A Homerton pub carrying the gun – a classic pub name evoking cannon, armouries and the martial history of the nation
The Prat’s naming desk stands to attention at The Gun, a Homerton pub carrying a name with a genuinely martial ring. The Gun is a classic old pub name, evoking cannon and armouries and the long military history of the nation, and the naming desk salutes so bold and characterful a sign.
The gun in the name
“The Gun” is a traditional pub name with a real sense of history, and it carries a whole cluster of martial associations. In many cases such names commemorated a connection to the military – to a nearby barracks, armoury or foundry; to the gunmakers and the gun trade; or simply to the great cannon that defended the realm and won its battles. The gun – and above all the cannon – was a proud symbol of national strength and martial prowess, and a pub flying it declared a bold, patriotic, soldierly character. There is a robust, no-nonsense quality to the name that the naming desk finds rather bracing.
The martial tradition
The naming desk notes that the Gun belongs to a whole family of military pub names – the Gun, the Cannon, the Artillery Arms, the Volunteer, the Trooper – by which the pubs of the nation have long honoured its soldiers and its wars. In a country with a deep military history, such names were natural and popular, celebrating the armed forces and the martial spirit, and often marking real connections to regiments, barracks or the trades of war. The Gun carries that whole soldierly tradition, a pub sign with gunpowder in its history.
The Homerton local
The Gun serves its patch in Homerton with the character of a proper, robust neighbourhood local. A pub carrying so bold and martial a name lends its corner a note of history and strength, a sturdy and characterful presence on its street. Its strong rating reflects a genuine local following, gathering beneath the sign of the gun. It is a name that promises a solid, no-nonsense sort of pub, and the naming desk suspects it delivers exactly that.
Powder and patriotism
The naming desk reflects on the martial streak that runs through English pub names. From the Gun and the Cannon to the Trafalgar, the Waterloo and the countless pubs named for admirals and generals, the nation’s drinking houses have long celebrated its soldiers, sailors and wars. It reflects a country proud of its military history and fond of honouring it over a pint – the pub as a place where the deeds of the armed forces were remembered and toasted. A name like the Gun carries that whole tradition of powder and patriotism, a robust, soldierly emblem in the long line of martial pub signs, and the naming desk salutes its sturdy, no-nonsense place in it.
The verdict
A rating of 4.6 across some 443 reviews marks the Gun as a genuinely well-liked Homerton local. A pub carrying the gun – a classic name evoking cannon, armouries and the martial history of the nation – is the naming desk’s kind of bold, robust heritage. The Prat orders a pint, salutes the soldierly ring of the name, and toasts the sturdy old Gun.
My therapist’s going to hear about this. She’ll recognize herself somewhere and that’s professionally uncomfortable.