British “Pub” Has No Counterpart

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 26, 2 March 1948, Page 6

British “Pub” Has No Counterpart

In no other country in the world is there anything comparable to the English inn—or, to use the more plebian but generally accepted title, the English “pub”. Other countries have their bistros, their estaminets or auberges, but the pub, in its impact on the pattern of social life in Britain, is unique. The British inn or pub is not just a place in which to drink. It is a community centre, house of refreshment, social club, halting place for travellers and in many cases an hotel combined. Its full purpose is expressed in the apt description “public house” of which the word “pub” is a popular abbreviation. The pub or the “local” as visitors will often hear it called, has an important role in -the life of every British community. Often known as the “poor man’s club,” it serves, in fact, the needs of every social scale. Under its hospitable roof gather artisans, labourers, professional men, rich and poor alike, not primarily to drink but drawn by the atmosphere of friendliness and comradeship they find in the warm, cosy, smoke-filled bars. Here is one place where the frigid reserve said to characterise all Britons is proved to be a mere facade; a place where all men are friends—to be engaged in conversation, to joke with, above all to argue with. When a Briton argues in the jocular tones of the public bar it is a sure sign of friendship. They wrangle on every subject “under the sun” with sport ■ and politics jockeying for the. leading place. A visitor hearing the babble might well think tempers were running high, but everything is harmony.

No two pubs are alike, but in essentials all follow roughly the same pattern. All have several bars, each of which has its own particular group of habitues attracted by common interests. The days when social standing was the tacitly accepted criterion for entrance into a particular bar are of the past. Man-

ual and professional groups still tend to divide between the “public” and the “saloon,” but these days there is a general intermingling.

The various bars are easily distinguished by their furniture. The saloon has a solid masculine air with leather chairs and settees, panelled walls decorated with brightlyburnished copper and brass ornaments. The public bar is sparsely furnished. Only forms arranged round the walls provide sitting room and they are rarely used. The lounge bar is the most comfortably furnished of all, with easy chairs, small tables, carpeted floor — and ferns and flowers to give a fem'inine ' touch.

This is roughly the lay-out to which all pubs conform. But in other ■ respects they vary considerably. The village “local” is very different from the city pub. The village or small-town inn is virtually a community centre. It often has a tennis court or bowls green. It is used as a club and as headquarters for various local societies. Leaders of all schools of thought, and the church, all recognise the importance of its contribution to communal village life. It has a “family” atmosphere. The city pub has these features but in less degree. It is less “intimate,” more sophisticated. It tends to wicker chairs, chromium stools and glasstopped tables, while the village inn sticks conservatively to oak settles and tables.

Other features vary from district to district —notably the games favoured by customers, which are often the primary attraction and to which drinkfe are only incidental.

Many of the larger inns, function primarily as hotels and the bars are ancillary only. Such hotels offer standards of comfort and service comparable to the most luxurious establishment, allied to a warm friendly atmosphere which comes from the close personal interest of “mine host” in the welfare of his guests.