Unusual pub names

M

Matesrates

Well-known member
The most unusual I came across was the “Hark to Mopsy” in Normanton, West Yorkshire. I’m told it’s so named because at some time the pub had a dog called Mopsy, who barked, hence hark to Mopsy.
 
Matesrates said:
The most unusual I came across was the “Hark to Mopsy” in Normanton, West Yorkshire. I’m told it’s so named because at some time the pub had a dog called Mopsy, who barked, hence hark to Mopsy.
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Yes I sometimes say hark at him/ her etc which seems to fit better than hark to.
 
My go to pub in Maidstone is called The Old House at Home. Big screens showing the footie and London Pride at £2.80 a pint !!!! Unheard of prices down south.
We also have a posh bar / restaurant a few miles away called Who'd a Thought It. Great place
 
Threepeaksphil said:
Was a great pub in the lakes but I haven’t been for a long time, it was at the time at a junction of then three countries
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Not been in since about 1980 TBH, we always met someone we knew when in there or out over the road at the front, pub grub was simply chicken in the basket. 😀
 
There are (or were) a few pubs in north Bury and Ramsbottom called “Hark to... “.
Such as ,
Hark to Dandler (on the road to Nangreaves)
Hark to Towser (now called The Towser, on Walmseley Rd)
Hark to Towler (sadly, now converted into flats, in Tottington)

The reason being that they are all close to the hunting grounds of the Holcombe Hunt, which was a hare and fox hunting pack but mainly on foot, horses only for the Master and a few others, whose heyday was in the 1700s but claims to date back to the Normans in 1086. The Holcombe Hunt still exists as a drag hunt.

Dandler, Towser, Towler etc were the alpha dogs of the pack. Hence “hark to” when they picked up a fox’s scent or indeed the sight of a hare and started baying.

In the Victorian era, there were many “harrier hunts” in the NW, as foot hunts were called, run by working folk, and tens of thousands of mill workers used to come out into the fields to watch the big Easter hunts. That tradition still survives today as large groups of people gather outside pubs such as “The Hare and Hounds” in Holcombe Brook on Easter Sunday and the Saturday, before climbing Holcombe Hill itself. However, in recent years, the police have put bans in place, stopping people drinking outside as the numbers could indeed block the roads. They don’t know the history and tradition.
 
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Archibald Knox said:
There are (or were) a few pubs in north Bury and Ramsbottom called “Hark to... “.
Such as ,
Hark to Dandler (on the road to Nangreaves)
Hark to Towser (now called The Towser, on Walmseley Rd)
Hark to Towler (sadly, now converted into flats, in Tottington)

The reason being that they are all close to the hunting grounds of the Holcombe Hunt, which was a hare and fox hunting pack but mainly on foot, horses only for the Master and a few others, whose heyday was in the 1700s but claims to date back to the Normans in 1086. The Holcombe Hunt still exists as a drag hunt.

Dandler, Towser, Towser etc were the alpha dogs of the pack. Hence “hark to” when they picked up a fox’s scent or indeed the sight of a hare and started baying.

In the Victorian era, there were many “harrier hunts” in the NW, as foot hunts were called, run by working folk, and tens of thousands of mill workers used to come out into the fields to watch the big Easter hunts. That tradition still survives today as large groups of people gather outside pubs such as “The Hare and Hounds” in Holcombe Brook on Easter Sunday and the Saturday, before climbing Holcombe Hill itself. However, in recent years, the police have put bans in place, stopping people drinking outside as the numbers could indeed block the roads. They don’t know the history and tradition.
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That’s brilliant, thanks.
 
The “Help Me Thro’ ” in Bury.

Help me through what? Life ?
Or help me throw.. what?
I prefer the first explanation.
 
Pilchard inn Burgh island Devon Built in 1336 You can walk across the causeway at low tide .Sea tractor at high .tide .
 
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Just read that a pub historically used by pilgrims and over a thousand years old, in Hollingbourne, Kent has been engulfed in flames. Great name”The Dirty Habit” let’s hope it can be restored.
 
Matesrates said:
Just read that a pub historically used by pilgrims and over a thousand years old, in Hollingbourne, Kent has been engulfed in flames. Great name”The Dirty Habit” let’s hope it can be restored.
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Been there loads of times it's about 20.mins drive from us. Lovely old building with loads of history affiliated to The Pilgrims Way, a walk the pilgrims took to Canterbury.
Absolutely a tragedy, looks pretty much ruined.
The pub is owned by a chain so hopefully, insurance and some financial help may help.
 
I always thought The Swan and Cemetery in Bury an unusual name. Was the pre match venue on a number of occasions, including The Day of the Wall.
 
Mate of mine in has a local called "The One legged Shunter" in Staffordshire.

We have so much fun teasing him with this pub name.

"Are you taking the wife up the Shunter on Friday Mike?

"Does your wife like it in the Shunter?

"Does your wife like you going up the Shunter"
 
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The Joffrey

Very shabby, always short changed you, very limited upstairs, had an unusual smell and I believe went bankrupt a few years ago.
 
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