Why English pubs have signs
In 1393 Richard II issued a statute requiring anyone who brewed ale for sale to hang a sign outside the house. The purpose was practical. Local officials known as ale-conners tested the quality and measure of the ale, and they needed to know where it was being sold.
The earliest sign was an ale-stake, a pole put out from the door, often with a bush or a bundle of leaves tied to the end. The proverb “good wine needs no bush” comes from the practice: a house with a good reputation did not need to advertise.
From pole to picture
As towns grew, a bush was no longer enough to tell one house from another, and publicans began to hang painted boards. Most customers could not read, so the names were pictures. Many are heraldic, such as the Red Lion, the White Hart and the Crown. Others refer to trades, to local landowners or to coaching routes.
The public house as a category is later and is a legal one. In English law an alehouse, an inn that lodged travellers and a tavern that sold wine were separate things with different licences, and the common word “pub” only became general in the nineteenth century. The sign is the part that has lasted. Many pubs still hang one from a bracket over the door.