Book review – ‘Pub Signs – what’s it all about?’

Before most of the country could read or write the easiest way for pub owners to have their establishments recognised was through imagery rather than words. From those beginnings the UK has built up an incredible array of pub signage.

Across the country you can find signs whose imagery encompasses history, word play, the double entendre, local mythology and pretty much everything else in between that could be used as a distinguishing bit of symbolism.  

The recently-published ‘Pub Signs’ by Arthur Chappell (from Amberley Publishing) has the simple aim of presenting some of the myriad pub signs that can be found around the UK. There is very little wordy pre-amble to this production and only the most modest of thumbnail sketches outlining the meaning behind each sign. The publication is very much a celebration of the art of each sign.

With few words to distract the reader and no chronology to its content this book is all about dipping in and out. Choose a page at random from its 95 and you will undoubtedly chance upon something of interest. My own game was to flick through and see which of the pubs I’d visited. The reality is, not that many, even though I’d say I was a very well-travelled pub goer.

I’ve certainly never crossed the threshold of the gloriously named The Pump & Truncheon or The Treacle Mine, the Nowhere, The Old Bill and Bull and the Five Alls. They undoubtedly all deserve a visit to see in the flesh their signage.

There is no part of the country left untouched by Pub Signs. It covers the upper-most reaches of Scotland right down to Cornwall. No doubt each reader will take different things from this book but the one thing that everyone will no doubt take away is an appreciation of the pub sign. The artistry and the simple uniqueness that imbues pretty much every sign. No two are alike.

It is undoubtedly an ideal gift for the pub-goer and as we move further through the summer months the thoughts of Christmas will be upon us. Well, here’s one ideal gift.

Glynn Davis, editor, Beer Insider