Pub? / The rules

The Pub? test

Legally, almost any bar is a pub. I disagree.

In English law, a “public house” is just somewhere licensed to sell drinks to the public, mainly to drink there, without having to eat or stay the night. By that measure a cocktail bar, a wine bar and a pub are the same thing. Planning law and the official statistics lump them together too.

So I wrote a set of rules to tell a pub from a bar. Every place on the map has to pass all of them.

The basics

  • Anyone can walk in. No membership, no guest list, no entry fee. (The odd ticketed gig night is fine.)
  • You can drink without eating. Nobody makes you order food.
  • Serving drinks is its main job. Not a restaurant, a hotel, a club or a brewery with a bar on the side.

The pub rules

  1. You order at the bar, even if they’ll also bring your food to the table.
  2. Beer on tap is the main event, not cocktails or wine.
  3. It’s open in the daytime, at least at weekends.
  4. Nobody checks your shoes. No dress code, booking or minimum spend on a normal day. Fine to pop in alone for one.
  5. Most of the time, you can hear yourself talk. Somewhere to sit, and the music isn’t the point.

Pass them all and it’s a pub.

How some places do

Your local
On the map
Gastropub
On the map, if you can still just order a pint
Micropub
On the map
Brewpub
On the map
Craft beer bar
On the map
Cocktail bar
Out at rule 2
Wine bar
Out at rule 2
Late-night DJ bar
Out at rules 3, 4 and 5
Brewery taproom
Out: it’s a brewery first
Restaurant
Out: you have to eat
Members’ club
Out: not everyone can walk in
Hotel guests’ bar
Out: not everyone can walk in

Typical examples. A particular place can be different.

Think I’ve got one wrong?

Places change. A taproom turns into a proper pub, a pub turns into a cocktail bar. If something on the map breaks the rules, or a real pub is missing, report it in the app: Suggest an edit on the pub, or the add-a-pub button on the map. Every report is checked by hand against these rules, and approved ones earn you points.