While heading to the George and Dragon in Clifton, Cumbria, I got to thinking about how rarely this once common pub name gets doled out nowadays. Noble Saint George, battling some sort of ferocious lizard to protect a princess, or something; the details have always been hazy. Anyway, George and his dragon have had their day. It’s much safer to call your new venture something along the lines of Moodz or Fantazee Bar; words with deliberate typos to denote the madcap mood inside: cocktails in fishbowls, plastic “greenery” on the walls, someone playing a “DJ set” off a laptop while their friends film the crowd on their phones, and the crowd films the DJ. Such fun.
Absolutely none of this happens at the George and Dragon, and has not done for centuries. Imagine The Woolpack on Emmerdale Farm circa 1985, but with its own delightful collection of paintings and artefacts from Tudor and Stuart times, plus three wood fires and lots of cosy spots in which to settle. The walls teem with quaint farm, field and local cultural artefacts, and hammer home that this is a very old pub, tastefully restored in 2008, but decidedly unspoiled.
