Feline Fun is written/compiled by
Patrick Roberts
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The Live and Let Live is a town pub in the city of Guildford, Surrey in southern England. There are several pubs with this name scattered around the country, with their signs having different interpretations of the name — one I saw has a falcon and a pigeon sitting together. On this one notice not just the cat and dog, but also the mouse.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Aug 2007

Adding to the various signs featuring Dick Whittington and his cat, here is one from the Dick Whittington at South Oxhey, not far from Harrow Weald in the north-west of outer London. Apparently there is a legend in the area that in the 15th century Sir Richard Whittington owned what is now Oxhey Hall Farm, to the south of Watford town; that fact probably accounts for the choice of name for this pub.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Aug 2007

The Whittington Cat is a small pub situated in the main shopping street of the coastal town of Whitehaven, in the north-western English county of Cumbria. There is no pictorial sign (in 2007) and we do not know the connection, if any, with Dick Whittington or his cat.
Older sign, 2005, courtesy Inn Sign Society.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Oct 2007

The main street in the village of Egremont, also in the county of Cumbria, seems to boast a number of pubs, and one of them is The Cat.
Earlier signs dating from 1983 and 1990, courtesy Inn Sign Society.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Oct 2007

Fat Cat: the fifth pub of this name, with its fine sign advertising 'free mouse', has been brought to our attention by Peter Crosby and is in Colchester in south-east England. For some reason we hadn't heard of it before.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Jul 2008

Peter also kindly sent us signs from another pub near Colchester, the Live and Let Live at Stanway. There are three different signs, all including a cat. The one with the dog stands by the roadside, while a goldfish and a cockatoo are on opposite sides of a sign hanging on the pub itself.
Pictures of the pub
Signs photographed Jun 2008

This fine sign for the Half Moon at Whipton, near the south-western English city of Exeter, was photographed by Mr Denis Lewis of the Inn Sign Society, to whom many thanks.
Sign photographed Jul 2009

The Black Cat at Greenock in Scotland. Greenock, a town east of the city of Glasgow, on the river Clyde, has the only Scottish 'cat pub' that we know of at present. There isn't a pictorial sign.
Sign photographed Jun 2009

The Luckwell Hotel is a large establishment in the south-western English city of Bristol. The sign includes a black cat rubbing against the little boy, presumably indicating 'good luck'. The older sign (1978, courtesy of the ISS) has the same image as the Live and Let Live at Cotmanhay in Derbyshire.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Aug 2009

The Cat and Canary, Henfield. This West Sussex village pub was for a number of years renamed as the 'Old Railway Tavern'. However, by 2008 it had reverted to its previous name and boasts this fine sign. Thanks to David Roe of the Inn Sign Society for sending the image. You can read about the Cat House and the story behind the name as part of a Henfield virtual tour.
Sign photographed Jul 2009

The Cat and Mutton is a fine example of a large London town pub, situated in Broadway Market, not far from Bethnal Green in the east of the city.
Older sign (1993, courtesy Inn Sign Society).
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Jul 2009

The Cat Inn is located a little way south of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the border town between England and Scotland, just off the A1 (Great North Road) and near the village of Cheswick. Thanks to the Inn Sign Society for notifying us of this one and supplying the photo of the sign.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Apr 2009

The Fishergate Inn is a town pub on the outskirts of the Lancashire town of Wigan, itself now part of Greater Manchester. From the sign it looks as though the name derives from a former fish market, but we have been unable to confirm that.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Sep 2009

The Live and Let Live: there seem to be a number of pubs of that name and this is the third still open that we know of with a cat on the sign, which is double-sided. The pub is a small but lively town pub in Forest Gate, a district of east London.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Sep 2009