Local knowledge
GRIN ’N TONIC GUIDE TO THE PUB
Last year, the number 1 of pubs in the UK rose for the first time in a decade – there are now 39,130 boozers, with the increase largely down to food sales. Pre-covid figures show 2 around 457,000 now work in pubs and bars, with food staff making up 43.8% of employees.
The Red Lion is the 3 most common name for a boozer, with 384 bearing the title, followed by The Royal Oak (344) and The Crown (328).
The name Red Lion 4 dates back to the 17th century, when King James I ordered the Scottish symbol to be put up at inns. Deep breath... the 5 country’s longest pub name is The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn. It’s in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, two doors from the boozer with the shortest name – the Q Inn.
The Nutshell, in Bury 6 St Edmonds, Suffolk, is Britain’s smallest pub, measuring just 15ft by 7ft 6in, while the biggest is the 11,000sq ft Royal Pavilion in Ramsgate, Kent. Celebrities who own 7 their own pubs include Lord Of The Rings actor Sir Ian Mckellan (The Grapes in east London) singer Ed Sheeran (Bertie
Blossoms, west London), model Jodie Kidd (The Half Moon, West Sussex) and cricketer Stuart Broad (The Three Crowns, Wymeswold, Leics). Politicians also like a 8 tipple. In 1997, the exsoviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev called into the Hinchley Wood in Esher, Surrey, when his flight was delayed. George Bush and Tony Blair, above right, once enjoyed a pint together in the Dun Cow, Sedgefield, Co Durham, while David Cameron left his eight-year-old daughter behind in a pub in 2012. The phrase “Mind 9 your Ps and Qs” originates from when booze used to be sold in pints and quarts in pubs. And the saying “wet 10 your whistle” comes from when drinkers had a whistle in the handle of ceramic tankards. They used it to attract attention when they wanted a refill. In 1982, a pint cost an 11 average of 62p. Today’s average is £3.79. Shropshire is cheapest at £3.46 while Londoners fork out the most – £4.57, according to the Good Pub Guide. 12 The scientists who discovered DNA chose their local, The Eagle in Cambridge, to announce their findings in 1953. Pubs have been 13 around since Roman wine houses 2,000 years ago. In 1393, every pub in Britain was ordered by law to put up its own sign. 14 They closed at 9.30pm in World War One to make sure arms factory workers didn’t get drunk. 15 In 965AD, King Edgar tried to cut drunkenness by ordering just “one ale house per village”.