Neon Bar Signs

Neon Drinks Signs

Having décor linked to drinking is an obvious choice for both a home bar and a commercial bar. It could be something as simple as an image of beer bottles or a cocktail glass. Using the names of popular drinks to decorate a bar has been a common sight. Having neon logos of drinks such as Miller Lite, Budweiser, Coors, Jack Daniels, and Guinness on the walls of a bar are familiar sights.

Types of Bar

There are lots of different names for drinking establishments. Some come from historical references, while others refer to locations or the main type of alcohol offered.

Historical Bar Names

Bars are so-called in reference to the countertop where drinks are served. Bars are often called pubs in the UK. Pub is an abbreviation of Public House, a term that has been in use since the 17th century when Samuel Pepys called pubs “the heart of England”. They were called Public Houses as they were open to everyone, unlike a private house or club where you need an invite or to be a member.

We got the word tavern from the Romans, and from the Anglo-Saxons, we got alehouse. Since medieval times, inns and hostelries combined offering overnight accommodation with bars serving drinks and food. A taproom was initially part of a brewery but could also refer to any bar serving beer on tap. The phrase beerhouse was also used in the 1800s in England. Most of these terms are no longer commonly used.

From more recent times, especially in America, we get words such as saloon, speakeasy, and roadhouse. A saloon bar was originally part of a pub with more comfortable seats and higher prices where the more well-off drinkers spent their time. In the American West during the 1800s, a saloon was where cowboys did their drinking. A speakeasy was a bar that illegally sold alcohol during Prohibition. A roadhouse is a bar on the main road, usually outside of the city limits, so not subject to the city’s regulations.

Bars Names by Location

As may seem obvious, a beach bar is a bar on a beach. Usually, in a warm climate, these bars can be a simple counter with drinks or serve elaborate meals at tables along with drinks. A pool bar usually has underwater stools, and you can swim up and order a drink without getting out of the water, again popular in hot weather. A rooftop bar is usually somewhere with a great view, often on the top floor of a hotel in a city.

Slang Names for Bars

A local is a typical English expression for a pub, usually close to where you live, that you visit regularly. The watering-hole is a term for a bar, usually visited by people finishing work, likening workers unwinding to animals congregating at water sources in the wild. The nineteenth hole refers to a bar on a golf course that players visit after finishing playing a game, as the average course has eighteen holes.

Many countries had local idioms for bars that sold drinks in ways against the law and that are still in use today. A shebeen was an Irish word for a place to drink illegally but is now often used in South Africa. A sly-grog shop is an Australian phrase for somewhere to buy alcohol illegally.

Themed Pub Names

A sports bar is a modern concept and usually refers to a bar that has several large screens showing different sports. A gastropub offers drinks, but the main focus is serving high-quality food. An Irish pub is mainly used in America to refer to a traditional bar serving Guinness and Irish whiskey and often has live music. A tiki bar has a décor based on cliched ideas of South Sea culture, although the word tiki comes from the Maoris in New Zealand. They tend to have lots of bamboo, tribal masks, crudely carved stone idols, grass skirts and flower garlands decorating the bar, and they serve cocktails, lots of cocktails!

Bar Names by Drink Type

Many bars are named after the kind of alcohol they predominately serve. So you can find wine bars, cocktail bars, champagne bars and vodka bars. Interestingly, gin bars have several specific names, including gin joint and gin palace. Usually, these bars will serve other types of drinks as well as the one featured in their name.

If you have a home or garden bar combining any of these alternative words for a bar with your name can make a fun neon sign, for example, ‘Jo’s Gin Palace’, ‘Sam’s Speakeasy’ or ‘Welcome to Chris’ Tavern’.