Cock Pit would once have been a venue for cock fighting. Ye Old Fighting Cocks in St Albans (which also claims to be the oldest pub in Britain) was originally the dovecote35) for St Albans Abbey. After the dissolution, it was realised that its circular shape made it a perfect venue for cock fighting. Just to confuse things, any pub called the Cock & Bottle has nothing to do with sport. It simply denotes that both bottled and draught beers36) were available.
由于当时大部分人都不识字，图画式的招牌便成为一种必要手段，用以宣传酒馆或酒馆里所提供的娱乐项目。如果酒吧的名字唤作“公鸡酒馆”或“鸡窝”，那它很可能曾经就是斗鸡的场所。位于圣奥尔本斯的“老斗鸡”酒吧(也号称是英国最古老的酒吧)原本是圣奥尔本斯修道院的鸽舍。修道院被解散之后，人们发现这一环形结构的鸽舍正是斗鸡的绝佳场所。顺便提一句，那些名为“公鸡和酒瓶”的酒馆可能会引起人们的误解，事实上这一名字和游戏娱乐毫无关系，只是表示该酒馆既卖瓶装啤酒，也卖生啤酒。
