The history and meaning of the cast-iron Britannia pub table

“Wait – how old is this pub table?” That’s what we asked ourselves recently while sitting in The Swan With Two Necks in Bristol, our pints wobbling about on a slab of cracked marble on an black-painted iron base. Pubs can have this time capsule quality – a sense that you’re surrounded by objects and decor from more than a hundred years ago. Not only surrounded by them, in fact, but using them in everyday, practical ways. Even if the pub has been refurbished fifty times since it was built,