Call it a Cock & Bull story but a disproportionate number of British pubs, bars and taverns have ‘cock’ in their name. What’s up with that?

Ye Olde Cock

While we’re on the topic, why don’t these outwardly manly establishments have any femininely-titled counterparts, as in “hen”… what did you think we meant? Anyway, the real reason England boasts so many “cock” pubs has nothing to do with salaciousness, Beavis- er, faithful reader, but for now feel free to feast your eyes upon one of the better known examples: Ye Olde Cock Tavern, on Fleet Street in central London.

It’s uncertain whether the famed 17th-century diarist Samuel Pepys really “drank a cup of Cock ale” at Ye Olde Cock Tavern, though he was known to frequent a number of watering holes in and around Fleet Street. Modern-day publicans should have no hesitation when it comes to getting their Pepys on, however, because what happens at Ye Olde Cock Tavern STAYS at Ye Olde Cock Tavern. Credit photographers quite peculiar, David, and nikoretro for posting the images above at their respective Flickr accounts.

The Famous Cock

Note, if you will, that Pepys wasn’t just enamored of any type of ale. No indeed! The er, barley literate wordsmith expressed a specific hankering for “Cock ale”… not that there’s anything wrong with that. He wasn’t the only Brit-brew-bro to feel that way, either, although with the passage of time the cocks have fled from the beer barrels to the pub signs. Ponder on that if you will, while you ogle Flickr member Ewan Munro‘s shot of The Famous Cock (formerly The Cock, and before that The Old Cock Tavern) near Highbury & Islington station in north London.

Cock O’ The North

So, just what WAS this bewitchingly “cocky” beverage that had the perspicacious Pepys, pen in hand, popping into pub after pub? According to Hannah Woolley, who wrote “The Accomplish’d lady’s delight in preserving, physick, beautifying, and cookery” in 1670, the standard recipe for Cock Ale called for infusing a boiled cock in eight gallons of ale along with raisins, nutmeg, dates, mace, and fortified wine for about a week. And by “cock”, she means “rooster”… that’s almost a relief! Flickr member crabchick brings us this September 2000 image of Cock O’ The North (since renamed the Westbury Park Tavern) from the very cocky city of Bristol.

Cock & Crown

One might say Cock Ale was chicken soup for the drunkard’s soul, and you wouldn’t be far off the mark. Sure, pickling a whole chicken in spiced beer may be weird (not to mention being a gross violation of the German Beer Purity Law of 1516) but the restorative qualities of such con-cock-tions were rather well known by the late 1600s. Flickr member Tim Green snapped the Cock & Crown tavern in Crofton, West Yorkshire, late in 2014.

The Fighting Cocks

Them’s fightin’ words… or fighting cocks, which strikes us as being illegal, unpleasant, and a lyric from ELP’s Karn Evil 9. In any case, a pint of cock ale would really hit the spot iffen you was a’fixin’ to do some fightin’. A case of cock ale, on the other hand, might have you fightin’ to get up off the floor. Seems like a textbook example of the Fight or Flight reflex in action, and the action’s happening at The Fighting Cocks pub in Moseley, Birmingham. Snapped by Flickr member Elliott Brown in December of 2009, this Grade II Listed building dates from the dawn of the 20th century and boasts its own integral cock tower. Make that CLOCK tower, dangnabbit!

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Fully Cocked 10 British Cock Pubs Taverns

These charming British shops and boutiques just couldn’t compete with big box stores but that’s not the only reason they’ve bitten the biscuit.

Why try owning and operating a store selling niche items when Asda (owned by Walmart), Tesco and of course Amazon can stock most of their inventory in a single aisle? While lower prices and greater convenience are welcome benefits of this socioeconomic transformation, the carnage inflicted on Britain’s shopping streets was, is and continues to be staggering. Take “Bling” for example… an abandoned East Yorkshire accessories boutique displaying (as of March 2010) only a broke-ass Venus de Milo surrounded by stripped shelving units.

Let It Go

“Fridges, Freezers & Fridge Freezers” could be a follow-up to Monty Python’s legendary Spam sketch – all that Spam, Spam, Spam, Baked Beans & Spam needs to be stored somewhere, amiright? The erstwhile owners of this Doncaster, West Yorkshire kitchen chillling appliances outlet at least had sufficient space on the facade to display their phone number… twice.

Priceless Characteristics

Allow us to state right here and now that all of our featured images were captured by Flickr member and urban landscapes photographer extraordinaire leon S-D (littleweed1950). We’ve cherry-picked from well over a thousand eerily beautiful images of closed and abandoned UK shopfronts including the befuddlingly-named “Characteristics and Electrotec” in Bridlington, East Yorkshire. That’s just off the charts, even for Quainte Olde Englande.

What the heck did this store sell (or at least TRY to sell), anyway? Radios, CBs, “Fancy Goods”… is that last one a euphemism for something? Who can put a price on “Characteristics”? Nobody now, it would seem. In any case, the photographer thought this shopfront was so nice, he visited it twice – in September of 2009 and again in January of 2013. Curiously, though the shop remained abandoned the facade was mildly rejuvenated with a coat of blue-green paint, thus improving its visual characteristics.

We All Float

“I’m going to need to stock up on unsinkable meats and produce,” said no one ever. Seriously, even the captain goes down with the ship and he’s not going to be upstaged by some leftover broccoli. You’ll find the bubbly former “Buoyant Foods” store in Town Centre, Grimsby, Lincolnshire where it looked rather grim in November of 2009.

Keep Us In Sus-Pants

Have you noticed that British real estate agents use the term “To Let” on their “for sale” signs? Have you also noticed the two-word phrase looks alarmingly like the one-word er, word “Toilet”? Even more so here in beautiful downtown Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, where the agent’s typical triangular sign leaves the former store’s name as “S-TY PANTS”. Now what could that really be, hmm? We’re sure the neighboring shop’s sign (“The POO”?) isn’t influencing our thoughts at all.

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Shopping Block 20 Deservedly Abandoned British Stores

Quintessentially British, this boutique suite sleeps six, features a wood-burning stove and much more, but perhaps most amazing of all: the vehicle remains road-worthy, despite its conversion to a sweet retreat.

The Big Green Bus was originally part of the west midlands metro transit system and purchased by its new owner (and renovator) Adam Collier-Woods for approximately $7,500 at auction on eBay.

The still-working bus, driven back into the countryside by its buyer (and moved around on demand), required more than $15,000 to be turned into a unique three-bedroom accommodation, including a functioning kitchen and bathroom facilities.

Currently set on a “glamping site in the heart of the Sussex countryside,” the bus has its “own decking area, a fire pit and all this next to a beautiful pond.” The rural property can accommodate extra campers for parties larger than six who wish to enjoy a stay. In addition to pantry essentials (tea, coffee, milk, herbs and olive oil), logs for the fire pit or stove are available on request.

More from its maker and operator about its present location: “A gorgeous 15 minute walk away through country lanes to Chiddingly is the Six Bells pub, a classic traditional country pub, luring all sorts of music, poetry and arts lovers to its various festivals. Brighton is close by too with all its various charms, is 25 minutes drive down the road, or leave your car at Glynde and take the train. Lewes has more trains per hour, Make sure you get to the Lewes Farmers Market on the first Saturday morning of every month.”

Known for its naval power, England has a great many leftover army and sea forts. Some have been turned into private islands, radio station or micronations, but this one has been made into a museum and luxury resort.

The Spitbank Fort was the result of an 1859 Royal Commission and is located in the Solent, near Portsmouth, England. Though its purpose and wares shifted somewhat over time, it was aimed at protect British shores from both sea and (eventually) air attacks.

The structure remained an operational military island for a full century before being decommissioned in the late 1900s as obsolete.

Five million dollars worth of renovations later, the structure is now a hybrid of its original architecture and engineering and added luxuries including (but not limited to) hotel rooms, bars, restaurants, libraries, saunas, sun decks and swimming pools.

Day and overnight guests alike can enjoy breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner in the cozy brick interior or with a 360-degree exterior vista above.