Pub Sign Collecting FAQ
- arthurpeterchappell
- Dec 12, 2025
- 17 min read
Updated: Dec 16, 2025
Since around 2012, I have been an avid collector of inn sign photos, mostly taken by me. The following FAQ summarises what’s involved, by responding to questions I get asked about my hobby.
1/. What Is a pub sign? An advert that tells people that a property sells ales, wines and/or spirits for consumption on the premises. They serve the same purpose as shop logos, barber’s poles, the MacDonald’s Golden Arches, etc but as many pubs operate independently of one another, different signs helped to stop people getting confused between one pub and another and artists started making signs distinct and different to one another. The diversity of pub signage adds to their mystique and charm for me.
2/. How many pubs are there? Sadly less than there were even a few years ago, and pubs are closing at an alarming rate but there are still approximately 50,000 licensed pubs in the UK.
3/. Do I drink in every pub visited? No, it would be impossible (even if drinking non-alcohol). In a big town or city, I can take 50 or more photos of different pubs in a day. There is no way I or anyone could drink fifty beers (even half pints) in one walkabout. I usually make a limited number of pitstops on my walks, to take a rest after miles of walking, to use the toilets, etc, and then I usually treat myself to a beer. I never just use pub toilets and leave without making some kind of purchase. If I know a pub is famous or looks particularly interesting, or it has a recommendation as a good real ale provider I try that one out. I only drink halves to be able to visit more different pubs.
4/. Are there different kinds of pub sign? Yes, not just thematically. There are gallows pole signs, separated from the pub building but within its grounds, on an often ornate pole. These enable pubs that are set back from the road to make their presence felt for people who might otherwise walk by and not see the pub. Banner pole signs – a strip of signage stretched right across a road. Few of these remain, and it was the collapse of one in the middle ages due to it being too heavy (it dragged down the pub wall and killed four passing people) that led to the more traditional sign designs. Talking of which: The swinging sign – jutting from a pub wall, framed and designed to sway in the breeze which can help to catch attention and passing trade. Fixed signs – Bracketed top and base so it doesn’t swing about. Flush to the wall, banged up signs – These are simply pinned or glued directly to the pub wall, like paintings in a gallery. 3D signs – Instead of a flat picture, the sign might be embossed or carved or sculpted. A Red Lion sign might dispense with a picture of a lion and have a small, life sized or even giant lion hung up as its sign. Transparent signs – painted on glass, enabling the view through the signage to be at least partly visible. Double Sided Signs – Most gallows and hanging signs have the same image of both sides but there are signs with different pictures on each side so I always look round to check. Pictographic and Words Only Signs. Before adult literacy improved nearly all signs had pictures but no lettering. You might get a picture of a White Lion, but no ‘White Lion’ wording. Some signs maintain this tradition. Words only signs are the opposite. There is no picture, just the lettering, as that is cheaper and easier to create, often with the paint simply sprayed through stencil sets. Neon Signs - Horrible electronic, rare energy source draining signs that resemble seaside or Xmas illumination effects. Fortunately rare due to their expense.
5/. Why do pubs change their signs? Signs are rarely as old as the pubs. Inn signs are mostly done in oil on tin, with some resin coatings added to protect them from rain, but over time the elements do cause the paint to run or fade, and signs can wear out over about thirty years, ending up in need of restoration or outright repair. Some modern signs are done on plasticated canvas and stored digitally too for easy replacement or removal. If a pub changes ownership, between breweries, new signs and even new names may be quickly required.
6/. Why does the same sign sometimes appear on some different pubs? Some breweries simply clone and replicate a sign for use on different pubs. They might own a Red Lion bar in five different counties, so using the same image in each is simply economic. Sometimes, if an artist is asked to create a sign for a pub named after a famous historic figure, like for example, Queen Victoria, he might well look at available portraits and book illustrations of her, and when the image is out of copyright, recreate it verbatim. The duplicate signs may not be copying another pub sign, but the original portraiture. Visit the National Portrait Gallery in London and you will see the originals of hundreds of pub signs.
7/. How many signs have I collected to date? Hard to tell, as in many cases I have more than one image of a given pub’s sign, taken from different angles and when a sign has changed too. As I write this my master-list gives the figure as 11,761 images taken by myself. 44,000 to go.
8/. Are there other pub sign collectors or is it just me? There are many more collectors out there. The Inn Sign Society membership has around 300 listed collectors and there are doubtless several independents too.
9/. What happens to pub signs when the pubs close down or they get removed? Their fates are often regrettably unknown. Tied pub signs are legally the property of the breweries and may be taken into storage by them. Some breweries with public visitor’s centres have a museum gallery of signs from their pubs. Some may be taken as souvenir keepsakes by outgoing landlords (and landladies), or other staff, or donated to favoured customers. Others simply vanish. I have even heard horror stories of signs ending up dumped in rubbish skips or simply crushed with the rubble as a pub building itself is demolished by a wrecking ball. A few end up in museums. A minority of pubs hang their old signs up on walls inside the pub. Some signs stay in place even after the pubs close and get reopened as shops, houses, nurseries, etc, or even get demolished, leaving a sign on an otherwise unused stretch of croft or wasteland.
10/. Are all pub signs good ones? No, some can be disappointing, just as with any art, books, TV shows, etc. Of course, aesthetic appreciation is subjective. For me, bad signage includes a/. Words only when an image springs to mind. If a pub is called The King’s Head and doesn’t depict a king in a crown, why not? If the sign has faded, dirt encrusted, or cracked signage it just suggests bad maintenance that might indicate similar lack of care and attention within, in cellar and kitchen control too.
11/. Where do I go to get pub sign photos? All over the UK, in towns, cities and the countryside. I have even been over to Belfast (by flight) and captured signs there. Given time and money, I will happily look out for signs internationally too. It becomes an increasingly slow search. Finding signs close to home was and remains easy, as I travel round my home city all the time. I do that in Preston as I did across Great Manchester, where I lived until 2016. Locations further afield mean long bus/train journeys and often at least one night’s accommodation wherever I go. I usually don’t go somewhere exclusively to photograph signage, but exploit being somewhere for other reasons by extending my break to have time to take photos of pubs while I am there.
12/. What do I do with my photos once I get them? I put them on my computer ASAP. I rename them with the pub name, and town-city too. I then make a secondary list of the ones I think I can use in articles and feature or talks. Some of these are cropped to remove background details and centre on the sign itself (with some of the framing and wall bracket if that is also impressive). A third folder captures shots of many of the pubs themselves. I also take shots of many pub porch lamps, date bricks, external reliefs and any plaques giving stories or histories of to the property. When I go in the pubs, I take photos (with permission requested and granted) of the interiors too. I also create folders for pubs I have been in, 3D signs, unusual boards outside pubs, window art, and themes for pubs including animals, mammals, fish, etc. Road transport, railway pubs, pubs believed to haunted, etc. I then copy the folder information to an external hard drive, and to the Cloud. I dislike using the Cloud but a few years ago an external hard drive crashed and frazzled hundreds of my photos irrecoverably. I then list the photos on my Excel lists, pub names, location, counties, if I have added the pub images too, if I have been in the pub, and brewery information, and if used in any of my features or books, etc. I add some images to my social network pages and send the best images to the Inn Sign Society too.
13/. Do I use photos sent to me by others? With permissions granted, yes in work aimed at publication, and any sent to me are carefully filed separately to my own photos. When used, images shared with me always carry the identity of the donator (except in a few cases where they request anonymity, which is itself acknowledged). If you have, or see any interesting inn sign images, do please send me copies. As I write I am particularly interested in signage relating to the Animal Kingdom, (excluding extinct, or mythical animals).
14/. Do I plan and prepare in advance for my pub sign collecting trips? Mostly yes, once I know I will be travelling to a town/city, I work out how much time I can apply to pub sign walkabouts, weather permitting. I then look online for details on the pubs in the given area. Pubs Galore list most pubs i a given area alphabetically so I copy a list of all those not seen or photographed by me so far. When going to big cities like Liverpool it can take multiple visits to get all the signs. London would take months to cover in its entirety. Having listed which pubs there are, I make a list of the streets they are on, and some streets may have more than one, with a high street having ten or more while a more remote little lane might just have one. I will then head for the larger concentrations. I then try to get hold of street guides and maps or book/online references to the pubs. Even one arrival in a town I look for tourist information places as they often provide free or low-priced maps of the town. Where possible, and time permitting, I also check out local libraries for details they have on pubs in their towns relating to the pubs there. I also look at good pub/beer guides and Trip-advisor reviews to help me make notes of the more interesting pubs historically and in their beer choices offered as these are the pubs I will choose from as to where to have a beer or some food during my walks, or visit for a longer drinking session after darkfall or if staying in the town overnight. Effectively, I prepare my explorations like a military campaign. Just wandering around randomly would lead to some pubs but many others would be missed out. Still rarely find them all in one go though.
15/. Is it an expensive hobby? Depends how far you want to pursue it. Once you have a digital camera, the biggest expense is likely to be travel costs once pursuing signs beyond your local transport range, possibly with one or more night of hotel/guest house accommodation too. For me, that adds to stationary and getting my hands on any literature I can relating to pubs and their signage.
16/. What do I learn about the pub signs? As much as possible. In some cases, I learn very little, but I seek out the date and origin of the pub and its name, the reason why it has that name and not others, its famous events, visitors, its quality as a pub, any ghosts, murders or other crimes linked to it, any use in films or TV shows, etc. The detective work goes on even when not travelling round with my camera.
17/. What Do I take with me when going pub sign hunting? My camera, spare batteries for it, notepads and pens, train/bus tickets, lists of pubs and streets where pubs are located, some cash, a book to read on my journey, addresses of train/bus stations and any accommodation I have booked, my phone – which also sports a camera, a packed lunch and drinks (non-alcoholic) for consumption on my walkabouts. I also take spare stoma bags and my lavatory access radar key as I may need to make medical adjustments during my walkabout adventures.
18/. Which artists created the signs? Many are created anonymously on commission by breweries or independent publicans. The sign writers may well be general artists who would just as happily design art for pawnbrokers, bakeries, etc. Sometimes, the artists do get to be known. Stanley Chew published a book of his best work. Pub sign journals have interviewed some sign creators over the years. The famous artist William Hogarth designed some pub signs too, but in most cases, the creators of such great street art remain unknown.
19/. What literature is there on pub signs? There is a quarterly journal called At The Sign Of... that comes from the Inn Sign Society to its members and subscribers. Sign features may appear in pub and brewery history publications and in pub appreciation societies, CAMRA magazines, and magazines from the breweries and pub-co's. Individual authors, including myself, have produced books on pub signs. The earliest study I am aware of is Jacob Larwood’s English Inn Signs from 1866, though the edition you are most likely to still find is the revised one from 1985. Many books I have read and most of them I own copies of, are listed here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/97090851-arthur-chappell?
20/. If I had a pub named after me what would I like to see on the sign? While it might be tempted to have my portrait on display I would probably have a heraldic sword and a foaming glass/tankard of ale on The Arthur’s Arms.
21/. Do I have a favourite sign? My favourites change frequently. The sign for The Wellington Inn in Preston is a favourite. It uniquely had a real wellington boot sawn in half and pinned to either side of the board. It has since been replaced with a more conventional portrait of The Duke Of Wellington.
22/. Do I give talks on pub signs? Yes, often. Some clubs and societies invite me to talk about pubs in their counties. In giving a talk to a science fiction convention audience on signs relating to the genre, I drew the attention of an attending publisher who commissioned my first book on the subject, Watch The Signs! Watch The Signs! (Shoreline Of Infinity Press 2019).
23/. What publications do I have on signs? The aforementioned book, Watch The Signs! Watch The Signs! Is my first full length publication, followed in 2024 by Pub Signs (Amberley Press). A third book is currently in preparation. I have features in various journals and newsletters too, and I have been on a few radio shows talking about my interests as well.
24/. How did I get interested in pub signs? I’d written a poem in the late 1980’s about a pub, (The Ben Brierly in Moston, Manchester, named after a famous Dialect poet) which included lines about its sign, so when I inherited a good digital camera after my step-father died, in about 2012, I decided to get a photo of the sign to illustrate my poem. Unfortunately, I was too late as the pub had closed (weeks before my visit) and its sign had been removed. However, I started to notice other pub signs and as I took a photo of one, The Piccadilly, in Manchester City Centre, it was like an exciting revelation to me and I started snapping photos of every pub I could get to very quickly. I’ve never stopped since.
25/. What web sites are there related to pub signs? The Inn Sign Society site is an obvious visiting point, https://innsignsociety.com/ Various individual collectors add signs to their blogs and photo collections. A search for pub signs and or inn signs on Pinterest will bring up many. Pubs Galore often includes the signs in its entries for most pubs in the UK. https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/ My pub Sign photos in Preston that appear on my Pinterest pages. https://uk.pinterest.com/arthurchappell/my-preston-pub-sign-pics/
26/. Are there rules to obey in pub sign collecting? Common sense rather than outright rules, obey the law and be polite to people. If going in a bar to look around or use the toilets buy something, even if it just a bag of crisps. Pubs need customer money to survive. Watch roads carefully before crossing them. Avoid aggressively drunken people. If taking photos inside pubs request permission first. If using images taken by other photographers, make sure they are fully accredited for it.
27/. Who invented pub signs? No one knows for sure but they are believed to have originated with the Romans. During their occupation of England they marked houses serving the best wines and ales by putting bushes and branches into wall and roof thatching to tell their friends it was a good, safe place to drink. Tin signage has been found in the ruins of Pompeii.
28/. Many pubs have no pub signs. Why not? In 1393, King Richard II made it legally compulsory for all pubs to bear an inn sign, in effect, a license to trade. Though never fully revoked, the law has fallen into disuse, and many pubs don’t display signage. Reasons can vary. A/. Hiring pub sign artists may be an expense the pub managers or brewery may not wish to invest in. B/. Signs can sadly sometimes get vandalized so publicans/brewers/brew-co’s decide not to replace them. C/. The pub feels it can draw enough trade without the addition of a sign. D/. Pubs in shopping malls or train/bus stations or airports draw big crowds of passing trade anyway. E/. A sign may be down temporarily for cleaning, maintenance, repair or replacement. F/. A change of ownership may mean the owner wants to get rid of references to a previous pub name, brewery logo (often added to a pub sign), etc, so the signage goes. Cafe bars and brewery taps like to consider themselves a new drinking experience and try to escape the (false) image of pubs as places for old men in cloth caps, so they often dispense with traditional signage to maintain their image, though they are just pubs when it comes down to it. Usually when the pub closes and ceases trading, the signage is taken down, but some pub signs remain long after the pub closes or even gets demolished.
29/. Can I always tell how old a pub or its sign is? No. Sometimes it is easy to find out if the pub has plaques or information boards describing its origins, or the information turns up in a local history publication. but some get it wrong or deliberately exaggerate their claims to make themselves seem more interesting than they actually are. A building date-stamp may say how old the property is, but it might not have always been a pub, but used as a shop, a police station, or a house. In some cases, a pub might have existed on a site but closed for many years before re-opening as a new pub with a new name or revival of the original one, but it now counts as being a currently active pub from the date it opened under its newest incarnation. Sometimes it is easy to approximate the age of a property, so a modern tenement block is clearly much younger than a Georgian coaching house but the exact origins of the pub may be harder to discover.
30/. Why this hobby for me and not another one? I have other hobbies too, cinema, performance poetry, reading, etc.
31/. Do I need permission to take pub sign photos? No, as they are external to the pub, and in full public view. If I see pub staff while taking photos I do ask them if it is alright as a polite curtesy, but no one objects or tries to refuse. Many publicans are interested in what I might be able to tell them about their signs and pubs. Some even treat me to beer as a way to thank me for my interest.
32/. Are there any dangers involved in pub sign photography? Not too many. Crossing roads to get to signs across a street, or sometimes in a very isolated spot surrounded by fast moving traffic can be tricky. Occasionally drunken individuals and gangs of drinkers might be around in which case it is best to skip that pub or area for another occasion. Watching the bus/train times to avoid getting stranded and facing an expensive/arduous return home is another useful precaution to take.
33/. Are there good times or days to get pub sign photos? Any time is acceptable though daytime and in strong daylight is best. Pub signs are often colourful and capturing them after nightfall drains or blurs the colours. Worse, many pubs also put lights on the signs which are switched on after dark and affect the colours. I find the best times are during the day, sometimes before a pub opens, and certainly before the natural sunlight fades. I dislike the Autumn / Winter seasons when the clocks alter so it goes dark much earlier than in the Spring/Summer seasons. I also find I prefer nice warm days with a clear sky than cold, cloudy, rainy or snowy days, which can not only affect the photos, but make the photographer uncomfortable too.
34/. Do I go alone or in company on pub sign walks? I prefer going alone on initial walks, unless I expect an area only has a few pubs to check out anyway. If going in company I often take the fellow travellers to areas I have covered before rather than virginal terrain. I find friends want to move at different paces, desire more breaks, get distracted by shops and other points of interest and end up slowing me down, so I end up only getting some of the signs I hoped to reach.
35/. Do I drive to where the pubs are? No, I prefer to go by public transport and walk round where the pubs are. I don’t drive at all (I have no license and never had a formal driving lesson). Also, if I had a designated driver, finding parking by pubs might not always be easy especially in areas with pedestrianized city centres. Constant stopping and starting and returning to the car and seeking fresh parking spots or often expensive car parks and parking metres would take more time than just walking. In a built-up area, I can cover much more ground on foot, and towns/cities will have multiple pubs clustered near to one another, with the number of bars thinning out in suburban and country regions. In Liverpool recently, I saw the local open top tour bus and even got handed a leaflet on its route. I had already walked round to most places on its journey, free of charge. No doubt such tours are great, but I can see a lot without a guide or additional expenses.
36/. How has my interest in pub signs affected and changed my life? In many ways. It immediately gave me a fresh interest that helped take my mind off my long term unemployment, and as I met other collectors and members of the Inn Sign Society, it gave me new friends. As I grew confident enough of my knowledge to give talks, I was able to tell more people about signs. It helped me to have something to identify myself with other than having been in a cult. (as did my time in The Sealed Knot battle re-enactment society). As I recovered from bowel cancer in the year of Covid lockdown, getting about to find more pub signs was an incentive for my survival push. With many signs rooted in Heraldry I have grown to study and love that too. My walkabouts also take me to many lovely towns, allowing me to meet very nice people, find delightful parks, impressive street art, statues, and war memorials, galleries and museums, etc, that I might have missed. It is much more to me than a growing stock of pretty pictures.
While I am a member of The Inn Sign Society, CAMRA and The Pub History Society, thoughts and views given here are entirely my own. All photos used here are taken by myself unless otherwise stated.
Links
The Inn Sign Society https://innsignsociety.com/
CAMRA (The Campaign For Real Ale) https://camra.org.uk/
The Pub History Society https://www.pubhistorysociety.co.uk/
Arthur Chappell
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