Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Public House |
Public HouseNoun1. (British) tavern consisting of a building with a bar and public rooms; often provides light meals. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Synonyms: Public HouseSynonyms: gin mill (n), pothouse (n), pub (n), saloon (n), taphouse (n). (additional references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Public houses are culturally, socially and traditionally different from other places found elsewhere in the world such as cafés, bars, bierkellers and brewpubs. Colloquialisms for the public house include boozer, the local and rub-a-dub-dub (see Cockney Rhyming Slang).
Pubs are social places for the sale and consumption of mainly alcoholic beverages, and most public houses offer a wide range of beers, wines, and spirits. Beer served in a pub can range from from pressurised "keg" beer, to "cask" beer brewed in the time-honoured fashion in wooden barrels or casks. The beer lends most pubs a pleasant, memorable aroma. Often the windows of the pub are of smoked or frosted glass so that the clientele are obscured from the street.
The owner or manager (licensee) of a public house is known as the publican, but is often referred to as "guv" (short for guv'nor, or govenor). Each pub generally has a crowd of regulars, people who drink there on a regular basis. The pub people visit most often is called their local. In many cases, this will be the pub nearest to their home, but some people choose their local for other reasons: proximity to work, a traditional venue for their friends, the availability of real ale, or maybe just a pool table.
A number of traditional games were often played in pubs including darts, shove ha'penny, billiards, and in some areas, Nine Mens Morris and skittles. In recent years the game of pool has made itself felt in British pub culture. Increasingly, video games are provided. Many pubs also hold special events, from tournaments of the aforementioned games to karaoke nights to pub quizzes. However many now play pop music, or show football on big screen televisions.
See also
Pubs in Britain were primarily drinking establishments and little emphasis was placed on the serving of food. The usual fare consisted of specialised English snack food such as pork scratchings along with crisps and peanuts. If a pub served meals they were usually fairly basic dishes such as a ploughman's lunch. Food has now become much more important as part of a pub's trade and today most pubs serve lunches and dinners (colloquially this is known as pub grub) in addition to the normal snacks consumed at the bar. Many pubs serve excellent meals which rival the best restaurants and going for a 'pub lunch' can be a real treat. Certain pubs with a focus on high-quality food have come to be known as gastropubs.
Pubs often have traditional names. Here is a list of categories:
British pubs often have highly decorated hanging signs over their doors. These signs bear the name of the pub, both in words and in pictorial representation. If the pub's name refers to real objects or animals, then the picture will usually be a straightforward one; if the pub is named after a person of nobility, then the sign will often bear that person's coat of arms. In the past, the pictures were more useful than the words for identifying the pub, as many of the patrons were illiterate, and names may have been chosen based on what the picture would look like. Some pub signs are in the form of a pictorial pun or rebus.
The society which has a particular interest in the traditional British beers and the preservation of the integrity of public houses is CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. CAMRA were instrumental in lobbying for the guest beer law.
In 1998 there were 68,000 pubs in the United Kingdom (53,200 in England and Wales, 5,200 in Scotland and 1,600 in Northern Ireland). Perhaps more significant is the overall trend reflected in two other statistics: while the number of licences is up from around 75,000 in the mid-1970s to over 85,000 in 2002, the number of barrels of beer sold at pubs (and bars) has dropped from over 36 million to less than 24 million during the same period. These statistics reflect the trend in the UK away from drinking at the local pub. (Source: BBPA Statistical Handbook).
All the major soap operas on British television feature a pub as their focal point, with their 'pub' becoming a household name. The Rovers Return is the world famous pub on Coronation Street, the top British 'soap' broadcast on ITV. The Queen Vic (short for the Queen Victoria) is the pub on EastEnders, the major 'soap' on BBC1, while the Woolpack is the pub and central meeting point on Emmerdale. The sets of each of the three major soap operas have been visited by major royalty, including Queen Elizabeth II. The centrepiece of each visit was a trip into the Rovers, the Vic or the Woolpack to be offered a drink.
Ex alcoholic US president George W. Bush famously fulfilled his ambition of visiting a 'genuine English pub' during his November 2003 State Visit to the UK when he shared lunch and a pint of non-alcoholic lager with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Dun Cow pub in Sedgefield, County Durham. This was rather an expensive pub outing however, with security costs for the event estimated to have been in excess of £1 million [1]. Bush is also reported to have left the pub without paying, an act which is considered a serious pub culture social faux pas.
While many pubs now play piped pop music, the Pub has historically been a popular venue for live song. See:
Overview
An amusingly named pub (the Old New Inn) at Bourton-on-the-Water, in the Cotswold Hills of south west England.
Larger picture
The Church House Inn in Stoke Gabriel
(near Brixham), Devon, England.
Larger picture
Pub games and sports
Pub food
Pub names
Pub signs
Pub chains
In recent years a number of pub chains have sprung up which use semi-traditional sounding names (The Rat and Parrot, The Slug and Lettuce, The ... and Firkin) for all of the pubs in the chain. Newly acquired pubs are renamed and many people resent the loss of traditional names. These pubs are often owned by brewing companies and their beer selection is mainly limited to beers from that particular company. However; by law, pubs must offer at least one alternative beer (known as a guest beer) from another brewery and that beer must be a cask conditioned real ale.CAMRA
Notable British public houses
(website includes information on Portesham and the Jurassic Coast as well as being a traditional English pub in Dorset)
Pubs in British Popular Culture
Pub Music
The pub has also been celebrated in popular British culture, including songs such as "Hurry Up Harry" by the 1970s punk rock act Sham 69, the chorus of which was the chant "We're going down the pub" repeated several times. Another such song is "Two Pints Of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please!" by UK punk band Splodgenessabounds.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Public house."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Abode | Assembly room, meetinghouse, pump room, spa, watering place; inn; hostel, hostelry; hotel, tavern, caravansary, dak bungalow, khan, hospice; public house, pub, pot house, mug house; gin mill, gin palace; bar, bar room; barrel house, cabaret, chophouse; club, clubhouse; cookshop, dive, exchange; grill room, saloon, shebeen; coffee house, eating house; canteen, restaurant, buffet, cafe, estaminet, posada; almshouse, poorhouse, townhouse. |
Drunkenness | Liquor, liquor up; wet one's whistle, take a whet; crack a bottle, pass the bottle; toss off; (drink up); go to the alehouse, go to the public house. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Public House |
| English words defined with "public house": House of call ♦ Night house ♦ potboy, potman, publican ♦ tavern keeper. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "public house": Devil to Pay and no Pitch Hot ♦ FOUSIL ♦ GOLD DROPPERS ♦ RED LATTICE. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Play | Caption |
 | Hotel; motel; lodging; front desk; concierge; ding; bell; accommodation; fleabag; flop box; flophouse; hospice; hostel; hostelry; house; inn; motor inn; public house; resort; roadhouse; rooming house; scratch crib; tavern. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Charles Dickens | Take example by your father, my boy, and be very careful of vidders all your life, specially if they've kept a public house, Sammy. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | The American people deserve to be impatient because we do not yet have the public house in order. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Expressions using "public house": Free public house ♦ go to the public house ♦ shady public house. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| Language | Translations for "public house"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | kafene (café, coffee bar, coffee room, coffee-house, cook-shop, tearoom, tea-shop), bujtinë (doss house, hospice, hostel, Khan). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | سكن عام. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | хан (caravanserai, hostel, house, inn, public, tavern), кръчма (alehouse, bodega, boozer, cabaret, cantiniere, gin mill, gin-shop, grog-shop, house, inn, pub, public, saloon, tavern, wine vault, wineshop), пивница (alehouse, cantina, dram-shop, drinking place, porterhouse, pub, saloon, wineshop). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | restaurace (renovation, restaurant, restaurants, restoration), hostinec (guesthouse, inn, ordinary, pub). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | udskaenkningssted. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | gepachte drankgelegenheid (tenanted public house). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | pub (pub, publicity), taverne, débit de boissons, bar, auberge. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Schankwirtschaft. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | καπηλειό (grogshop, pothouse, pub, tavern), πανδοχείο (hostel, hostelry, inn, rest house). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מסבא" (alehouse, bar, brasserie, pub, saloon, taproom, tavern), פאב (pub). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | vendéglő (dump, inn, ordinary, place, restaurant), kocsma (alehouse, boozer, dram-shop, grocery, jerry, jerry shop, jerry-shop, pot house, pub, saloon, shades, tavern). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | osteria (bar, inn, pub, restaurant, tavern). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | パノラマ写真 (palladium, panoramic photograph, Papa, papaya, paprika, papyrus, parachute, parachute skirt, paradigm, paradigm shift, paradise, paraglider, paragraph, parapsychology, paraquat, parasail, parasite single, parasol, Parathion, paratyphus, parfait, pavilion, Pavlov, performance, perfume, perfumer, pub, public, public acceptance, public corporation, public course, public domain, public opinion, public relations, public school, public servant, public space, publicity, puff, puff sleeve, puppy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | パブリックハウス (pub). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | thie oast (boozer, dram shop, hotel, inn, licensed house, pub, saloon, tavern). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ublicpay ousehay cervejaria (alehouse, beerhouse, brewery, brewing house, gin-mill, pothouse, pub), casa de vinhos (pothouse, pub), bar (bar, barroom, dram-shop, pub, saloon, shebang, tap-house). (various references) cârciumã (ale-house, bar, crib, drinking house, gin-shop, grogshop, ordinary, peg house, porter house, pot house, pub, saloon, taproom, tavern). (various references) трактир (barrel house, barrel shop). (various references) taigh-òsda. (various references) krčma (inn, pothouse, saloon, taphouse). (various references) pub (pub), posada (groundsel, hostel, hostelry, inn, tavern), taberna (bar, inn, local, pub, saloon, taproom, tavern, taverna). (various references) värdshus (hostel, inn, pub, public-house, tavern), krog (cabaret, dive, pub, public-house, saloon, tavern). (various references) meyhane (ale-house, bar, barrel house, boozer, cabaret, gin mill, grogshop, inn, pub, saloon, shebang, shebeen, taproom, tavern), birahane (ale-house, beerhouse, brasserie, porter house, pub, public), bar (ale-house, bar, café, dram-shop, gin mill, grogshop, pub, public, saloon, shebang, shebeen, tap, taproom, tavern). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Public House" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: publichouse. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-c-e-h-i-l-o-p-s-u-u" | |
-2 letters: clubhouse, copublish. | |
-3 letters: ciboules, copihues, opuscule, subepoch. | |
-4 letters: blueish, bolshie, boucles, ciboule, closeup, copihue, couples, cupules, hospice, oilcups, phobics, phoebus, piceous, pileous, polices, pouches, publics, publish, pueblos, spicule, subecho, upboils, upcoils. | |
-5 letters: biceps, bishop, blouse, bluish, boches, boucle, boules, bushel, chiels, chiles, chisel, chouse, cibols, cobles, coleus, colies, copies, coulis, coupes, couple, cupels, cupule. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Sounds 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Speeches 8. Expressions | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
