course they are all related to British/Irish pubs, not Italians as they are not in our culture if we have to stick to the name/function of them. I think that we can relate to Italian pubs to old Osterie before 60s.
And I have found out that the first British Pub in Italy was established in Rimini (Emilia Romagna region) on 1964 and still exists. Rose and Crown. Not a fancy name for Brits, but surely it was an exotic name over here for that time (maybe still now)

I used to go to an Irish Pub in Milano called Pogues Mahon, I’ve also celebrated a couple of Saint Patrick‘s parties.
 
Last edited:
I spent three weeks in London in '93. I tried a couple of restaurants and was not impressed. The exception was an Indian restaurant. My second day there I discovered the pubs. I ate lunch and dinner in pubs. The food authentic and tasty - Shepard's Pie, Steak and Kidney Pie, Scotch Eggs, Ploughman's Lunch. The prices were reasonable and the beer very good and strong compared to American beer.
A coupled of blocks from our University Campus is a strip of bars. The Roof Garden, The Keg, Mother's Mantle, The Office, Uncle Pete's, The Library. Nothing really unique. There is a family story about my Cousin. HIs Mom always bragged about how much Don studied. "He is at the Library until two A.M. several nights a week" Bless her heart. Don never lied to his mother. He was at the Library, not the one with books.
There was another bar called Bubba's. It was sold and the new owners named it Was Bubba's. It changed hands again and became Was Was Bubba's.
 
There's a bar in Belgrade with no name, or rather the name is simply a question mark. I've got a photo somewhere, but the sign outside just has "?"
 
Duck59 said:
There's a bar in Belgrade with no name, or rather the name is simply a question mark. I've got a photo somewhere, but the sign outside just has "?"
Click to expand...

Here you go - I wonder what the locals call it?

50345


It got its present unusual name in 1892, during a dispute with the Serbian Orthodox Church authorities over the new owner Ivan Pavlović's intention to change its name to Kod Saborne crkve (By the Saborna Church), which the church authorities vehemently protested, not keen on seeing the cathedral referenced as part of a kafana's name. So, as a temporary solution, the tavern's owner put a question mark on the door, and it soon became the official name of the place.[2][3]
Click to expand...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?_(bistro)#cite_note-3
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom