There is a new Pub Sign site, including many more pictures, here.
My name is Glyn Watkins. I am a writer, artist and poet who likes drinking in pubs. This site is designed to help me find Britain's best pub signs. If you know of one please
The plan is for Steve of Icarus Publishing to visit the ones he likes the look of and photograph the signs for possible inclusion in a 2010 calendar, along with stories about the sign and pub.
Signs of the times People like inn signs, they have been around our streets for many hundreds of years and are Britain's most visible vernacular art form, and arguably its best, as well as our oldest commercial marketing device. Despite that pub signs have far less protection than trees now. Dozens of our pubs are closing for ever every week, and those that survive can do what they like with their sign. Planning regulations surround the putting up of a new sign, none to stop an old one being taken down.
The Quest for a Sign It is very difficult trying to find pub signs on the internet. Sites for pubs often have no photo, and if they do they often do not show the sign. The British Inn Sign Society has has some good pictures of signs but no contact details for the pubs, they have not been added to for nearly 10 years and many of them have now gone. I phoned the Dock Green in Leeds to ask if they still had Dixon of Dock Green on their sign. The lady who answered said I'll ave a luke luv. I could hear her walk away, go through the door and come back, to say We ain't got a sign at all luv!
If you know of a good sign please
. A small photo of the sign would be very useful. I may use any photo sent on this site and will give credit if I do.
Pub Sign Gallery
Most images link to a larger image with details
Three Kings, 7, Clerkenwell Close, London, EC1R 0DY
Doric Arch, Euston Station, London
The Water Rats, 328 Grays Inn Road, London, WC1X 8BZ
The Pakenham Arms, 1, Packenham St, London, WC1X 0LA
The Pakenham Arms, 1, Packenham St, London, WC1X 0LA