Not all pubs exist in the real world. Or in some cases at least, not as we know them. I’ve been insanely busy this week so I didn’t have a chance to head out and find a pub to paint, so I took a more fantastical route and put my imagination to work instead. So therefore, in my mind, I took a stroll down to Ankh Morpork, premier city on the Discworld, and set up my easel on Filigree Street, outside The Mended Drum.
The Mended Drum (which used to be The Broken Drum) is a rather infamous tavern that appears in several Discworld novels from the late, great Terry Pratchett. It’s one of those locations that we can all picture in our heads once we’ve read the books, and everyone will have a different idea of what it looks like. This is just my idea and I imagine a lot of people won’t like it because they have a different idea of it in their heads. But I can’t describe it as well as Mr Pratchett so I shall allow him to sum up this unique venue:
“It might be thought that the Mended Drum, scene of unseemly scuffles only an hour ago, was a seedy disreputable tavern. In fact, it was a reputable disreputable tavern. It’s customers had a certain rough-hewn respectability – they might murder each other in an easygoing way, as if between equals, but they didn’t do it vindictively. A child could go in for a glass of lemonade and be certain of getting nothing worse than a clip round the ear when his mother heard his expanded vocabulary” – Sourcery
I think that sums it up quite nicely. I gave it that misshapen look that the also late Josh Kirby, who did the art for so many of Pratchett’s books when I was young, liked to employ. As I remember the bar is down some stairs as you entered so I didn’t think it needed upper floor windows. There’s a useful axe propped up outside on the street, and a weathervane featuring the directions of a Discworld compass to help put it in place, and a spilled pint helps to inform the viewer which way the wind is moving. This was a fun little project to work on and I may well do more fantastical taverns and made-up pubs in the future. Next week, normal pub painting service is very likely to resume.
Actually, thinking about it, we have plenty of fictional and fantastical pubs to choose from. From the Rovers Return on Coronation Street to Paddy’s Pub that features in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and of course Boston’s own Cheers (which does exist in real life, though I don’t think Sam and Diane ever really worked there). Who knows what the future holds? When I want to give my imagination a run out, there are plenty of options. Cheers!
Ye Olde Pub Painter 