In a Widnes pub t'other week I met two lovely baby guinea pigs at the bar and all the punters enjoyed having them about so why do people generally dissaprove of beasts in pubs?
At the end of the day we are all animals so I see no reason against opening the doors of public houses to our furry friends. In yet another Widnes pub a black and white cat befriended me, rubbing against my legs, pandering for a stroke and a tickle under the chin, he even followed me out of pub when the mild had been drunk.
No doubt some folk will plead allergies, it seems a new fashion to claim that certain things you don't like eating or touching or being within 20 miles of will leave you bed-ridden and diseased. Peanuts are still eaten in pubs and people manage so they would survive inhaling fumes of dog hair.
There are still good working-class boozers dotted around the rest of Lancashire where locals are allowed to bring there dogs in and other punters on the whole are comfortable with this and often make a fuss of the hound. Strangely though a Yorkshireman once came into a pub with a lovely yellow Labrador but the fellow got a bit narky when folk stroked his animal and tried to avoid the other tipplers as best he could, a strange strategy to pursue when you enter a PUBLIC house though I suppose there's nowt as queer as Yorkshire folk.
A pub mascot that seems to have disappeared is the caged bird despite the fact talking parrots always entertain, perhaps we could stop pubs closing by putting animal mascots in to attract custom as long as they're are looked after as I wouldn't advocate going back to having dancing bears at the tavern door. I was once exposed to a foreign rag from Northumberland which contained an article about a horse coming in for a drink of beer with one of the local farmers so if you have any stories about strange animals in pubs please leave a comment I'm sure folk would be interested to hear about them.
