The PUB! A British institution

1. The PUB!A British institution Prof. ChantalMorosso Università della Valle d’Aosta IPRA - Châtillon

2. pub /pʌb/ PUBLIC HOUSE A building where people go to drink, eat and meet up Pubs offer a good choice of beers, wines and spirits and serve traditional British food at reasonable prices

3. Gastropubs Gastronomy + pub since 1991 Top-notch food Peculiar and refined interiors Recommended gastropubs in London http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/pubsandbars/gastro-pubs-in-london-recommended-London-75.html

4. Pubs! • Licensed drinking establishment • Bar • Alehouse • Beerhouse • Inn • Tavern • Boozer • Hotel • ‘The Local’ • Den…

5. Golden rules of pubs • Don’t wait for a waiter: you could wait for ages because in Britain you have to go to the bar to get your drinks. • Don’t all go to the bar: in a group only one goes to buy a round. But don’t wait until everybody has finished their glasses – buy the next round while they’re still drinking their pint. • Don’t be impatient: get the barman to notice you without shouting “Barman!” – it would be impolite. Wait for your turn until the barman nods or beckons towards you. • Don’t ask for a “beer”: it is nonsense. Lager, stout, bitter… A pint or a half (but remember, a half may just bother the barman!) • Keep your eye on the time: when you hear a barman shout “Last orders, please!” it is your last chance to buy a beer before the pub shuts. Most pubs still close at 11pm.

6. London’s oldest pub? • The debate about London‘s most ancient ‘drinking hole’ is still raging in the twenty-first century… http://www.timeout.com/london/bars/features/272.html http://thespaniardshampstead.co.uk/#

7. The Tabard Inn Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (end of XIV century) It is a collection of stories written in Middle English, mostly in verse, told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark (London) to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The inn is described in the first few lines as the location where the pilgrims first meet on their journey in the 1380s: Bifel that in that season on a day,In Southwerk at the Tabard as I layRedy to wenden on my pilgrymageTo Caunterbury with ful devout corage,At nyght was come into that hostelryeWel nyne and twenty in a compaignyeOf sondry folk, by aventure yfalleIn felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde;The chambres and the stables weren wyde,And well we weren esed atte beste [Are you thinking about any similar Italian literary masterpiece?]

8. Bingo! Boccaccio, Decameron, 1349-51 John William Waterhouse, A Tale from Decameron, 1916

9. Pub culture…

10. Irish Pubs The Temple Bar • “Have good craic!” (Irish for “good time”) Pogue Mahone’s

11. Pub restrictions • It is not allowed to buy and consume alcoholic drinks under 18 • Teenagers under 18 are usually not even allowed into a pub • In Scotland it is quite impossible to get into a pub (or a restaurant) with a child, especially after 6 pm! • In Ireland they seem more flexible about it all… • “Last orders” time is usually around 11 pm!

12. Glossary • Chat over a drink • Meet up • Boozing • Pay a round • A pint of the black • Legless, pissed, bombed (extremely drunk) • Pub crawl • Last call • Binge on beer • Binge drinking