Pub signs - final shout

All my pub sign photos are now uploaded and identified by area.

In the final week I added the following signs and pubs

146 The Falcon, Clapham Junction
147 The Albion, Chiswick
148 The Salutation, Chiswick
149 Packhorse and Talbot, Chiswick
150 Rose and Crown, Chelsea
151 The Henry Holland, Chinatown
152 Famous 3 Kings, West Brompton
153 The Northcote, Clapham Junction
154 Victoria and Albert, Marylebone
155 The Clarence, West Kensington

The full collection of pub signs and pubs is in the web gallery

I am so pleased that I completed this collection. It is like a roadmap of where I went and in the process of collecting I learned a lot about the geography and nomenclature of London as well as heaps of interesting snippets of history. A couple of websites proved helpful in correctly identifying locations.

• The postcodes project - http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/postcodes/map.html
• Traditional and historic London pubs - http://www.pubs.com/home.cfm

Pub sign update #2

With only 1 week of my holiday left, the pub sign count stands at well over 100 pub signs.

Recent additions include

125 The Marlborough Head, Baker Street
126 The Coach and Horses, Greenwich
127 Kings Arms, Victoria
129 Ye Old Watling, Bow Lane, St Paul's
130 Williamson's Tavern, Bow Lane, St Paul's
131 The Hatchet, Bow Lane, St Paul's
132 Birreria Viennese, Rome
133 The Beauchamp, South Kensington
134 The Bunch of Grapes, Knightsbridge, South Kensington

135 The Railway Tavern, Staplehurst, Kent
136 The Kings Head, Staplehurst, Kent
137 The Bell Inn, Staplehurst, Kent
138 The Lamb, Staplehurst, Kent

139 Courage Ale House, Bath
140 Rising Sun, Bath
141 The Volunteer Rifleman's Arms, Bath
142 Coeur de Lion, Bath
143 The Grapes, Bath
144 The Raven, Bath
145 Saracen's Head, Bath

The collection so far is at http://picasaweb.google.com/j9bowes/PubSigns2008

Pub signs added today

Today's explorations took me to the London Bridge area. My plans were interupted when my camera battery ran out and I decided I could not possibly continue without out so I returned home to rethink my day, ending up going out again to the Theatre to see the Sound of Music West End production. More on that later.

Nevertheless I collected a number of new pub signs today from around the London Bridge and Tower Bridge areas (both I which I traversed).

It is curious how many of the older pubs are to be found down laneways, off the main drag. There must be a reason for this.

Pubs added today with links to their signs:

• 86. The Globe (in the Borough Market area - famous as the pub above which Bridget Jones lived in the films)
• 87. The Market Porter (Borough Market area)
• 88. The Wheatsheaf (Borough Market area)
• 89. The Old King's Head (down a lane in the Borough Market area)
• 90. The George (a haunt of Shakespeare and Dickens, now National Trust)
• 91. The Southwalk Tavern
• 92. Old Thameside Inn (right beside the Golden Hinde replica)
• 93. The Barrowboy and Banker (just across the road from London Bridge on the South side). This one is a cool name but only just qualifies under my criteria as its sign is a generic one for the Fullers chain of "ale and pie houses" - see also the Blackbird at Earl's Court. Further the image is very stylised.
• 94. The Imperial (just off Leicester Square in Theatreland)
  

The updated gallery complete with additional shots of the actual pubs and information where available are at http://picasaweb.google.com/j9bowes/PubSigns2008

Update on pub signs

I have now collected 85 pub signs and am in the process of defining my inclusion critera. Some places put up what I would call a pseudo sign - single colour, text only and generally they look pretty characterless. If the building appeals I might include them but in my opinion they are not in keeping with the original intent of pub signs which was to have a visual way of identifying a pub for illiterate people.

The full collection so far is at http://picasaweb.google.com/j9bowes/PubSigns2008

England by pub signs

Fourteen years on, I was quite surprised to note that my fascination with English Pub signs had not dwindled and so on my first day here I decided to collect photos of them. I love them as little works of art both in the sign itself and the wrought iron hanger.

It has proven to be a great way to explore new parts of London. Pick an area, and see where the pub signs take you! In the process I have happened upon many serendipitous discoveries of interesting shops, pieces of history and pretty scenes.

I have read that there are 3500 pubs in London alone! So far I have collected 50 including two from Scandinavia. Getting good photos of the signs is quite problematic - getting close enough necessarily means looking up on a steep angle. One needs to take account of the background (sky or building?) so that the detail can be picked out and try not to be intrusive to any local patrons.

I am assembling an album of the full collection of pubs and their signs