1. : The Impact
In recent years, pubs have been re-named with
rapidly increasing frequency - a statement
applying individually as well as collectively !!
This phenomenon can have unsettling effects :
which are not confined to older citizens, nor drinkers -
seeing that pubs are often used as landmarks.
E. g. the Warwick Arms was to be found in
Warwick Street. Now we have to search
for the Mad Moose (if we really need to . . .)
Fortunately, many pubs have not suffered re-naming;
and, in some cases, the original name has been
restored - after one or more temporary, failed efforts.
However, the term 'original' is also difficult to
pin-down : as pubs have never been immune from past
name-changes, especially those pubs kept in being for
hundreds of years. (See 5. below).
2. : Earth-shattering
Earlier in the 20th Century, it was still the case that
re-naming was normally done to mark really important
events : perhaps local ones, but more likely after wars
(national) - and the military/political heroes produced.
The Wounded Hart, for example,
becoming Kitchener's Arms in 1915.
There is a local (Wymondham) connection for
Major-General Windham C. B., who gave his name
directly to the Windham Arms and the
General Windham;
and, indirectly, to the Redan - whose original title was
The Hero of the Redan.
The battle occurred in 1857 during the Crimean War.
Several name-changes occurred around 1760 in
the much earlier Seven Years' War.
Pubs such as the "King's Arms" - for most of the time -
had no need to bother about changes in the Monarchy.
Queen Victoria, however, had a prodigious number of
pubs named after her; although several were new
(the mid-19th Century being the great boom period).
The Man on The Moon seems a fine example of a
commemorative pub, and it is - except that :- - the event had yet to take place (clever, what ?!);
- it was a newly-built pub; so had
carte blanche for naming.
^Top^
3. : Market-Driven
In recent decades, re-naming has usually been at the
behest of "marketing gurus"; who think that any
name-change is probably a step forward, and a
"trendy" name is the certain harbinger of extra custom.
The success of the Bell Hotel, for one, is proof of
the nonsense of these marketing ideas; as is the
re-emergence of older names, already mentioned.
The Griffin at Thorpe and the Trowel & Hammer
are excellent examples of the latter.
Continued . . .
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3. (contd.)
Particularly regrettable is the blanket imposition of a
national "house-style" (as in the Firkin chain) losing,
in the process, such interesting and uncommon names
as the Reindeer (now happily restored).
The "national" S&N name Rat & Parrot is not nearly
as funny as Ted Ray's imaginary "Frog and Nightgown";
and has recently been abandoned here.
There seems little harm, however, in calling the very old
White Lion the Old White Lion ; or, for the Ferry, using
the rather more romantic name Ferryboat Inn.
A few years ago, the Loaf became the Forge :
the mind boggles as to why!
4. : Norwich Names
Some of the more recent changes have
much of the legitimacy of the older tradition. One would not wish to see the :-
Tony Blair Arms or Maggie Thatcher Inn,
but can applaud the honouring of local
eminences (especially posthumously).
Two such examples were only a
few yards apart in Tombland : - Edith Cavell : a highly appropriate replacement for
'Army and Navy Stores'
- The name 'Waggon and Horses' gave way,
for quite a long period, to
Louis Marchesi
(the founder of Round Table).
(Note : both names have recently been changed again)
Incidentally, "Waggon and Horses" lives on, in the name
of the side-alley; as is often the case with pubs which
have been closed, or even demolished, over the centuries.
There is little wrong with calling one of the main pubs
in Pottergate the Pottergate Tavern; although it is but
the latest* in a series of changes - starting as the
'Morning Mail', then 'Morning Star', 'Brown Derby' etc.
Was it the hatred of the Communist newspaper of that
era, we wonder?!?.
* Note 2006 : re-named once more. Perhaps only the freemasons themselves were
concerned about the name Billy Bluelight - a famous
Norwich character of the early 20th Century -
previously, and now again, the
Freemasons Arms.
5. : Delving Deep
The fact remains that pub-names have changed in the
past; not altogether surprisingly, seeing how many
centuries some have survived!.
Unfortunately, this means that some of the older names,
"discovered" in the archives, may not be separate and
additional houses at all - simply earlier names, for
pubs already documented . . .
The overall effect can therefore be to exaggerate the
total number of different premises. Where possible,
the danger of "double-counting" has been noted
in the particular lists.
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