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A recent letter to the 'Daily Telegraph' relates how Reading Corporation, during the war, showed the destinations of its trolley-buses only as pub names, to confuse the Germans, should they arrive.
Buses from Stratford or Alcester similarly marked would have had some strange destinations but immediately recognisable to locals. 'The Mother Huff Cap' at Great Alne, the 'Barley Mow' at Studley and the 'Fish' at Wixford might have confused unwelcome invaders for a time.
Our pub names are part of the heritage of our country: many of them spring from our history, national and local. What a pity, therefore, that some of the big breweries are scrapping the old names and substituting titles which are superficially clever or humorous but of no local relevance; the 'Froth and Elbow' in Stratford springs to mind. Which political party will include in its manifesto 'No public house may have its name changed without the consent of those who live and drink locally?'