Pub A-Z

[trainman]

Good thread Roger, and a timely reminder of many pubs to be revisited as well as those still on the mission list. I've gone with RB's template and listed some contenders after my first choice, many of the decisions for letter 'champions' were very marginal indeed...

Arden Arms - Stockport (Albion - Rowhedge)
Bull - Horton Kirby (Baum - Rochdale, Bath Hotel - Sheffield, Bell Inn - Aldworth, Bridge - Topsham)
Crown Inn – Stockport (Cambridge Blue – Cambridge, Cow&Plough – Oadby, Cock Inn – Luddesdown, City Arms – Manchester)
Dove – Ipswich (Dog & Bell – Deptford)
Evening Star – Brighton (Edgar Wallace – Temple, Eagle Ale House – Clapham)
Fat Cat – Sheffield (Fat Cat – Ipswich, no relation)
Gardeners Arms - Lewes (Garland – Redhill, Good Intent – Puttenham)
Halfway House – Brenchley (Harlequin – Sheffield, Hillsborough Hotel – Sheffield, Harp – Charing Cross, Hop Pole Inn – Aylesbury)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel – Portsmouth (by default, low rating but couldn’t think of another)
Jolly Coopers – Hampton (not big on Js, Junction Tavern – Kentish Town, Jerusalem Tavern – Clerkenwell)
Kelham Island Tavern – Sheffield (Kingston Arms – Cambridge, Kings Head – Bristol)
Live & Let Live – Cambridge (Lincolnshire Poacher – Nottingham, Lion & Lobster – Brighton)
Market Porter – Borough (Man of Kent – Rochester)
Nags Head – Reading (Newshouse – Nottingham, New Barrack Tavern – Sheffield)
Olde Vic – Stockport (Odd One Out – Colchester, Our Mutual Friend – Stevenage)
Plough Inn – Radford (Pride of Spitalfields – Shoreditch)
Queens Head – Chelmsford (Queens Head – Allens Green)
Railway Arms – Alton ((Railway (Porters Railway) – Stockport, Red Lion – Histon, Red Lion – Snargate, Retreat – Reading, Roebuck – Hampton Hill, Royal Oaks (x3) – Borough-Rusper-Luxborough))
Selborne Arms – Selborne (South Western – St Denys, Stanley Arms – Portslade, Sir Loin of Beef – Portsmouth, Swan & Rushes - Leicester)
Trafalgar Freehouse – South Wimbledon (can’t see another T from my list to compete)
United Brethren – Chelmsford (only U I could find, hadn’t reviewed any, somehow got impression of anti-northern, but decent Wherry)
Vat&Fiddle – Nottingham, Victoria Hotel – Beeston, dead-heat, (Victoria – Dunstable)
Wellington – Sheffield (Wellington Arms – Southampton, White Lion – St Albans,)
X – defeats me
Ypres Castle* - Rye ((* I didn’t like it at all but, if I’m not allowed ‘Ye …(eg.old mitre)’, then it’s the only Y I can think of))
Z – another blank

[runningdog]

I'll go away and think about this, don't wait up, I may be some time

[ETA]

I'm not sure about having Ye Cracke as a Y either.

OK, Mr Pedant comes out to play - "Ye" doesn't technically begin with a "y". It's a corruption of the Middle English letter thorn (Þ) which sometimes looks like a "y" when written badly, and whose use was eventually replaced with "th". Þ was the soft pronunmciation (as in "those") while "th" was the hard version (eg "thought"). So "ye" is actually a modern corruption of "Þe".

[RogerB]

OK, Mr Pedant comes out to play - "Ye" doesn't technically begin with a "y". It's a corruption of the Middle English letter thorn (Þ) which sometimes looks like a "y" when written badly, and whose use was eventually replaced with "th". Þ was the soft pronunmciation (as in "those") while "th" was the hard version (eg "thought"). So "ye" is actually a modern corruption of "Þe".

The only thing that surprises me about this is that Trainman didn't come up with it first. . However it is pronounced and whatever its origins, it is a definite article along the same lines as "the" and a spurious claim to be used as a pub starting with Y. I listed Ye Olde Cheshire Cheeese under O and I'm sticking with it!

[ETA]

The only thing that surprises me about this is that Trainman didn't come up with it first. . However it is pronounced and whatever its origins, it is a definite article along the same lines as "the" and a spurious claim to be used as a pub starting with Y. I listed Ye Olde Cheshire Cheeese under O and I'm sticking with it!

By the same token, Welsh names don't count - Y Dic Penderyn in Merthyr Tidfil (if it's still open), for example (OK, the only one I can think of).

The only "fair cop" I know of is The Yew Tree in Odstock (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/41767/), though I see from a quick search there are a few around the country.

[trainman]

The only thing that surprises me about this is that Trainman didn't come up with it first. .

As a pedant? Or as someone who appears to date back to Middle England?
Nope, Þ was, like most things, new to me - we can only read and learn...
Anyway, I refused Ye Olde Mitre and was stuck with Ypres (pron. Wipers, locally) but having read of ETA's Yew Trees, there must be one of those I've been in that would be a preferable Y.

[Maldenman]

As a pedant? Or as someone who appears to date back to Middle England?
Nope, Þ was, like most things, new to me - we can only read and learn...
Anyway, I refused Ye Olde Mitre and was stuck with Ypres (pron. Wipers, locally) but having read of ETA's Yew Trees, there must be one of those I've been in that would be a preferable Y.

I've been in a few Yeomen, but it's always been prefixed by Surrey, Kent etc.


There's always Yates' of course..........

[RogerB]

Anyway, I refused Ye Olde Mitre and was stuck with Ypres (pron. Wipers, locally) but having read of ETA's Yew Trees, there must be one of those I've been in that would be a preferable Y.

My Yew Tree was a cracker! http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/68013/

There are a few Yellow... pubs and Young... pubs listed if that helps. I'm sure you must have been to the York in Islington at some stage. That's a half decent place to fall back on if you're really struggling.

[trainman]

Aaarrrgghhh, what am I talking about?

Yorkshire Terrier Inn & York Brewery Bar!!!
You see what happens when the reviews get sidelined in the name of alcohol?

edit. Oggy's and, especially, Gill's Ys should have given me rather huge clues.

[aleandhearty]

Have a look and try it for yourself

Great thread Roger. Will give it a go, but as a self-confessed creature of habit I think I might even struggle with some of the more common letters.