A 4.3 pub named The Bay and Bracket, after the very architectural features of the traditional pub building
The Bay and Bracket holds a 4.3 from four hundred and forty-five people, and carries a curious, clever, and rather knowing name – “the Bay and Bracket” – drawn not from kings or beasts or saints, but from the very architecture of the pub building itself: the bay window and the bracket, two features of the traditional pub’s fabric.
The architectural name
“The Bay and Bracket” is an unusually self-referential and architectural pub name, pointing to the physical features of the building itself. A “bay” is a bay window – the projecting window that juts out from the wall, a characteristic feature of many traditional pub facades, letting light flood in and offering a fine perch from which to watch the street. A “bracket” is a decorative or supporting projection – the ornamental brackets that adorn Victorian pub facades, supporting cornices, signs, or lamps, part of the rich decorative fabric of the traditional pub exterior. To name a pub “the Bay and Bracket” is thus to name it after its own architecture, the very features of its facade. The Prat’s naming desk notes the clever self-reference: a pub named not for some borrowed grandeur but for the bones of the building itself, the bay window and the decorative bracket that make the traditional pub facade.
The paired-name tradition, made modern
The name follows the classic “X and Y” paired-name form this survey has met throughout – the Rose and Crown, the Hare and Hounds, the George and Monkey – but applies it wittily to architectural features rather than the usual heraldic or symbolic pairings. It is a knowing, modern play on the tradition: taking the familiar “and” formula and filling it with the alliterative “Bay and Bracket,” a pleasingly assonant pair drawn from the building trade. The alliteration (bay, bracket) gives it a satisfying ring, memorable and distinctive. The Prat’s naming desk enjoys the modern wit: the ancient paired-name form given a fresh, architectural, alliterative twist, the pub naming itself after its own handsome fabric.
The celebration of pub architecture
There is something rather lovely in a pub that celebrates, in its name, the architecture of the pub itself – for the traditional pub building is a genuine glory of the British streetscape, with its bay windows, decorative brackets, etched glass, tiled facades, and ornate detailing. This survey has repeatedly admired the architectural splendour of the traditional pub – the gin palaces of Bloomsbury, the restored tiles of the Well and Bucket, the Victorian magnificence of the Albert in this very batch. “The Bay and Bracket” makes this architectural appreciation its very name, a small tribute to the handsome fabric of the pub as a building. The Prat’s heritage desk approves: a name that celebrates the very architecture of the pub, honouring the bay windows and decorative brackets that make these buildings such ornaments of the street.
The pub
A 4.3 across four hundred and forty-five people is a solid, volume-influenced score. The reviews describe a good, characterful, well-run pub with a handsome interior, decent food and drink, and a pleasant atmosphere – a fine local under a wittily architectural name.
Verdict
A good, characterful pub named the Bay and Bracket, after the very architectural features of the traditional pub – the bay window and the decorative bracket – a witty, alliterative, self-referential twist on the classic paired-name tradition.
Go, have a pint at the Bay and Bracket, and enjoy a pub that names itself, wittily and alliteratively, after its own handsome architecture – the bay window and the ornamental bracket, a small tribute to the fine fabric of the traditional pub building itself.
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]
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