Sunday 4 April 2010

Easter quiz

Just for a change, a photo quiz. It's about time I provided a little light relief. All those numbers and shit.

What's the connection between this pub and Easter?



As a clue, here's a nearby pub I used to drink in (Tap Bitter and bottled Guinness mixed was my tipple):


If someone comes up with a good answer there may even be a prize.

9 comments:

DaleJ said...

It is believed to be the origination of the tradition of hanging a hot cross bun over the doorway.

Dating back to the early 19th century, a widow hung a hot cross bun over the door way to welcome back her sailor son. He never came. She continued to do it every year after in hopes he would return.

rod said...

Tricky one, this - "the Widow's Son" has, I believe, Masonic connotations, but that doesn't get me very far...... neither does the Union Jack (except to make it marginally less likely that I would pop in for a pint). The other (closed) pub seems to be called the Tenterden, as in Kent, but that doesn't lead anywhere particular, either.
I'm going to stick my neck out, and suggest that the connection that this pub has with Easter is that they sell beer, are open over Easter, and Jesus drinks there.

Anonymous said...

Take it's the Bun House...
http://www.visitbritain.co.uk/things-to-see-and-do/interests/food-drink/features/widows-son-pub.aspx

Gary Gillman said...

You are in London for the weekend, went to see old (Truman) haunts, they no longer operate, so you stopped by an atmospheric-looking pub nearby.

By the way barmy was a term used to describe fresh fermenting beer (ale-barm) and as used in that stout, must have denoted a bottle-conditioned product, as much stout was then.

When it comes to prizes, one likes two kicks at the can (so to speak).

Gary

Ron Pattinson said...

DaleJ and ekes, you both have the correct answer. The pub is the Bun House on Devons Road, Bromley by Bow.

I used to live just around the corner. Though I didn't drink in there, 'cos it has shit beer. The Tenterden just down the road, a Truman's pub, was one of my haunts.

Anonymous said...

Gary: the hot cross bun, of course, is a relative of barm brack. So there's a hint of a yeasty connection there …

Gary Gillman said...

Thanks Martyn, otherwise I was out in left field as we say here! But as we also say here, no cigar!

Gary

ZakAvery said...

And unless I'm mistaken, barm cakes are bread rolls / baps in the Mancunian / Lancastrian vernacular.

Rob Sterowski said...

Gary, it doesn't seem likely to me that the name Barmy Stout has anything to do with its yeast content. Barmy wouldn't mean anything at all to a French-speaking market. If it was bottle-conditioned, probably only inasmuch as most beers were at the time.

Look at the label and the guardsman on it. Maybe they wanted to call it Army Stout but there was some sort of law against it. Or it's just a random English word.