Pub

ROCKPORT, Maine — Down the hill from the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, in the town’s historic Shepherd Block, sits a pub with a rustic tin ceiling. Its wooden walls evoke a ship’s galley and its dark dining room glows with candlelight. The building, an artfully renovated former grocery store once owned by Rockport industrialist Herbert L. Shepherd, dates to 1892. Shepherd’s Pie gives the impression that it’s been moored on Central Street forever. In fact, it’s been open about two months.

The most distressing line on Nick Lowe's new album goes like this: "I'm 61 years old now/ Lord, I never thought I'd see 30. " If he hadn't made it, we would have missed out on the stretch of exquisite pop albums the English singer-songwriter has been crafting over the past two decades. From his origins as a knockabout pub rocker in the 1970s to his reinvention as a refined crooner with a shock of silver hair, Lowe has split his career into two fascinating flip sides.

LONDON -- Londoners live shoulder to shoulder with a past that is forcefully present. From theater to royalty, British culture is still replete with sensibilities that defined it in days of yore. One institution in particular has not budged in significance through each passing era: the pub. Lining city streets and rural roads, pubs assert the kingdom's character in an unpretentious, properly improper manner. Since the mid-1990s, some have revamped their menus to conform to the gastro-pub craze; most, however, still lack the polished sheen that typically comes with gentrification in urban centers.

KITTERY, Maine — After years of working the front of the house in the Portsmouth, N.H./Kittery restaurant scene, Gavin Beaudry and Ben Lord joined up with Jake Smith (who worked in the kitchens at Scampo and Towne in Boston) to open The Black Birch last December. The exterior of the restaurant is unassuming. If not for the large polished tree stump, visible through the glass door, with The Black Birch emblazoned in gold letters, it could easily be mistaken for an office.

One of the biggest cold-weather challenges for families can be finding warm spaces indoors where you can escape when everyone's a bit stir-crazy. Here's a spot to add to your family outing list: the pub. You read that right. We picked up on the practice back in our childless days while traveling in Ireland, where pubs are the center of social life and are often full of families playing games, catching up, and yes, drinking. Children are full participants (in everything but the drinking)

NEW YORK - Jim Guinan, the founder of an iconic Irish bar and general store in suburban New York that became the subject of a memoir by a Wall Street Journal columnist, died Wednesday in Florida. He was 83. Mr. Guinan died in a Tampa hospital of heart failure, his family said. Mr. Guinan was the founder of Guinan's Country Store and Pub in Garrison, about 50 miles north of Manhattan. The store closed Jan. 31, 2008, after nearly 50 years in business and Mr. Guinan moved to Lutz, Fla., to live with a daughter and her husband.

An Illustration on the cover of the book, "Seven At The Sevens," done by Grant Trenton Gardner. By Melissa Tabeek, Globe Correspondent A stroll down Charles Street in Beacon Hill feels like a step back in time — the 19th century, in fact. Stop at 77 Charles St. and you'll find yourself at The Sevens Pub, a historic establishment that opened in 1933. If it happens to be a Tuesday night at 7, you'll often see a group of writers huddled in the left window of the pub, discussing everything from Walt Whitman to the origin of the universe.

PROVIDENCE -- Three former University of Rhode Island students will not face charges in connection with the death of a Fairfield University student during a Newport pub crawl last year. Francis J. Marx was crushed by a bus that was being used to carry URI students on a bar tour. Marx's parents said Attorney General Patrick Lynch had told them that charges would not be filed. A grand jury heard evidence against Carlos DeAndrade Jr., of Sharon, Mass.; Jarrad Rocheleau, of Cumberland; and Loren Welsh, of Neshanic...

Bad news for craft beer lovers: The Alchemist is not going to reopen after all. The pub and brewery in Waterbury, Vt., were destroyed by Hurricane Irene in August . The owners, John and Jen Kimmich, had been planning to rebuild and reopen, but they have learned that insurance will not cover the losses in the basement, where the brewery was located. The Alchemist had just opened a cannery down the road when Irene struck. Since then, the cannery, which was not damaged, has been churning out 16-ounce cans of Heady Topper, an outstanding imperial IPA that many people -- me...

Providence by night is a city alive with places to learn, taste, see, and hear, an urban center with a fiercely independent spirit left over from free-thinking founder Roger Williams. Brian Hodge, communications and social media manager for the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau, says Providence "is not a city of big-box places. There's no carbon-copy menus, just rehab stories in the architecture, custom-design buildings, personalized service in restaurants, amazing music and theater.

As a Graham Parker fan, Mike Gent was happy to hear that Parker was reuniting with his old band, the Rumour. After all, that original mid-'70s pairing of the clever writer and pub-bred band yielded a smart, catchy, and rambunctious musical blend. "But I know I'm out of a job for a couple of years," says Gent, whose band the Figgs has backed Parker on and off since 1996. Parker still has a string of dates with the Figgs — including a show Sunday at the Bull Run in Shirley — and will tackle a few other projects before lifting the curtain on the Rumour reunion in...

Registration is open for the annual Dan Ford Road Race, which begins at 11 a.m. on April 14. The 5K route for runners, joggers, and walkers begins and ends at Fireside Restaurant and Pub, 171 Pelham St., with cash awards and trophies to winners in various categories. Registration is $25 per adult, $15 for children 10 and under. Proceeds will benefit the Dan Ford Foundation, providing assistance to cancer patients and their families during treatment. The foundation was named for a Methuen High School sports Hall of Famer who died of cancer in 2009 at age 40. For more information or a...

Saturday is going to be amazing. Saturday is going to be terrifying. It all depends on your point of view. When St. Patrick's Day falls on a weekend, Boston is engulfed in a sea of green beer. (When St. Patrick's Day falls on a weekday, Boston is also engulfed in a sea of green beer, just a slightly smaller one.) The revelers will be out in force, and you will either be among them or you will be hiding at home on your couch. But even the most reluctant St. Patrick's Day celebrant can appreciate a taste of Irish fare this week.

One of the biggest cold-weather challenges for families can be finding warm spaces indoors where you can escape when everyone's a bit stir-crazy. Here's a spot to add to your family outing list: the pub. You read that right. We picked up on the practice back in our childless days while traveling in Ireland, where pubs are the center of social life and are often full of families playing games, catching up, and yes, drinking. Children are full participants (in everything but the drinking)

Five years after it opened, I continue to be impressed with Deep Ellum , the hip little pub in Allston that thrives just a couple of blocks from the massive Sunset Grill & Tap. Deep Ellum has 28 taps, most of which are rotated, so you will always find something new there -- though you can almost always count on seeing Green Flash West Coast IPA and St. Bernardus Abt 12, two of the world's best beers. There are 80 or so varieties of bottled beer as well. Choosing just one or two beers from the outstanding, well-curated menu is a problem.

The Piccadilly Pub restaurant chain apparently closed a number of its restaurants this week. Worcester, Auburn, Sturbridge, and Westborough locations were shuttered, with notices of closing posted on the doors by the Massachusetts Pub Group. No one answered phones at all other Piccadilly Pub locations in Massachusetts Monday night. Messages left at Piccadilly Pub offices in Boston were not returned. The Piccadilly Pub is a chain of nine casual dining restaurants that started in Westborough in 1973.

The area behind and below the Sullivan Square T station can look post-apocalyptic. Above, there’s a constant rumble from the soaring Interstate 93 and Route 26 overpasses. The proximity to water and the general desolation ensure a constant cold wind. And, for the odd pedestrian, crossing multi-lane Cambridge Street is a chancy affair. The scattered businesses in the area are, to be charitable, neither flourishing nor inviting. Where elsewhere it would be kitsch, a sign outside one shack-like structure seems appropriate: “The Tavern at the End of the World.’’ And, as happens in mythical...

This classic New England town tucked in the folds of the White Mountains delivers a wintry reprieve from cold March rains. Other places may be wallowing in mud, but here snow still paints the peaks white, inviting skiers and snowboarders, skaters and snowshoers, to stretch the season. The free Mountain Explorer connects town and mountain; the free Sunday River Trolley circulates around the resort. Stay The full-service Bethel Inn Resort (21 Broad St., 800-654-0125, www.bethelinn.com, March room-only rates begin at $80)

TAMPA - The humble, thatched-roof cottage with the Guinness sign in the window could be the quintessential Irish pub - except for the skyscrapers towering above and the palm trees out front. A striking juxtaposition of the Emerald Isle and the Sunshine State, Four Green Fields resembles a snowbird that swore off Ireland's raw, bleak winters to bathe in the Florida sun. The South Tampa pub is as authentic as the lilting brogues heard behind its bright green door. Rather than televisions, jerseys of Irish rugby, football, and hurling teams hang from the wooden rafters.

A bar in New York City plans to ban sales of Samuel Adams beers during the Super Bowl. Foley's NY Pub and Restaurant , which sits across the street from the Empire State Building , will prohibit the sales of anything produced by the Boston Beer Co. during the game, in a show of support for the Giants, according to CBS News  and WBZ NewsRadio 1030 . The pub's owner, Shaun Clancy , told the Yankees' ...