A pub is a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in the late 17th century, and was used to differentiate private houses from those which were open to the public as alehouses, taverns and inns. Today, there is no strict definition, but CAMRA states a pub has four characteristics:
- is open to the public without membership or residency
- serves draught beer or cider without requiring food be consumed
- has at least one indoor area not laid out for meals
- allows drinks to be bought at a bar
Shepherd Neame is an English independent brewery which has been based in the market town of Faversham, Kent, for over 300 years. While 1698 is the brewery's official established date, town records show that commercial brewing has occurred on the site since 1573. Since the brewery’s formation back in the 16th century, ownership has passed in unbroken succession through five families. The brewery produces a range of cask ales and filtered beers. Production is around 180,000 brewers' barrels a year. It has 303 pubs and hotels in South East England, predominantly in Kent and London. The company exports to 44 countries including India, Sweden, Italy, Brazil and Canada.
Fitzrovia is a district of central London, England, near the West End. The eastern part of area is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urbanised in the 18th century. Its name was coined in the late 1930s by Tom Driberg.
The Angel, Islington, is a historic landmark and a series of buildings that have stood on the corner of Islington High Street and Pentonville Road in Islington, London, England. The land originally belonged to the Clerkenwell Priory and has had various properties built on it since the 16th century. An inn on the site was called the "Angel Inn" by 1614, and the crossing became generally known as "the Angel". The site was bisected by the New Road, which opened in 1756, and properties on the site have been rebuilt several times up to the 20th century. The corner site gave its name to Angel tube station, opened in 1901, and the surrounding Angel area of London.
The Independent Family Brewers of Britain (IFBB) was formed in the 1993 by an informal group of family-owned/controlled brewery CEOs known as the Pimlico Group - all of whom were part of the UK's Brewers Society, now the British Beer and Pub Association.
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.
Beer has been brewed in England for thousands of years. As a beer brewing country, it is known for top fermented cask beer which finishes maturing in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery and is served with only natural carbonation.
Timothy Taylor's is a family-owned regional brewery founded in 1858 by Timothy Taylor. Originally based in Cook Lane, Keighley, West Yorkshire, England. Timothy Taylor's moved to larger premises in 1863 at Knowle Spring in Keighley, where they remain.
Young's is a British pub chain operating nearly 220 pubs.
Beer in the United Kingdom has a long history, and has quite distinct traditions. Historically the main styles were top-fermented Bitters, Porters, Stouts and Milds, but after World War II lagers took over half the market by volume. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was founded in 1971 and has encouraged the preservation and revival of traditional styles of ale. In particular CAMRA has promoted cask conditioned beer, which completes its maturation in casks in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery. As of 2014 the UK drank 634 million imperial pints of cask ale, representing 60% of ale in pubs and restaurants and 17% of all beer in pubs. In total 42.42 million hectolitres of beer were produced in 2013 of which 48% was sold in the off-trade.
Wych Street was in London where King, Melbourne and Australia Houses now stand on Aldwych. It ran west from the church of St Clement Danes on the Strand to meet the southern end of Drury Lane. It was demolished by the London County Council in around 1901, as part of redevelopment bisected by new street Aldwych, the east of which mimics its course, in a curved way so taking up land buildings stood on, and these works created Kingsway.
The Chef & Brewer collection is a collection of over 140 licensed pub restaurants in the United Kingdom, owned by Greene King. They provide more upmarket pub food, specials and cask ales and a number of them have recently been re-furbished.
The Stag Inn is a public house in the Old Town area of Hastings, a port and seaside resort in East Sussex, England. One of many ancient buildings on All Saints Street, the 16th-century timber-framed inn was refronted in the 18th century, but many of its original features remain. The preserved bodies of two smoke-blackened mummified cats have been displayed on a wall since their discovery in the 19th century; witchcraft has been suggested as an explanation for this "grisly sight". The inn, which claims to be Hastings' oldest surviving pub, is operated as a tied house by the Shepherd Neame Brewery, and has been listed at Grade II by English Heritage for its architectural and historical importance.
The Angel Inn is a public house in Andover, Hampshire. Constructed in the mid-15th century, it is one of England's oldest surviving inns, and the oldest and most complete example in Hampshire. It is a Grade II* listed building, of "more than special interest nationally." Despite alterations in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the medieval timber frame, features and decorative details remain "remarkably intact." Archaeological and documentary evidence suggest that it was built on the site of a previous inn—the College Inn—which was destroyed in the Great Fire of Andover in 1434.
The Trafalgar Tavern is a Grade II listed public house at Park Row, Greenwich, London, situated on the south bank of the River Thames, east of and adjacent to the Old Royal Naval College.
The East India Arms is a pub in the City of London. The building is located on Fenchurch Street near the place where the East India Company had its headquarters.
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 Parrot and Punchbowl is a 16th-century English pub in the Suffolk village of Aldringham in the Aldringham-cum-thorpe parish. It is a grade II listed building associated with a history of smuggling. Its current title is The Parrot.
