Raise a Pint at the Pub!

20Jul09

Pubs make up one of the vital parts of the culture of London. They have been at the center of British social life for almost a thousand years. They are the place where people come together for a meal or a drink, to relax after work, and to meet up with friends. They are a welcome place to anyone regardless of class, age, background, or ethnicity. In line with Turner, the pubs are an excellent “text.”A person can learn all there is to know about London by simply spending time in the various pubs talking to the many people who drift through them on a daily basis.

Since the first century, pubs, or “public houses” have been the symbol for social life in Great Britain. They were originally called ale houses because that is where the ale was brewed for the town. The alewife would put a green bush on a pole when the ale was ready and the townspeople would flock to the house. The ale houses became a place where the people could meet and socialize and settle issues within the community (Wilson). In this way, pubs have largely remained unchanged. They are still a place where people can come together for some good gossip and conversation.

Much of history has happened or been recorded within pubs in London. The Mayflower pub originally called the Shippe was the place where Christopher Jones picked up his passengers to sail to the new world. Ye Olde Watling was the pub built by the architect of St. Pauls to accommodate the laborers building the cathedral. The Mitre Tavern has a preserved trunk of a cherry tree built into the corner of the front of the pub that Elizabeth I danced the maypole around. The Anchor is where the writer Samuel Pepys sat and witnessed The Great Fire of London in 1666. Charles Dickens used the George Inn as settings for some of his novels, and William Shakespeare acted in its courtyard. Karl Marx lived next door to and frequented the Crown and Two Chairmen pub. And the Cask and Glass is said to be the Queens Pub because it is the nearest to Buckingham Palace (Knowledge of London). Pubs have also been great hangouts for people like George Orwell, Samuel Johnson, Oscar Wilde, and others. Stories like these go on and on about the various pubs in London. There is little need for a person to buy a history book of London. They can learn London’s history just by visiting the pubs.

Just the name “public house” shows that pubs are more than just a place for booze and for grabbing a bite to eat. The word “house” shows that the pubs are a place that people can be comfortable and call home. They can relax and unwind from their day. It symbolizes that when people are at the pub they can be themselves. The word “public” shows that everyone is welcome and there are no stipulations or requirements for those who wish to enter. There are around 3,000 pubs in London with one on almost every street corner. In this way pubs are one of the few establishments that surpass the boundaries of class, status, and background. They are in every neighborhood and so they are able to serve an incredible number of diverse people. It is also interesting that unlike other places in London, the pubs rarely have a take-away menu. They encourage people to come and stay and have a drink or something to eat. They are not trying to hurry its customers out.

The look of the pubs is also significant. A writer for the Evening Standard once commented, “From Victorian grandeur to the glamour of art deco, each is a magnificent watering hole that has avoided being swallowed by a faceless chain (Wilson).” Every part of the look of the pub has significance. In 1393 King Richard II decreed pubs must have signs so that the tester of ales would know the location of each pub. The pubs also made these signs pictorial because a large part of the population was illiterate (Knowledge of London). The pictorial signs are still up today in most pubs and usually symbolize where the pubs name comes from.

The look of the pubs can definitely be read as a text. They are a perfect mix of old and new, which is also something indicative of London. The outsides of pubs typically look Victorian and decorative, far from modern. The use of old English writing shows something of prestige, history and class. The flowering boxes show beauty and a sense of the country being in the city. The outsides of almost all the London pubs are uniform they all look about the same, but the insides can vary greatly and this is where the new steps in. Many pubs will boast high definition flat screen TV’s, lottery machines, and digital music players. Some will have seating that looks like something from IKEA while others will have miss-match furniture that looks like it came from several garage sales and antique stores. The music will typically be a mix of the top-40’s and get really loud after around 7:30 at night.

This mix of old and new within the pubs really symbolizes what the city of London represents. It is an excellent preservation of its history and background, but at the same time moving forward and embracing what post-modern life and culture has to offer. This is a “text” evident throughout the city and so it is natural that the pubs would characterize this as well.

Another thing that is really striking about the pubs and London culture is the alcohol consumption. People in London start drinking as early as 4 in the afternoon and it is not uncommon to have a couple drinks during your lunch break at work. Alcohol does not carry the stigma here that it does in the states. Someone will not be sent to rehab if found drinking alcohol at both lunch and dinner daily. Many pubs are built right next to churches. People here are comfortable with alcohol. They don’t put it on a pedestal the way the states do. While talking to some locals at the pub they mentioned that, “You Americans are crazy when it comes to alcohol. You see alcohol as a form of rebellion. You don’t know how to control yourselves. Over here, yes we have fun with alcohol, but we’re not going crazy. It’s just another part of everyday life.” Before the 20^th Century even children drank ale. Maybe if Americans wouldn’t make alcohol to be more than it is we wouldn’t have the problems that we have today.

One of the issues surrounding the pubs in London today is the fact that so many of them are being bought up by these large beer and alcohol companies. All around London these pubs are bought and many are standardized to have the same look, which means sometimes changing the original structure of the pub. Many people are upset by this because it takes away from the uniqueness of the pubs and almost just creates another generic chain. At the same time though, in the last 20 or so years pubs have really been suffering and many have had to close. With the chains buying some of them up, many have survived that may not have. What the people of London have to decide is how much they want their local pub to last. Are they willing to let it be bought by a chain if that means it will still be there the next day when they are craving that daily ale after work? Hopefully some of the alcohol and beer companies will retain the individualism of the pubs they purchase and leave them just the way they are to preserve the vast history that is within them.

Works Cited

Knowledge of London. 2008. 10 July 2009; knowledgeoflondon.com.

Turner, Graeme. British Cultural Studies. London: Routledge, 2003.

Wilson, Bo. “London Pubs, Where Time Has Stood Still.” Evening Standard, January 2006: 50-51.