"The Moon Under Water" is a 1946 essay by George Orwell, originally published as the Saturday Essay in the Evening Standard on 9 February 1946, in which he provided a detailed description of his ideal public house, the fictitious "Moon Under Water". It was Orwell's last contribution to the Evening Standard.

Summary

Orwell stipulated ten key points that his perfect pub in the London area should have (his criteria for country pubs being different, but unspecified): Orwell admitted that "to be fair", he did know of a few pubs that almost came up to his ideal, including one that had eight of the mentioned qualities. The essay finishes: "And if anyone knows of a pub that has draught stout, open fires, cheap meals, a garden, motherly barmaids and no radio, I should be glad to hear of it, even though its name were something as prosaic as the Red Lion or the Railway Arms."

Real pubs

The J D Wetherspoon pub chain has used the name The Moon Under Water for thirteen of its outlets. There is a Moon Under Water pub in St. Petersburg, Florida, US, in Victoria, Canada and in Christchurch, New Zealand.