Inns, alehouses, and taverns have played a key role in English culture, not only during Shakespeare’s time, but throughout the history of England.
In Elizabethan England, they didn’t have much in the way of entertainment. A person could stay home and do things like embroider, write letters, or read (Secara). Or they could go out to the “Bear Pit” (Secara). According to a website dedicated to detailing life in Elizabethan England:
Bear baiting consists of letting a pack of crazed hounds loose on a chained bear, and watching from a safe distance while the beasts fight. Very popular. Almost as much fun as a public hanging. Even the Queen thinks this is great fun. One of the most famous of these bears is called Sackerson. (Secara)
Another activity in Elizabethan England was theater. People could attend the theater for a small price, and watch a performance. One may wonder what it would have been like to attend a play in that time period. Not much like it is today:
Remember, this is in the afternoons, since there is no artificial lighting. Young gentlemen of appearance can, for an extra fee, have their chairs put right up on the stage. There is a different play every day; perhaps 4-6 plays in a repertory season. There are no playhouses until 1576; the performance is very likely in an inn yard. Ladies attend, but are usually veiled or in masks. (Secara)
Another recreational activity (possibly one of the safer ones) for Elizabethan England was going to the local tavern, and having a few drinks. For the most part, the lack of other worthwhile things to do lead to the rise of taverns.
So it is understandable that Shakespeare’s works would feature taverns. It is also understandable that Shakespeare himself may have frequented taverns. The Boar’s Head, in particular, was a tavern that Shakespeare was linked to. Certain groups of people feel that the Boar’s Head was a respectable establishment, prior to Shakespeare including it in his work. According to Henry Shelly:
Shakespeare’s pen dispelled any atmosphere of respectability which lingered around the Boar’s Head. From the time when he made it the meeting-place of the mad-cap Prince of Wales and his roistering followers, down to the day of the Goldsmith’s reverie under its roof, the inn has dwelt in the imagination, at least as the rendezvous of hard drinkers and practical jokers. How could it be otherwise after the limning of such a scene as that described in Henry IV? That was sufficient to dedicate the Inn to conviviality forever. (2)
Needless to say, certain people feel that the Boar’s Head Tavern was once a respectable establishment, and Shakespeare ruined that reputation.
To continue on, we need to dig in to the history of these establishments. Also, I suppose that the terms “inn,” “alehouse,” and “tavern” need to be defined, because they are not interchangeable, even though they are often used as such.
An inn was a place where weary travelers could stay, and they usually provided food. The word “inn” meant room, and it was a public room available for people to stay in. In the dictionary, an inn is defined as “A public lodging house serving food and drink to travelers; a hotel” (www.dictionary.com). People could stay at inns overnight. They were an early form of modern day hotels.
The old name for a public house, or “pub,” was a tavern (Dolan, chapter 3.2.2). Taverns generally provided food and drink, but to be known as a tavern, they had to sell wine. It took a special license to sell wine, and if an establishment had that license, it was known as a tavern. Establishments which did not sell wine, but did sell other alcoholic beverages subsequently became known as alehouses and in some instances, beer houses. In the sixteenth century, they came to be called public houses, and eventually this was shortened to “pubs” (Dolan, chapter 3.2.2).
The first taverns appeared in England when the Romans arrived (Bowie). The Romans dubbed them “Tabernae,” after similar establishments back home (pubs.com). They were initially built to furnish food and beverages for Roman soldiers, and they were built throughout England. When the Romans pulled out of England, they left them behind, and the taverns would eventually become a prominent part of English culture.
It was too big of a part of the culture, according to some of those in power. As early as the 7th century, the number of ale-sellers in England was restricted by Ethelbert, the King of Kent (pubs.com). In the year 965 C.E., another King of Kent, Edgar decided that there were too many establishments of this kind and decreed that every village would be equipped with exactly one alehouse or tavern, and no more (Dolan, chapter 1.1). But, this also meant that villages without this kind of establishment were able to justify building one. It was at this point that the taverns and alehouses were no longer an extravagance for a small village, but a necessity.
