Pumpclips: smut or smart?

For the last issue of CAMRA's quarterly magazine BEER, the 'Head to Head' column featured myself and Bailey from Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog debating the issue of punning pumpclips. I'm roundly in favour of them; Bailey saw otherwise.

CAMRA members can read the article on page 54 of the Winter edition - but of course, you've already read it and sent the editor a green-inked spittle-riddled letter, haven't you?

For everybody else, here's my original article:

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George Orwell once wrote of a certain British comic tradition that he found to be “overpoweringly vulgar”. He was appalled by the “hideousness of the colours” and the “ever-present obscenity” on show. It wasn’t pumpclips, but who knows what he’d have thought about some of the offerings around today?

I’d like to think he’d have seen the funny side. Many brewers choose humour when it comes to naming beers and designing pumpclips and, by doing so, seek to maintain British comedic traits that are ingrained in our character. The double entendre allows brewers to mine a rich seam of comedy, particularly when rugby tournaments are on with their profusion of flankers, hookers and odd-shaped balls.

A well-crafted Spoonerism is, for many, the epitome of British humour; when combined with satire (‘Weary Banker’) it becomes a thing of beauty. Word play and pumpclips were made for each other – it’s difficult to resist shoe-horning the word ‘ale’ into a name like Eng-ale-land, Ale-pril, Ale Mary. You may have seen it many times before but, as they say, there’s many a good tune played on an old fiddle.

So why are certain brewers so fond of a cheeky one-liner, a cartoon clip and possibly a dollop of smut on the side? It sells beer, pure and simple. The overwhelming majority of cask ale drinkers in my experience aren’t overly bothered by provenance, hop variety or contemporary design on a pumpclip.

They’re out to be sociable and have a laugh, so if that starts with ordering a Drew Peacock the all the better. The brewers, fighting for space on a crowded bar, get their product noticed. And given that a number of brewers have been using comedic names for many years and are commercially successful, it would seem that a little bit of what you fancy does them good.

What may be smutty to one person can be offensive to another. But that’s the nature of humour. It was the seaside postcard art of Donald MacGill that Orwell found “overpoweringly vulgar” but at the same time admitted “I for one should be sorry to see them vanish”. There should always be room at the bar for a laugh. And, after a long day’s fly fishing, a few pints of Dognobbler.


Reproduced with thanks to CAMRA