The following is an incomplete list of notable pubs in the United Kingdom.
A pub is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private houses from those open to the public as alehouses, taverns and inns. Today, there is no strict definition, but CAMRA states a pub has four characteristics:
The White Hart was the personal badge of Richard II, who probably derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent", heiress of Edmund of Woodstock. It may also have been a pun on his name, as in "Rich-hart". In the Wilton Diptych, which is the earliest authentic contemporary portrait of an English king, Richard II wears a gold and enamelled white hart jewel, and even the angels surrounding the Virgin Mary all wear white hart badges. In English Folklore, the white hart is associated with Herne the Hunter.
Pub names are used to identify and differentiate traditional drinking establishments. Many pubs are centuries old, and were named at a time when most of their customers were illiterate, but could recognise pub signs. The use of signage was not confined to drinking establishments. British pubs may be named after and depict anything from everyday objects, to sovereigns, aristocrats and landowners. Other names come from historic events, livery companies, occupations, sports, and craftsmen's guilds. One of the most common pub names is the Red Lion. This list contains both modern and historical examples.
Ye Olde Fighting Cocks is a pub in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It is one of several pubs that lay claim to being the oldest in England, claiming to have been in business since 793 AD. Its claim to that date is somewhat uncertain: the building is described by Historic England as being of 16th-century appearance, and the earliest date for which it might have been licensed is 1756. Other pubs such as Ye Olde Man & Scythe in Bolton, Greater Manchester, and Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham also make unproved claims to being the oldest. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks was once listed as the oldest in England by the Guinness World Records, but the record was withdrawn from consideration in 2000 because it was deemed impossible to verify.
Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem is a Grade II listed public house in Nottingham which claims to have been established in 1189, although there is no documentation to verify this date. The building rests against Castle Rock, upon which Nottingham Castle is built, and is attached to several caves, carved out of the soft sandstone. These were reputedly originally used as a brewhouse for the castle, dating from the medieval period.
The Hatchet Inn is a historic pub in the English city of Bristol. It is a Grade II listed building. The name is thought to originate from the axes/hatchets that the local woodsmen used in Clifton Woods.
The Bell Inn is a pub in Nottingham, England. Completed from around 1437, it claims, along with Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem and Ye Olde Salutation Inn, to be the oldest pub in the city. In 1982 the pub became a Grade II listed building.
The Luttrell Arms in Dunster, Somerset, England was built in the late 15th century and is located in the centre of the medieval town of Dunster. The building has been designated as a Grade II* listed building since 22 May 1969. The original building has been enlarged over the years by addition of further wings. It is now used as a hotel.
The White Hart Inn, also known as the White Hart Hotel, is a coaching inn on the High Street in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Built in the late 18th century to replace an older inn also under the sign of the White Hart, it also served as Crawley's main post office for most of the 19th century, and still operates as a public house in the 21st century. Its partly timber-framed structure, which incorporates part of an early 17th-century building, is characteristic of the area. It is designated a Grade II Listed building.
The Old Wellington Inn is a half-timbered pub in Manchester city centre, England. It is part of Shambles Square, which was created in 1999, and is near Manchester Cathedral. It is a Grade II listed building.
Carpenters Arms is a common British pub name.
The Royal Pavilion Tavern, commonly known as the Pavilion Tavern or Pav Tav and since February 2022 as The Fitz Regent, is a pub in the centre of Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Converted from a house into the Royal Pavilion Hotel in the early 19th century, its original role soon changed from a hotel to a pub, in which guise it remained until its closure in September 2019. It reopened under its new name, but still in the ownership of the Mitchells & Butlers chain, on 13 February 2022. The building was also used as a court for several years early in its history, and prominent local architect Amon Henry Wilds was responsible for its redesign as a hotel and inn. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance, and it stands within a conservation area.
The World's End is a Grade II listed public house and restaurant at 459 King's Road, Chelsea, London. It gives its name to the surrounding area at the western end of the King's Road.
The Spanish Galleon is a public house at 1 College Approach, Greenwich, London, that was built in 1836 as part of Joseph Kay's redevelopment of central Greenwich in the Regency style. It has been grade II listed since 1973 and is managed by the brewers Shepherd Neame.
Ye Olde Dolphin Inne is a Grade II listed pub, on Queen Street, in the city of Derby, England.
The Mitre Inn is a public house at 58 High Street, Chipping Barnet, London. It was established by 1633 and is probably the oldest remaining of the town's once numerous coaching inns. It is a grade II listed building with Historic England and is currently styled "Ye Olde Mitre Inne".
Ye Olde Cock Tavern is a Grade II listed public house at 22 Fleet Street, London EC4. It is part of the Taylor Walker Pubs group.
9 and 9A Southgate Street is a 17th-century Jacobean timber-framed merchant's house on Southgate Street, Gloucester. It has been a Grade I listed building since 23 January 1952. 9 Southgate Street is now occupied by Costa Coffee and 9A Southgate Street is occupied by The Tiger's Eye restaurant.
Public houses, popularly known as pubs, are a significant feature of the history and culture of the English seaside resort of Brighton. The earliest pubs trace their history back to the 16th and 17th centuries, when present-day Brighton was a fishing village. Several coaching inns were founded in the 18th century as transport improved and communications with other towns developed, and around the same time other pubs became established in the fashionable Old Steine area in Brighton's early years as a resort. Many new pubs, originally beerhouses, were established after an Act of Parliament in 1830 loosened restrictions; two of these "Beerhouse Act" pubs remain in business. In the following decade the opening of Brighton's railway station provided another major boost to the pub trade, and by the late 19th century there were nearly 800 licensed venues in the town. Numbers declined gradually—as late as 1958 there was said to be "one pub for every day of the year"—and by the early 21st century around 300 pubs were still trading, with others having closed but surviving in alternative use.
The first building in this street was The Magdala Tavern, which was already there by 1868.
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