Before Tom gets on to the Pub Of Failure, here is some information sent in by friend of the site Alex Thompson on the mystery of the Blue Posts name. (I rather like the sedan chair hailing stop explaination which I have a terrible feeling I may have invented myself a couple of years back). Alex is supposed to be in town this Friday when we attempt the BP summit again. If anyone else is interested in joining us for a pre-Christmas Publog pub crawl – e-mail me. Be warned, we will be operating the Weakest Link pub crawl rules. Anyway, over to Alex.
“Two Blue Posts facts gleaned from the internet yesterday. There do appear to be a lot of Blue Posts pubs in the rest of England, so the explanation is reasonably credible. I should have better things to do, frankly. Oh arse, I do… Alex
From the entry on “British Pub signs” in Prof. Albert Harbottle’s Encycoclopaedia [sic] of Brilliant Things.
“Some are obviously related to their location; The Railway, The Bowling Green, The Ship etc. There are four pubs in Soho, London called The Blue Posts; blue posts used to mark the extreme edges of the hunting area, for which Soho was used before it became built-up.”
http://www.redrival.com/harbottle/pub.html
According to the Fierce Panda website the label was founded in a pub called the Blue Post on Tottenham Court Road which has since been knocked down and replaced with a Boots.
http://www.fiercepanda.co.uk/panda_pages/panda_pubs.htm”
Can I urge everyone (this is Pete again by the way) to look at the Fierce Panda pubs as they seem thoroughly good choices (especially The Village in Walthamstow). I remember the Blue Posts on Tottenham Court Road and a sleezier, more unpleasant pub you could not imagine. It looked a bit like a Wild West Saloon after the brawl – if you get my drift.