Pub Sign Study The Pig And Whistle Heywood Manchester

Tweet

A lovely fun sign depicting a very happy pig driving a locomotive and tooting the whistle. He is dressed in an engine driver’s uniform. Beats being turned into bacon. The Pig And Whistle is a name used on quite a few pubs, (about 16), many of which have signs depicting the pig dancing and playing a tin-whistle flute. The name, unlike many pub signs, is mysterious and there are conflicting theories of its origin. The phrase ‘going to pigs and whistles’ refer to going to ruination, perhaps madness or / and bankruptcy, and getting too partial to the grog might well cause that, but few pubs would want a name that promises to ruin the customers. The phrase was first penned in a poem from 1681, Samuel Colvil's Whiggs Supplication. However there were few Pig & Whistle pubs even in the 19th century There is a drinking vessel called a Sussex pig, a kind of tin tankard. One claim is that manor house servants, and early bar staff, sent to the cellars to fetch a pig of ale or wine for guests and customers, had to whistle loudly while out of view by his supervisors and senior staff so they could tell he wasn’t drinking the alcohol himself. There is virtually no proof of this though. Pig may be a mishearing of peg. Drinking vessels were stored by hanging them on pegs by the handles and pegs were set on drinking barrels and glasses to measure levels, often to watch that no stock was being drunk or siphoned off by staff. A peg drinking system was used in medieval times too, with drinkers warned not to drain a tankard or wineskin beyond a set peg level. Whistle might refer to actual whistles, used to signal bar closing times or that drinks ordered are ready for collection. There is also a folk singing tradition known as Wassailling. This could also lend itself to Pig & Whistle pub names. Whatever its origin, the name has inspired some impressive signs, especially this one. Arthur Chappell