Save the British Pub Sign
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 09.30.08 | 10:57 AM ET
Photo by Hand-painted markers outside British pubs date to Roman times. Now they’re threatened, mostly by corporate consolidation of pubs. “Only the 30 independent pub chains and breweries in Britain are still ordering individually painted signs,” writes Vanessa Thorpe.
It’s a shame.
The signs, preservationists rightly argue, are full of artistic value and symbolism. See for yourself at Flickr’s cluster of British pub signs.
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
Elaine Saunders 10.01.08 | 12:57 PM ET
Pub signs are a pictorial record of our history - from Roman times, through the Crusades and the Dissolution of the monasteries to the present day.
Their disappearance is almost like someone emptying the National Gallery.
They’ve been inspired by religion, royalty, lust, pride, murder, heroes and scandals and, together, they’re an often disregarded historical resource.
Let’s hope that these traditional pub signs can be preserved and remember to take notice of the sign above the door in your rush for the bar. It might not be there for much longer!
Elaine Saunders
Author : A Book About Pub Names
http://www.completetext.com
Ben 10.03.08 | 12:43 PM ET
Wandering down Chapel Street in Penzance two weeks ago I came across The Turk’s Head, a nearly 800- year-old pub and restaurant with a quite memorable painted sign.
Elaine Saunders 10.04.08 | 10:10 AM ET
Signs like the Turk’s and Saracen’s head could date back as far as the 12th Century.
Knights on the way to the Crusades stopped off at monasteries to rest but, as the traffic became too high for the monks to cope with, inns opened locally. These took names that would attract the passing knightly custom, hence Turk’s and Saracen’s Head or Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem in Nottingham.
This is why the traditional pub signs and names need to be preserved. Imagine getting rid of any other 900 year old historical artifact.
Elaine Saunders
Author - A Book About Pub Names
http://www.completetext.com