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; checked Oct 2011

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; checked Oct 2011

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 at a page formerly at the Henfield Parish Council site, now only available at the Internet Archive.
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

The Three Tuns: this is a picturesque, thatched country pub in the village of Bransgore, Hampshire in southern England. A tun is a large beer cask — and there's a black cat sitting on top of one of the three shown on the sign.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Oct 2010

The Nag's Head. So where are the cats? There isn't any pictorial sign at all for this pub in the village of Walthamstow, east of London — but there are paintings of four cats on the façade, because this is a cat-friendly pub. The image of the black cat at the left (see enlargement) is a tribute to the late former pub cat Blackie Puss, who also has a splendid mosaic in his honour behind the pub. The tabby represents Billie (a female), who is the current pub cat, while the others represent some of the local cats who tend to wander in with their owners. Notice, too, the cat image on the door; there is also one in each of the upstairs windows. In 2009 a four-day cat-themed beer festival was held here, featuring ales such as Manx Bitter, Cheshire Cat and Black Cat.
Thanks and acknowledgements for the photos are due to The Cat magazine of Cats Protection, and in particular Tom Briggs.
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Nov 2009

The Dog and Duck is a well-thought-of country pub at Campsea Ashe, near Woodbridge in the eastern English county of Suffolk. You have to look hard to see the cat on the sign, but it was well spotted (under the bench) by Peter, to whom thanks for sending in this one.
Picture of the pub (courtesy of 'hastingsgan' at Webshots)
Sign photographed Oct 2010

The Cat and Cage, Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland: not in Britain — unless we take that to mean the British Isles — but we think this Irish pub deserves a mention for the unusual name, although there's no pictorial sign. Thanks to Garret Redmond in the USA for the photo of the signboard (via an Irish relative).
Picture of the pub
Sign photographed Sep 2010

The Mother Redcap, Luton. It's thought that the name of this pub might derive from an old, generic name for an ale wife, dating from 16th-century folklore or even earlier. An ale wife was simply a woman who kept an alehouse.
Sign photographed Jun 2011 by Ken Whippy, courtesy of the ISS