Listicle | Literary Settings

Fictional Literary Pubs That You Would Patronize

Toast your favorite drink with some beloved book characters

Authors throughout time have always written about the human condition.

Much of the joys and the turmoil of life occurs in bars and pubs around the world. The word pub is, of course, short for public and it is not surprising that much of life is lived out in public.

So, it is not unexpected that most of the literature that we enjoy have references to inns, bars and pubs.

Here is a short list of some famous bars found in various works of literature that you might like to frequent.

The Tabard Inn

Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

If your planning on going on a long journey, the Tabard Inn is a good place to stop and meet your fellow travelers before you set off.

The Bar at Millways

Douglas Adam’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

This isn’t the easiest bar to get to. It takes a long time to get reservations and you have to use, of course, time travel to get there.

But, once you get to Milliway’s, you do get a view of the end of the universe. So, there is that.

If you prefer a pub a little closer to home and easier to get to, The Horse & Groom would be more to your liking. It was Arthur Dent’s earthly watering hole before he hung out his towel to travel.

The Green Dragon Inn

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit

If you want to hang out with some Hobbits for a drink or snack between second breakfast and elevensies, the Green Dragon Inn is the place for you.

The Hog’s Head Inn

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

The Hog’s Head is a somewhat dodgy place to enjoy a butterbeer, but the characters of the book do find themselves here occasionsly.

Surprising for a children’s series, the Hog’s Head isn’t the only pub frequented in the books. One can also find butterbeers at the Leaky Cauldron and the Three Broomsticks as well.

Korova Milk Bar

Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange

If you are not into alcohol, perhaps Burgess’s Korova Milk Bar is the place for you. But be careful, the milk is laced with various hallucinogens and other psychedelic drugs.

Spyglass Inn

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island

One of a handful of inns that Jim Hawkins finds himself in during his grand adventure is the Spyglass Inn. Of course, later on in the book, he enters an even shadier pub, the Admiral Benbow Inn.

A Clean, Well-lighted Place

Ernest Hemingway’s short story by the same name

Perhaps one could enjoy a brandy with the lonely old man, the main character of Hemingway’s beautiful short story.

The place is not well-lit as in bright, but well-lighted as in smartly lit.

If you are lucky, you will be served by the older more patient waiter not the young waiter who is anxious to get off his shift.

The Three Cripples

Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist

If you want to lay low in a rather seedy joint, then The Three Cripples is what you are looking for.

It is also a lodging house filled with some not-so-nice people. But be careful if you are an orphan, there is a chance you may run into the criminal mastermind Fagin there.

The Overlook Hotel’s The Gold Room

Stephen King’s The Shining

Here, you can served by a ghost while sitting next to writer Jack Torrance who is taking a break from writing because, as Jack knows well, “all work and no play makes jack a dull boy.”

There are many, many more examples that one can find in literature with references to bars or pubs. It seems, it is almost harder to find a work of literature without any references whatsoever.

Pubs have been part of many of our daily lives for so long, it can be expected the writers will continue to work them in as important settings in their literary works.

For another article about where you can find some fictional bars: