What does CityPubs.co.uk consider to be a Pub

TB - April 2026

Being CityPubs, it feels both appropriate and necessary to set out what constitutes a “pub” in today’s ever-blurring hospitality landscape. This is a deliberately simple definition and of course there will be exceptions which stretch and break this but this isn’t the Appellate Committee is it now!

It needs to be considered in the mix of words below that todays Pubs, Bars and Bar Restaurants need to be nimble and pragmatic, being tuned more towards lunchtime food rather than lunchtime drinkers. Having said that, there are a few locations where drinkers are the predominant visitors. If a venue describes itself as a Bar Restaurant, it may well qualify as a pub. Reverse the order to Restaurant Bar, however, and it falls outside that definition.

Put plainly, a pub is a place where you can walk in and order a beer without hesitation, discomfort, or the expectation of being seated for a meal. It is, above all, a space that welcomes the drinker first.

“There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn” - Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)