Pubs in THE Movies

PUBS IN THE MOVIES

BOB’S COUNTRY BUNKER – THE BLUE’S BROTHERS 1980

Where the ‘Blues’ band are mistaken for Country & Western combo, The Good Ol’ Boys, though they know only two country songs, Stand By Your Man and the theme from Rawhide.

BLUE OYSTER BAR – THE POLICE ACADEMY FILMS 1984-94

A recurring gag in the dire film series in which rednecks unwittingly find themselves in a gay bar environment.

BOTTOM’S UP – THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN 1974

A real Hong Kong ‘girlie’ bar Bond visits in the spy film

COYOTE UGLY – COYOTE UGLY 2000

A real life bar in New York, where bar staff dance on the bars in a raunchy way, soaking themselves in beer and with soda siphons for the amusement of customers. The film features a singer’s rise to fame and fortune as she performs there.

THE GREEN MAN – THE WICKER MAN 1973

The inn where Edward Woodward stays as he attempts his doomed investigation of a missing girl on the Scottish island of Summerisle. Here is  clearly being set up by the islanders for his looming sacrifice / execution.  The Green Man is a powerful occult figure in fertility ritual, sacrifice and renewal. Here the Christian cop struggles with his own faith and gets shocked by the surrounding decadence, avoiding seduction and temptations from Britt Eckland.

THE PRANCING PONY – LORD OF THE RINGS; THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING 2001

Bar visited by the hobbits at the beginning of their ring-quest, a bar where they draw unwitting attention to themselves but meet Aragorn too. 

SEVERAL BARS – THE KRAYS 1990

Biopic charting the rise and falloff the notorious East End London gangster twins in the 1860’s features several pubs. The Royal Oak, in Hackney, The Royal Oak in

Bethnal Green, and the Bacchus Pub in Hoxton, where the twins kill George Cornell (played by Stephen Berkoff).

SEVERAL BARS – 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE 2002 

Given that the film is about the Hacienda nightclub, that legendary Manchester venue features a great deal, though it is long since closed. Much of the action was filmed in studios. A few early scenes in the film feature Jilly’s Rockworld too, itself now also sadly no longer in use.

THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB – AN AMERICAN WREWOLF IN LONDON 1981

Classic opening pub scenes where the Americans disrupt the over-sensitive locals who are hiding the truth about the mysteries of the fog shrouded moors nearby. The pub staff and customers are just as guarded when the doctor, John Woodvine goes to the pub to try and uncover the truth later in the film. Cameos here by Brian Glover and Rik Mayall. Though set in Yorkshire, the pub scenes were done in The Black Swan, Ockham, Surrey.

THE STAR AND GARTER – THERE’S ONLY ONE JIMMY GRIMBLE 2000

A film about a boy’s passion for football heroes, Manchester City was bound to involve some pub references, and the real bar, The Star & Garter is frequented during the film.

THE THREE BROOKSTICKS – HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF ASKHABAN 2004

A pub in the Hogsmeade village where various characters meet and some adventures occur. Where |wizard children seem to discover drinking that would be regarded as ‘under-aged’ in the Muggle world too. Harry takes a strong liking to Butterbeer.

TITTY TWISTER – FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 1996

A sleazy strip joint that turns out to be a vampire nest – which would have thought it? The bar is used again in the prequel and sequel that were far less successful than the first film in the series.

THE WINCHESTER – SEAN OF THE DEAD 2004

Much of the film centres on Simon Pegg ‘s (Sean) efforts to get to the pub through the zombies taking over London, and once there, the pub comes under intense siege by the undead too.  The name may be inspired the Winchester Club in the TV series Minder, though the loaded Winchester rifle behind the bar comes in handy until the bullets run out. The Duke Of Albany pub in New Cross, used for the interior scenes in The Winchester, was later turned into flats, failing to capitalize on its potential cult status at all.

Arthur Chappell