Once upon a time there were taverns and inns all across the UK . Inns were basically rest houses, the forerunner of hotels that served travellers.Taverns were largely drinking dens in market towns. The famous pub sign was simply a way of identifying different taverns by displaying something the largely illiterate customers could recognise. Finally, in the early 19 th century order was imposed on these largely ill-disciplined places of bawdry and worse. Any establishment selling alcohol required a licence, and those which sold it for consumption on the premises were deemed to be public houses, since they were open to the public. Needless to say the mouthful public house soon became shortened to the "pub."
There has also been argument about what exactly makes a "pub" so different. Basically there are several factors and the most obvious is the bar, which is the focal point. Less obvious is that until comparatively recent times pubs were about only drinking and socialising. Food only came along in recent times. Pubs have also tended to be very individual and the customers are mainly regulars. In most villages with several pubs, a customer will normally be loyal only to one! The UK pubs also are as much about standing as sitting. A good boozer is full of people standing and chatting with a pint in one hand. And these differences are what made the pub distinct from the bars in the rest of the world.

The real pubs of Thailand
The phenomenon of pubs has now travelled around the globe, bastardising the concept as it went. However, the basic idea is still there. This site is about those places in Thailand that we judge to be a pub in the true sense. To a certain extent that requires an English speaking management, a good bar, a proper name and an allegiance to the pub concept. If you walked into a real pub nobody would greet you with sawadi krap . They would probably say "What the heck do you want!" or other earthy words to that effect.