Looking for a good game of bat-and-trap? Try "The Brewer's Delight" in Kent. Wish you could experience life in a medieval inn? You'll never get closer than in South Glamorgan's "Blue Anchor," which not only serves a dozen varieties of wood-kegged "real ale," but does so in a half-timbered maze of low-ceilinged fifteenth century rooms warmed by peat fires. Fancy a night of trad jazz? Tuck inside the Snug at "The Boat Inn" and you could swear you were in New Orleans, not Monmouth.
The England public house is a venerable and pervasive institution. Even the smallest hamlet seems to boast at least one "pub" or "local.” Each is uniquely its own - a local blend of character and tradition that helps define the slightly eccentric nature of being English. Pubs certainly play a far bigger role in English culture than the mere serving of drink. Law courts have been convened, smugglers have hatched plots, and guilty men have been hanged in pubs. The "Durham Ox" in Derbyshire and "The City Arms" in Somerset were once used as prisons. Pubs have served as music halls, debating rooms, and fox hunt rendezvous. Many pubs are next to churches, and some, like Whitby's "Pot and Lobster," have even been known to feature hymn singing. In fact, for a time in the sixties, a Devon inn had one of its rooms turned into a temporary church.
There are some sixty thousand pubs in Britain, and if there is a constant to their diversity, it is the assurance of warmth and camaraderie in even the foulest of weathers or moods. As the famous lexicographer Dr. Johnson said, "At a tavern, there is a general freedom from anxiety. You are sure you are welcome and the more noise you make, the more trouble you give, the more good things you call for, the welcomer you are.”
The pub, in many ways, is a paradigm of British life and culture. It exhibits the same preoccupations as the society at large: a propensity for "form" (i.e., what is or is not considered proper behavior); the need for a controlled venue for community relaxation; and the offering of parallel possibilities for quixotic self-expression.
Unlike an American bar, an English pub is meant to be "a home away from home." This credo is interpreted loosely, which means that one's local may also serve as political meeting hall, gambling den, or place of business. Some pubs feature drag artists, others amateur musicians or comedians. Many offer games, with darts and dominoes most prevalent.
Why do pubs serve so many varied functions? Because English reserve and a tight class structure make home entertainment awkward. An Englishman's home is his castle, so it is said, and a castle is not easily breached. Social situations are complicated by the fact that, while "form" pervades English life (dictating many levels of interaction and manners), aristocratic form varies considerably from that of either the middle or the working classes. At a pub, there is no problem in getting rid of an unwanted guest who is misreading your signals for his departure, or in discovering that the pickled onions you've served are considered declassé.
While class distinctions do not disappear in a pub (they can often be discerned merely by the type of drink being ordered), they are ameliorated. Here the squire can pass ribald jokes with his gamekeeper, or the magistrate chat up the barmaid. Pub regulars in need of business services
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