dg comments

please empty your brain below

Not a real pub but I thought the Kebab & Calculator was a bit of a random name for the pub in “The Young Ones”.

dg writes: ✉ 6 minutes may be a record for the comment in my sealed envelope :)

Phil | 28.11.25 - 7:06 a.m. | #

There's a pub called The Sheep and Penguin in Wells.

Andrew | Homepage | 28.11.25 - 7:17 a.m. | #

There's the "Bear & Ragged Staff" in Crayford.

G-Man | 28.11.25 - 7:18 a.m. | #

A few years back there was “Pratts & Payne” in Streatham; named after a defunct local department store and famous ‘madam’ Cynthia Payne.

Looks like it did not survive lockdown sadly.

andy c | 28.11.25 - 7:23 a.m. | #

Hat & Tun is just a pun , isn’t it? Hatton.

I think there was a famous George and Vulture in George Yard on Lombard Street, perhaps with a sign of an spredeagle (vulture).

Doggett’s Coat and Badge is fairly unusual and refers to the prize for a long-running rowing race.

Andrew | 28.11.25 - 7:24 a.m. | #

Sheep and penguin probably fails the pre-21st century criteria. There was probably a pub there, but not with that name.

Andrew | Homepage | 28.11.25 - 7:25 a.m. | #

Whereas the Slug and Lettuce empire was definitely already on the march in the 1990s.

Dan | 28.11.25 - 7:29 a.m. | #

You blogged about it on your 24 pubs on the A24 trip (and is a few miles outside London) but I have always enjoyed the name “Leg of Mutton & Cauliflower” in Ashtead.

andy c | 28.11.25 - 7:31 a.m. | #

The Bull & Egret is just a modern, made-up name. No need to dig into it for any historical reasons. You could ask the marketing department of Aldrich Inns if you are interested.

This pub was the Freemasons Arms until recently. I used to work nearby and enjoyed many pints there. All of the football memorabilia inside has been there forever, it's not new and is nothing to do with its current modern-but-trying-to-sound-olde-and-quirky name.

Google Streetmap still has an image from 2014 of the Freemasons Arms.

ST | 28.11.25 - 7:55 a.m. | #

Elephant & Castle strikes me as slightly unusual and worthy of a mention.

JP | 28.11.25 - 8:01 a.m. | #

PS I realise my previous comment didn't add much that you hadn't already pointed out, but I felt like I needed a bit of a rant about it. It irritated me to see history repackaged for resale to a new audience.

ST | 28.11.25 - 8:03 a.m. | #

This post and JP's comment reminded me of the Elephant and Castle bistro in New York which I stumbled across a couple of decades ago, and apparently has recently shut down. Makes me wonder what the worst non-UK attempt at a pub name might be.

Ben | 28.11.25 - 8:06 a.m. | #

There used to be a pub in Greenwich called the Frog & Radiator, it's long gone now unfortunately.

Jay | 28.11.25 - 8:10 a.m. | #

G-Man's mention of the Bear and Ragged Staff reminds me that back in the mid-1980s there was an almighty hoo-ha in Crayford when new owners proposed to change its name to the Kipper and Radiator. It was a ploy to stir up interest but in fact caused a lot of antipathy because the original name is historic, going back several centuries. It stayed that way, thankfully.
As a lad I used to collect pub names and the most unusual I remember was the Cornet of Horse in Battersea, a name which I didn't realise at the time was a military term.

Waterhouse | 28.11.25 - 8:11 a.m. | #

The Bear and Ragged Staff is the county symbol of Warwickshire.

Artie | 28.11.25 - 8:12 a.m. | #

The Fox and Firkin, Lewisham High Street

Graeme | 28.11.25 - 8:19 a.m. | #

Two pubs in the Smithfield area have unusual names

The Fox and Anchor in Charterhouse Square is an Arts & Crafts gem, but i haven’t found the reason for its name.

The Hand and Shears on the corner of Middle Street / Cloth Fair and Kinghorn Street refers back to Middle Ages and the textile trading days of Bartholomew Fair

IanD | 28.11.25 - 8:21 a.m. | #

It may not be related to the pub name, but there is a strong association between bulls and egrets. Cattle egrets hang around herds of cattle, finding insects on their skin and in their droppings.

I have a photo of this from my brother's farm in Queensland, Australia.

Peter Cameron | Homepage | 28.11.25 - 8:27 a.m. | #

Post updated, thanks everyone.

David Bruce who launched the 'Firkin' chain in 1979 is also responsible for the rollout of Slug & Lettuces (1993).

diamond geezer | Homepage | 28.11.25 - 8:30 a.m. | #

I was intrigued by the name Elephant and Castle when I first moved to London, so did some basic research. Unfortunately, no clear answers but a number of theories. There was a good thread on the london-se1 forum, but it seems to have disappeared. But they boiled down to:

1) The area is named after a pub called the Elephant and Castle. The pub was converted from a blacksmiths in 1790. The blacksmith was affiliated with the Culter’s Company, a maker of swords, knives and other cutlery, who often used ivory in their handles. Their crest has three elephants on it, including one with a howdah on the back, which is a seat used by hunters when riding an elephant. The howdah is shaped like a castle.

2) The name is a bastardization of the words Infanta de Castile, and references a Spanish queen or princess who visited the area. Most often Queen Eleanor of Castile who was the wife of King Edward the first is the one mentioned in this story, though other names can be found. An infanta was the eldest daughter of a king, something that Eleanor was not. Variations on this theme have Infanta meaning young, as the princess in the story was only a teenage when she was married.

3) The name is a reference to the King's menagerie (zoo) located at the Tower of London, thus you have Elephants in castles. Though why the Tower of London would have influenced a name in Southwark (that isn't in view of the Tower) doesn't make much sense to me.

On a different topic, when doing section 1 of the LOOP, I stopped in to the Bear and Ragged Staff for a mid-walk pint, as the name felt like it was a lost 80's Duran Duran album.

Greg | 28.11.25 - 8:52 a.m. | #

Conversely, the long-established Sun and Doves in Camberwell has now lost its Doves.

Further afield, the Cow and Snuffers in Cardiff, with its link to Benjamin Disraeli, has long-since closed its doors.

cau1khead | 28.11.25 - 8:53 a.m. | #

The Royal Oak in Twickenham was known for a period as the Hedgehog and Stump

Tom | 28.11.25 - 9:12 a.m. | #

St George is a commonly claimed patron saint.

MilesT | 28.11.25 - 9:16 a.m. | #

The Eagle and Child in Oxford has always set my imagination running with uneasy thoughts.

Michael | 28.11.25 - 9:23 a.m. | #

The Crown and Sugar Loaf just off Fleet Street is a curious one but it was actually two pubs merged into one - the Crown and the Sugar Loaf. But it's history is even more confusing as the current day Crown and Sugar Loaf is only a small bit of what the original Crown and Sugar Loaf was. Because the original Crown and Sugar Loaf was a combination of the current pub and the neighbouring Punch Tavern.

Although they were one pub, the freehold was split. In the 1980s two thirds of the site was owned by Bass, the remaining third a charitable trust. Both leased their bits of the pub to the Nicholsons pub company. Which was fine until Sam Smiths took on the lease to the smaller third of the pub. Cue much fun with Sam Smiths setting up their own bar, and blocking access to the cellar. Until eventually the pub is split again. The bigger bit remains Punch Tavern, the Sam Smiths bit becomes Crown and Sugar Loaf. All bonkers but that's business!

Nicholson's lease on the smaller third runs out and Sam Smiths snap it up. Sam Smiths set up their own bar in their third of the pub, so the one pub has two bars!

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 28.11.25 - 9:24 a.m. | #

There is a suggestion that the George and Vulture on Lombard Street (mentioned by Dickens by the way) did have a vulture at some point after 1666. Before that it was just the George.

Perhaps the Victorian one in Hoxton copied the name.

Andrew | 28.11.25 - 9:24 a.m. | #

Closed down, but still physically there as a Tesco Metro is the Swan and Sugar Loaf in South Croydon. Not the nicest of pubs when it was open.

Robert Butlin | 28.11.25 - 9:30 a.m. | #

The Dog and Bell in Deptford was called The Marine until the early 1980s

Boneyboy | 28.11.25 - 9:40 a.m. | #

>>George & Dragon (our patron saint)

Ahem, it's not my patron saint; I'm Scottish

Agent X | 28.11.25 - 9:44 a.m. | #

In our colonial past when rich men went tiger shooting, the howdah that they rode in on the back of an elephant was also called a castle.
I seem to think the pub's sign used to have a picture of such.

Joho | Homepage | 28.11.25 - 10:03 a.m. | #

There's a Camel & Artichoke on Lower Marsh in Waterloo. Not sure how long it's been called that, but I believe the "artichoke" is a reference to painting over pub signs with George IV portraits on them but you could still see the ghost of a curly Georgian wig underneath. Possibly apocryphal.

Peewee | 28.11.25 - 10:10 a.m. | #

I always rather liked the Drum and Monkey which was an old Fremlins pub on Gloucester Road in Croydon which closed many years ago and ˋspontaneously combusted´ on the same night as the Windwill pub opposite (also closed) a few years ago.

As far as wierd names go I think ˋThe case is altered´ which was on Old Redding in Harrow and I believe is also now closed, takes some beating. I was told it was corrupted down from Casa de Altoria where the Middlesex Regiment were stationed in the Peninsular war but I suspect other explanations are available

Keith the Kraut | 28.11.25 - 10:14 a.m. | #

I hate to be a pedant, but although the meeting of the FA in 1863 did create laws of the game, they weren't the first. For many years they co-existed with other sets of rules, chiefly the Sheffield Rules, that were predominantly used by clubs in the North and Midlands. In 1877, after various amendments were made. taking into account how other parts of the country played football, the FA Rules were adopted by everyone.

Anders | 28.11.25 - 10:16 a.m. | #

As it happens I'm currently reading a novel set in a pub called The Case is Altered. And the theory given in the novel is related to the fact that many older pubs were used for legal proceedings and it's related to a court case.

Because of that I had a look around at different explanations and none of them seem to be the same. My favourite is the a pub in Warwickshire where they say their pub was originally the Case as it was "the size of a small suitcase". Pub was extended over time, and they changed the name of the pub to advertise that it had changed!

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 28.11.25 - 10:21 a.m. | #

I'm fairly sure that Hare & Billet Pond is named after the pub, rather than vice versa.

In Dulwich the Crown and Greyhound is the descendant of two pubs across the road from each other, the Crown and the Greyhound.

HTFB | 28.11.25 - 10:47 a.m. | #

A converse phenomenon, where one name becomes an odd combination of two pubs, is at the Old Tiger's Head and New Tiger's Head facing each other at Lee Green. Though the New Tiger's Head has now been depubbed. "FRUIT AND VEGETABLE ARE INSIDE", apparently.

HTFB | 28.11.25 - 10:51 a.m. | #

There’s a connection between bulls and egrets but not in the UK. There are several species of “cattle egrets“ that live alongside herds of cattle and eat the insects that hang around them.

Some bovines (notably African buffalo and Asian water buffalo) will let the egrets perch on their backs.

Mike PJ | 28.11.25 - 10:54 a.m. | #

Peewee: The Camel & Artichoke got its name in 2005. The reason is fairly prosaic, it had been called The Artichoke originally, then The Camel (as part of a chain), so the new owners decided to combine the past names.

The Mad Bishop & Bear at Paddington station is one of my favourite pub names. The Mad Bishop supposedly sold his land to the railway at a very low price. And the bear is obviously Paddington.

the wub | 28.11.25 - 11:04 a.m. | #

Post updated again, thanks.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 28.11.25 - 11:21 a.m. | #

Just outside London, Dartford's oldest coaching inn is The Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel (often refereed to as the Bull and Vic).

The Bull apparently is named after "bulla", a seal or papal edict secured by a seal, rather than the animal. I wonder if some of the other pubs with "Bull" in their names have a similar origin.

Mikey C | 28.11.25 - 11:24 a.m. | #

Callum and Will didn't add screens, the Freemasons had them for at least the past 20 years.

Frank F | 28.11.25 - 11:37 a.m. | #

I have a vague memory of a Bull & Last somewhere in north London. That's an especially strange one, as 'last' isn't even a noun (unless there's a meaning I'm not aware of).

Pub goer | 28.11.25 - 11:54 a.m. | #

I like The Chandelier and Grandad in the peerless Framley Examiner

Gaz | 28.11.25 - 12:08 p.m. | #

Pub goer: It's a foot shape used by shoemakers etc.

Fred | 28.11.25 - 12:59 p.m. | #

Another fictional one but as this is from the mind of the late, great Christopher Fowler (whose blog you still link to) it's worth a mention: the Nun and Broken Compasses. Featured in all the Bryant and May books.

Peter | 28.11.25 - 1:36 p.m. | #

The Queen’s Head & Artichoke, in Albany Street has always seemed an odd juxtaposition. The current website suggests the Queen was Elizabeth I and the pub a rebuild on a new site after demolition of the original when Regent’s Park was created; the vegetable doesn’t get much of a mention, but may reference Her Maj’s gardener. Every catering outlet has to have a carefully created backstory these days, of course.

Labourer | 28.11.25 - 2:10 p.m. | #

Fred: interesting. I checked for shoemaking connections to bulls. Turns out it's a way to polish shoes. So the name isn't a load of cobblers after all.

(Sorry. And yes, I know that cobblers are for the soles and not the upper part of the shoe.)

Pub goer | 28.11.25 - 2:54 p.m. | #

Not London, but the 'Bucket of Blood' in Phillack, Hayle, cornwall is up there on the unusual list.

All to do with what was in a bucket pulled up from the well, apparently, after an alleged murder.

Colly | Homepage | 28.11.25 - 2:56 p.m. | #

I've been twice to the Elephant & Castle in Washington DC, but not NYC.

Ian | 28.11.25 - 4:41 p.m. | #

The scriptwriters of the 1950s radio show “Ray’s a Laugh’, starring the comedian Ted Ray, deserve a mention. They gave his fictitious local the name “The Frog & Nightgown”. Then a few years later a real pub in the Old Kent Road adopted the name. I think this was the first example of giving pubs ‘wacky’ names and led to many of the modern names featured in the post, especially the Slug & Lettuce chain.

Bryn Davies | 28.11.25 - 6:12 p.m. | #

Made-up new pub names should be disqualified; however I have a soft spot for 'The Scran and Scallie' in Edinburgh. 'The Leg of Mutton and Cauliflower' in Ashtead (inexplicably know by locals as 'The Leg') and 'The Cat & Custard' are two worthy Kent pairings. Alas the 'Bull and Spectacles' in Rugeley, Staffs, was lost to the pandemic.

Rod | 28.11.25 - 6:25 p.m. | #

'The Swan and Sugar Loaf' was a nickname given to pubs called the 'Bishop and Mitre' where the inn sign had a faded bishop's crook and mitre on it. I believe the one at South Croydon is now called the Swan and Tesco loaf.

My own favorite pub name is/was the 'Aardvark and Zymurgist' in the Black country, possibly in Stourbridge. I do wonder how many of the patrons know what zymurgy is.

Alan JS | 28.11.25 - 6:28 p.m. | #

the wub - much obliged, very interesting (although it still doesn't verify whether "The Artichoke" is related to George IV).

When I lived near Mudchute station I was intrigued by the pub "Pepper St Ontiod" as I'd never heard of that particular saint before. After a bit of Googling it turns out "Ontiod" was an acronym for "on the Isle of Dogs" and the pub was located on Pepper Street.

Peewee | 28.11.25 - 7:29 p.m. | #

Cattle egrets are now in the UK. I saw the phenomenon earlier this year in a field in Warblington, nr Havant, Hants.

Anyone who watches the Kiwi show the Brokenwood Mysteries will know of the Croc & Panther and similar establishments.

Richard Thomas | 28.11.25 - 7:55 p.m. | #

Thank you for mentioning the Ship & Shovell, and Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell.
One of Robyn Hitchcock's songs is called 'The Sir Tommy Shovell' (released in 2022). The song is about an imaginary pub - but now it seems slightly less imaginary.

My favourite fictional pub name is 'The Cow & Pins', from the work of the late Frank Key. He also provided an illustration of the pub's sign, although that is not included at this link.

JonathanC | 28.11.25 - 8:48 p.m. | #

One that I find interesting and have never found a satisfactory answer for is the Salmon and Ball by Bethnal Green. Apparently there was fish market and a fabric market nearby that might have provided a name. If anyone could enlightened me that would be great!

Josh | 28.11.25 - 9:00 p.m. | #

There was a "Goose & Granite" in Walthamstow before it was renamed The Goose.

Patrick | 28.11.25 - 9:05 p.m. | #

Do CAMRA support pubs which serve Becks?

kev | 28.11.25 - 10:07 p.m. | #

The Lamb & Flag (Covent Garden, still open, named in 1833) is apparently a symbol associated with John the Baptist and the arms of the Merchant Taylors' company.

Shinner & Sudtone is a modern one, but they got the name from the former Shinner's department store which used to be next door, and how Sutton appears in the Domesday Book.

Nick L | 28.11.25 - 11:34 p.m. | #

The Cock and Woolpack on Finch Lane near Threadneedle Street/Cornhill is a good one.

Brighton_Ro | 29.11.25 - 9:21 a.m. | #

Many years ago I was part of the refurbishment team working at a bank in Kingston which became 'The Financier and Firkin'.

Anyoldname | 29.11.25 - 7:21 p.m. | #

Pubs with Firkin in the name were part of the Firkin pub chain founded in the 1980s.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 29.11.25 - 7:28 p.m. | #

Ship & Whale in Rotherhithe apparently used to known locally as Ship & Handbag when it was a gay pub in 80s/90s.

SJM | 29.11.25 - 8:25 p.m. | #

Maybe the Dog and Bell is a reference to Pavlov's dog experiment.

Basil Jet | 30.11.25 - 2:26 a.m. | #

Sun and 13 Cantons? I always thought that was a modern creation but as per the pub's website: "...from the pub’s association with the Swiss watch-making community that worked in and around Soho in the late 1800"

swissman | 01.12.25 - 10:45 p.m. | #

TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy