In Britain we have a load of royal named things, e.g “The King’s Head,” “The Prince Henry,” or animal themed pubs like “The Three Pikes,” The Red Lion (most common oub name) or something gorey like “The Hanged Man,” “The Village Chopping Block.” On that note, we also have pubs named after landmarks, e.g “The Old Oak,” “The Anvil.”
Any more modern establishment like a bar can have posher or more postmodern names. Sometimes jokey names.
I was struck by a realisation thst i don’t know how other countries name their pubs amd bars. Would be helpful to know, for understanding other cultures. I even don’t know for places like the USA, which also speak English. Excited to hear your responses!
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Bastard (reykjavik)
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Mollys (NYC)
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Tequila Mockingbird (Ocean City)
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Olive or Twist (Portland)
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Wish You Were Beer (Madison)
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Pour Boy (Toronto)
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Loose Moose (Toronto)
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Plug Uglies (NYC)
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LowBrau (sacramento)
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Pour House (everywhere)
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Beer and Loathing (Omaha)
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Deja Brew (Wendell)
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Paddy o’Beers (Raleigh)
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Crow Bar (Mount Holly)
Cool!
Tequila Mockingbird hits my sense of humour just right! I love that!
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Here in Germany, traditional names for pubs are often either animals (stork, eagle, bear, lion, trout, deer, etc.) or the original owner’s name.
Not nearly as colorful as some of the other examples here but I’m not aware if there might be regional differences. My region might just be particularly boring in this regard.
“Fancy going down to ‘Erik’s Cock’ tonight?”
Canada is a lot like the UK. We have a lot of old english pub names.
I don’t go to bars anymore these days, these places are probably closed down by now since the last time I was in one of them was almost 30 years ago.
- club 21
- the oasis
- Clint’s
- Charlie’s
most the bars I went to were practically shacks in the middle of nowhere with zero name on the outside. only way you knew it was a bar was because of the beer signs outside.
In the southern US, a lot of counties voted to prohibit the sale of alcohol. They thought prohibition was a good idea, despite the bad things that caused the nation to end prohibition at the national level. Usually this is because they are full of religious people, and these are called “dry” counties, as opposed to “wet” counties, where the sale of alcohol is legal.
A common name for a bar is “the county line” implying that it gets all the business from the neighboring “dry” county.
First stop, Last stop.
Oddly enough in Salt Lake City, UT we have a few fun ones:
- A Bar Named Sue
- The Tavernacle (pokes fun at the mormon Tabernacle)
- Lake Effect
The Tavernacle (pokes fun at the mormon Tabernacle)
Der Goldene Adler.
It’s so bad that you usually have to ask which one.
It’s the same all over the world, although the UK definitely leads in original or funny names - which date back to times when people still couldn’t read. In France you will have a lot of places called the Cheval Blanc or other colored horses. In Germany, zum Ochsen, die Sonne, die Linde abound, anything that allowed the patrons to quickly find the locale.
“Cheval blanc” or a horse by any other name (colour) is very fancy and would have me believe i wss at a restaurant instead
Thank you for your examples!
T.G.I. Fridays
Ruby Tuesday
Applebee’s
Hooters
…we don’t have a great selection where I am in the South.
US absolutely has pubs, but maybe called taverns, specially on the east coast like in Boston where lots of colonizers lived. Bell in Hand is a popular one there. I guess it depends on your definition of a pub, but the US is so multicultural that you’ll find straight pubs or wannabe pubs here too with names you’d expect to see in Ireland or England (e.g. Red Lion).
I think the closest modern thing to a pub in the US is called a “dive” or a “dive bar” where you pretty much just go to drink.
The USA is multicultural ? That’s a new one.
You’re joking? You can find people from almost any country in the US. Restaurants of any kind. Places of worship of any religion. Not talking all over the US, but all the major metropolitan areas are highly multicultural compared to many other countries in the world.
Yep that’s the storyline US American kids probably get beaten into them at school 🤭 which doesn’t mean you have to believe it. Returning to the hospitality industry, just consider McDonalds, Wendy’s, Burger King and all these restaurant and bar chains.
I’m so confused. I’m telling you my real life experiences. What are you saying? Gotta be trolling.
I’ve been traveling to and through the United States for the last 50 years. If there is one homogeneous continent it must be USA. It is not as if you can easily find an original Polish, Norwegian, English, Spanish or god forbid, Native American bar. The vast majority of bars and restaurants are the same, whether you are in Boston Hawaii or Texas. Sorry mate, the delusion that the USA consist of many different cultures is just that; a well functioning indoctrination.
I’m sorry but you’re wrong
Story time. When living in Helsinki, Finland my group of friends was approached by some tourists. ‘Excuse me, we’re looking for this pub’. Okay, lots of them around, which one? ‘It’s called, like, the bubble on the hill…?’
Took a good ten seconds of head scratching and then one of us got it. Mäkikupla! Literally Bubble On The Hill but since the names are so random over here, none of us had given second thought about the funny name.
Told this story online and a Finnish person posted a confession. They’d been in Australia or whereever and recommended that particular place to someone. Looks like someone remembered.
New Zealand here. I’ve had a pint in The Queen’s Ferry Tavern, The Queen’s Head and The King’s Arms. Also Bar None, The Crow Bar, Murphy’s Irish Pub, The Whitestone Cafe, The Blacksmith, The Q Bar, The Web, The Bull, Studio X, The Rose and Crown, The Office, The Local, The Fat Dog, Broncos, Galbraith’s Ale House and a host more I can’t bring to mind right now.
In Canada pub, tavern, bar, are common. Less common, at least in NS, is public house.
In my neck of the woods dive bars have the best names, we’ve got “the wooden nickel” and “the rusty nail”. These are not nice bars.
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