Pub Sign Study The Phoenix Hazel Grove Stockport
@arthurchappell (45002)
Preston, England
January 9, 2019 10:37am CST
The cliché about rising from the ashes like a Phoenix is rooted in mythology. The Greek myth belief in a bird that dies and literally resurrects from the charred remains of itself (every 500 years) rather than giving birth to the next generation is very well known.
The idea has inspired a great deal of fantasy fiction. The X-Men character Jean Grey is reinvented as the Phoenix, or Dark Phoenix, a hero with so much power that she becomes a threat to everyone.
A friendly Phoenix plays a key role in the Harry Potter books, especially the fifth book and movie in the series, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix.
A pub called The Phoenix is usually built on the site of a previous pub, or a new pub started on the proceeds of a failed former business.
Some businessmen purposely push a business into insolvency and use the money saved to start a new one under a new name, a practice sometimes called Phoenixing.
The Hazel Grove sign is quite beautiful, capturing the bird as it is about to succumb to the flames or as it emerges anew from the inferno. It is a bright, colourful image that captures the majesty and miracle of the bird without the horror of it being roasted to death.
The pub itself has now closed down.
Arthur Chappell
9 people like this
9 responses
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
9 Jan 19
A Phoenix also appears in a E Nesbit book but right now can't recall the name.
That is a beautiful sign
4 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
9 Jan 19
@responsiveme The Phoenix And The Carpet (1904 - not one I have read)
2 people like this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
9 Jan 19
@arthurchappell yes, thanks. It's one of her trilogy beginning with, Five children and it. She was one of the first children authors who introduced the concept of magical reality.
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@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
9 Jan 19
@responsiveme Saw the BBC TV version of 5 Children & It which was great but the film was rubbish. Loved the book and film of The Railway Children
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@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
9 Jan 19
That is striking. Practically glows. What happens to the signs when a pub closes? No pub sign museum in the UK?
4 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
9 Jan 19
@responsiveme Many are sadly simply destroyed or stolen - breweries do reclaim them sometimes when they own the pubs. A few breweries do have display rooms of their old signs
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
24 Jan 19
@JWMILLER there are a few books on pub signs - not an exclusive for me by any means
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@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
10 Jan 19
yes it would be grim to see the bird die
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@JWMILLER (3280)
• Westmoreland, Tennessee
24 Jan 19
but it is an interesting legend, about starting over, again and again
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
24 Jan 19
@JWMILLER yes, in many ways we do start afresh, sleep and then wake up for one thing
2 people like this
@xander6464 (40826)
• Wapello, Iowa
9 Jan 19
It's fascinating that a whole business model has been inspired by the Phoenix.
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@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
11 Jan 19
yes, many companies use it as a loophole for take the money and run policies and to hell with the workers left in the rubble
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
11 Jan 19
@xander6464 yes, take the money and run is the way it often goes, it's like The Producers, played out for real - a lot less funny for everyone affected
2 people like this
@xander6464 (40826)
• Wapello, Iowa
11 Jan 19
@arthurchappell It happens a lot here but not so much with bars. It's usually factories and there is a big American twist to it, the vultures just drain the money, they don't reopen anything on the ruins.
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