Quick answer
We design pub logos for a fixed £129, every layout included. For a pub, the logo is not the hanging sign: it is the lettering, emblem and colours that tie the sign to the fascia, the chalkboard, the beer mats, the food menu and the Google listing, so the place locals have called by one name for generations looks like one pub everywhere.
This page is for traditional pubs, free houses, village locals, community-owned pubs and gastropubs where the pub itself is the brand. If you run a cocktail bar, late bar or club, our bar and cocktail bar logo guide covers neon, glassware and the door; if food is the whole business, see the restaurant logo page.
A name you inherit, not one you invent
Most landlords do not choose their pub’s name. The Red Lion, the Crown, the Plough and the Royal Oak were named long before the current licensee arrived, and you are unlikely to be the only pub with yours. That changes the job of the logo. It cannot rely on the name to be unique, so it has to carry the character of this particular pub: its building, its village, its history or its regulars.
- Look at the building. A distinctive gable, a bay window, a date stone or the shape of the old brewery lettering on the wall can become the emblem.
- Use the sign’s subject, drawn your way. A Plough can be drawn as a simple line of furrows, a Crown as three points; the picture stays on the hanging sign, the simplified version becomes the mark.
- Add the place. “The Bell” followed by the village or street name is easier to find on a map and in a search than “The Bell” alone, and a locality line under the name helps the logo work as an address.
Renaming a pub that locals have known for years is a big step. Most refreshes are better done in the lettering and the colours, with the name left alone.
The hanging sign is a painting; the logo is not
A traditional pub sign is a picture, often hand-painted on both sides of a board and hung from a bracket over the street. It is a piece of folk art, and many signwriters still paint them. The logo does a different job: it is the lettering and a simple emblem that works on everything else, from a beer mat to a website header. The two should feel related, not identical.
A practical approach is to brief the sign painter with the logo’s typeface, colours and emblem, and let them paint the picture in that palette. The name can then appear on the sign board’s frame or a smaller board below in the logo’s lettering. That way the painted sign keeps its charm and the brand stays consistent. The fascia, the gable lettering and the car park sign use the logo itself.
What the advertisement rules say about a pub sign
In England, signs on buildings fall under advertisement control. GOV.UK’s guide to outdoor advertisements and signs explains which signs are normally allowed without applying; it dates from 2007, so confirm the current rules with your council. For signs on business premises, it says an unlit sign must not have its highest part above the bottom of the first-floor window or more than 4.6 metres above ground level. For lit signs on business premises, it describes a projecting sign of no more than 0.75 square metres, projecting no more than one metre from the wall, and says that allowance does not extend to conservation areas.
Pubs are often old buildings, some in conservation areas, and plenty of hanging signs are lit by trough lights. So before ordering a new sign or lighting, ask the council’s planning team whether you need consent, and mention it if the building is listed.
What it means for your logo: because a lit projecting sign may need consent, and the allowance stops at a conservation area boundary, the name has to read unlit as paint on a board under a dull sky, so the lettering is drawn heavy enough to read from across the road on a grey afternoon and treat trough lights as an extra, never something the design depends on.
Inside: the bar back, the chalkboard and the beer mat
Once people are through the door, the logo appears on far more surfaces than the sign. Plan each one before you print anything:
| Surface | Logo version | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Fascia and gable lettering | Horizontal, painted or in built-up letters | Long names on narrow fascia boards |
| A-board and chalkboards | Stacked, painted or a printed header | Chalk around it changes daily, so keep it clean |
| Beer mats | Icon or stacked, one or two colours | Absorbent board spreads fine lines |
| Food menu and specials sheet | Horizontal at the top | Printed in-house on an office printer |
| Staff polo shirts and aprons | Icon, embroidered | Small text fills in when stitched |
| Quiz, music and events posters | Horizontal or stacked | Made quickly by staff, so supply a template |
| Google profile and booking page | Icon on a solid colour | Circular crops cut off the corners |
The bar back is where the pub’s own brand competes with everyone else’s. Pump clips, fonts and fridge doors carry the brewers’ logos, so your mark needs to hold its own in a calm, consistent form: painted lettering on the mirror or a board above the optics, in the logo’s colours, rather than one more printed sticker. If a brewer makes a house ale for you, ask whether its pump clip can carry your emblem small beneath their design, which links the beer to the pub without redesigning anyone’s branding.
The A-board brings its own pavement rules, and our guide to A-board pavement sign rules covers them. For printed menus, our Menu Design service (£79 per side) lays out a food menu and a specials template from your logo.
Free house, tied house or community pub
Who owns the pub changes how much freedom you have with the brand.
- Free houses choose their own beer and their own look. The logo can lean into the beers you are known for, and the pumps on the bar become part of the brand.
- Tied and leased pubs often sit inside a pub company’s or brewery’s estate. Check your agreement and talk to your area manager before changing the sign or the fascia, because some estates control them.
- Community-owned pubs answer to a local group of members or shareholders. The logo appears on the share offer, the members’ newsletter and the annual meeting papers as well as the sign, so it needs to work in black and white on a photocopy.
What it means for your logo: on a tied or leased pub, get the estate’s sign and fascia rules before the brief, so we design the lettering and emblem to sit inside that format, on the board and bracket the estate already allows, rather than a scheme you would have to argue for.
Some pubs also have interiors of national importance. CAMRA’s heritage pubs guide, compiled by its Pub Heritage Group, identifies pubs with intact traditional interiors or features and rooms of national importance. If yours is one of them, the brand should sit lightly on that interior.
What it means for your logo: in a heritage interior the mark appears as small brass or hand-painted lettering in the logo’s typeface, never as vinyl across etched glass or original panelling, so the logo needs a lettering-only version that a signwriter can paint by hand.
Taking on a pub: what to settle before the new sign goes up
New tenants and owners often want a fresh look on day one, but the sign is the slowest and dearest piece to change, so settle the name and the logo before anyone books a signwriter. If you are rebranding after buying the business, our guide to rebranding after a purchase covers what to keep and what to change. When the switch happens, update the Google profile, the booking page and the social accounts on the same day, so searchers never see two names for one pub.
From the bracket to the beer mat for £129
Our Logo Design is £129 with all layouts: horizontal for the fascia, the menu header and the website, stacked for the A-board and the chalkboard header, and icon-only for beer mats, staff polos and the Google profile. You also get a single-colour version for the sign painter, the embroiderer and the photocopied newsletter, a 3D mockup, every file format, unlimited concepts and unlimited revisions within your brief. The copyright is yours on delivery. If you are planning a full refresh, our guide to pub website costs sets out the next step online, and other fees are on our pricing page.
Unveiling the new sign
Treat the sign as the last piece, not the first. Change the menus, beer mats, staff shirts and the Google profile over a few weeks, so regulars see the new look gradually and nobody thinks the pub has changed hands overnight. Book the sign painter for a dry spell in late spring, when the board can be taken down, painted and rehung in a few days, and use the rehanging as a reason for an evening at the pub. Customers rate us 4.8/5 Excellent. First concepts reach you within 48 hours of your completed brief, which leaves weeks to brief the sign painter before the board comes down. The name the regulars actually use is often the one worth drawing, so order your pub logo with that name in mind as well as the one on the board.
