Editing Pub (section)

==Pub signs==
[[File:thegeorgesouthwarksign.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The pub sign of [[the George, Southwark]] in south London, depicting [[St George]] slaying a [[dragon]]]]

In 1393, King [[Richard II of England]] compelled landlords to erect [[signboards|signs]] outside their premises. The legislation stated "Whosoever shall brew ale in the town with intention of selling it must hang out a sign, otherwise he shall forfeit his ale."<ref name="Sign">{{cite news|title=QI: some quite interesting facts about pubs|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/qi/10062458/QI-some-quite-interesting-facts-about-pubs.html|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=10 December 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412091743/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/qi/10062458/QI-some-quite-interesting-facts-about-pubs.html|archive-date=12 April 2018}}</ref> This law was to make alehouses easily visible to passing inspectors, [[borough]] [[ale taster]]s, who would decide the quality of the ale they provided. [[William Shakespeare]]'s father, [[John Shakespeare]], was one such inspector.
 
Another important factor was that during the [[Middle Ages]] a large proportion of the population were [[illiterate]] and so pictures on a sign were more useful than words as a means of identifying a public house. For this reason there was often no reason to write the establishment's name on the sign and inns opened without a formal written name, the name being derived later from the illustration on the pub's sign.

The earliest signs were often not painted but consisted, for example, of [[paraphernalia]] connected with the brewing process such as bunches of hops or brewing implements, which were suspended above the door of the pub. In some cases local nicknames, farming terms and puns were used. Local events were often commemorated in pub signs. Simple natural or religious symbols such as suns, stars and crosses were incorporated into pub signs, sometimes adapted to incorporate elements of the [[heraldry]] (e.g., the coat of arms) of the local lords who owned the lands upon which the pub stood. Some pubs have [[Latin]] inscriptions.

Other subjects that lent themselves to visual depiction included the name of battles (e.g. [[Battle of Trafalgar|Trafalgar]]), explorers, local notables, discoveries, sporting heroes and members of the [[British Royal Family|royal family]]. Some pub signs are in the form of a pictorial pun or [[rebus]]. For example, a pub in [[Crowborough]], East Sussex called ''The Crow and Gate'' had for some years an image of a crow with gates as wings. A ''[[British Pathé News ]]''film of 1956 shows artist [[Michael Farrar-Bell]] at work producing inn signs.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111121012256/http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=595 Video of artist Michael Farrar-Bell producing inn signs] from ''British Pathe News''</ref>

Most British pubs still have decorated signs hanging over their doors, and these retain their original function of enabling the identification of the pub. Today's pub signs almost always bear the name of the pub, both in words and in pictorial representation. The more remote country pubs often have stand-alone signs directing potential customers to their door.