Why are pubowners called landlords in the U.K.?
I just came across the fact that Brits call the owners\operators of their pubs landlords, (on the new show "The Reluctant Landlord"). Being from the USA I am only aware of the term landlord being used to refer to the person you pay your rent to if you are renting a house, apartment/flat or shop etc., not a hotel or motel (and I love British humor\television shows and movies). Anyway it got me thinking: why is that?
A ‘public house’ is a kind of bar in the UK that originated as a ‘house’ that was ‘public’. In other words, it was a house (looong ago!) where the owner had his friends round for drinks and food, and ended up turning it into a business.
These were the original’ taverns’ - houses where you could stop for food and drink, often while travelling, and so they would be adjacent to the newly made straight Roman roads which first connected parts of the UK, way back when. It was literally ‘someone’s house’ - where you could stop - and they gave you food - so you could continue your journey (without starving!)
As well as meaning ‘someone who runs a pub’, a ‘landlord’ in England is also someone who owns the title to land, houses and property. It also refers to someone who rents out such property. You do not, any longer, need to be an actual ‘lord’ or titled person of any kind, to do this.
In 1393 legislation was passed requiring signs to be displayed outside such ‘public houses’ so they could be recognised easily (and I’m sure, taxed). This would be the beginning of legislation to control and tax ‘pubs’ and oversee the quality of ale, etc.
The ‘landlord’ back then, would be the person owning the land on which the public house sits. Way back, this may indeed have been a ‘lord’ but these days, most usually a ‘landlord’ is any person who owns the title to property. It also refers to a person who owns property that one rents.
That person’s permission would have been needed, to run the ‘pub’ on their property. Or they themselves might have been running it. So they would legally be ‘the landlord’ of the pub, and the building it’s running in. The boss, the person in control. ‘Can we stay late? - you’ll have to ask the landlord - he’s over there’.
The name ‘landlord’ has stuck, as the name of the person owning and/or running a pub. In that case he or she may nowadays just be a tennant of the property, or be an employee of a food and beverage company or chain, though some people do still own their own pubs independently.
2 meanings of Landlord:
- Landlord - owner of property and/or one who rents out property
- Landlord - person who runs a ‘pub’ in the UK
Question: Can a person be both ‘landlord’ of the pub property (ie they own the property) and ‘landlord’ of the pub? Answer - yes, but they don’t have to be.
History of the public house including it’s origin as a tavern in Roman times: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub
In the link below you’ll read how, hundreds of years ago, the ‘lord’ owned the ‘land’ and serfs or peasants who worked the land for him would be allowed to farm their own (very little, and not ‘enough’) food from a small strip of land. They also would build their own house on the land and pay him rent for ‘the use of the land’. This system underlies the foundation of our modern day governments, in case you didn’t know.
Origin of Landlord: https://spoa.com/the-concept-of-landlord-a-short-history-from-medieval-times-to-the-present/