Here are just a few of the many pub signs that relate to cats. It is generally thought that signs on inns originated with the Romans, when vine leaves were displayed outside taverns to show that they sold wine. British pubs hung small evergreen bushes outside, and early pubs also used long poles or 'ale stakes' to show people they sold beer, also bushes if they sold wine. By the twelfth century most taverns had names that were depicted graphically on boards, as most people could not read or write in those days. It was in 1393 that King Richard II decreed that all pubs and inns had to display a sign, so they could be recognised by the official Ale Taster.

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