The greyhound is the ancient noble hound of kings and coursing – the fastest dog on earth, and a favourite pub name
The Greyhound is a Kensington pub with thirteen hundred and thirty reviews and a 4.4 – a large, solid sample – and it is named after one of the oldest, noblest and fastest of all dogs: the greyhound, the aristocratic hound of kings, coursing and the chase.
The noble hound
The greyhound is one of the most ancient of all dog breeds, with a lineage stretching back thousands of years – similar dogs appear in the art of ancient Egypt, and the breed has been prized across many civilisations for its extraordinary speed and grace. It is the fastest dog on earth, capable of remarkable bursts of speed, built entirely for the chase – all lean muscle, deep chest and long legs.
For most of its history, the greyhound was a dog of the nobility. In medieval England, greyhounds were so associated with the aristocracy that laws were passed restricting who could own them – at times, common people were forbidden from keeping greyhounds, which were reserved for the gentry and their hunting. To own a greyhound was a mark of noble status, and the dog appears constantly in heraldry, symbolising nobility, loyalty, speed and keen sight.
Coursing and racing
The greyhound’s speed made it the dog of “coursing” – the ancient sport of hunting hares by sight, with greyhounds released to chase and catch the hare across open country. Coursing was a favoured aristocratic pastime for centuries, celebrated in poetry and art, and it shaped the breeding of the greyhound for pure speed and hunting instinct.
In more modern times, this evolved into greyhound racing – the twentieth-century sport of racing greyhounds around a track after a mechanical hare. Greyhound racing became enormously popular, especially among the working classes, a staple of urban entertainment and betting through much of the twentieth century – “the dogs,” a night at the greyhound track, was a great popular institution. So the greyhound travelled from the exclusive coursing fields of the medieval aristocracy to the floodlit tracks of working-class Saturday nights.
The gentle retirement
There is a lovely modern coda to the greyhound story. Retired racing greyhounds have become beloved and popular pets, and anyone who has met one knows the great secret of the breed: despite being the fastest dog on earth, the greyhound is famously lazy, gentle and affectionate, content to sleep for most of the day. The fierce racing athlete is, at home, a placid, sweet-natured couch-lover. There is something charming in that contrast – the ultimate athlete who mostly wants a nap.
The pub
A solid, popular Kensington pub doing a fair 4.4 across a large and real sample, named after the ancient, noble, impossibly fast hound of kings, coursing fields and racing tracks alike.
Verdict
Solid, popular, and named after the greyhound – aristocrat of dogs, fastest hound on earth, and secretly the laziest of pets.
Have a pint under the noble hound, and raise it to the greyhound – built for the chase, beloved by kings, and happiest asleep on the sofa.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
Somewhere someone’s reading this at work and recognizing their exact job, their exact futility, their exact despair.