What Is a Station?

A single stop on a map — a pub, a gallery, a landmark, whatever the vertical calls for. Every map is built from stations connected by lines, in the tradition of a transit map.

A themed route connecting a run of stations, drawn and coloured on the map the way a tube line would be. A map can have several lines crossing the same city.

A station at the end of a line — the start or finish of a particular route. Termini are usually where a journey along that line begins or ends.

A station where two or more lines meet, letting you change from one route to another mid-journey — the map's equivalent of an interchange station.

A pub must serve beer, lager, cider, and a reasonable selection of other beverages. The Network welcomes variety, but a venue that cannot provide a proper pint, or a decent glass of vino, (not Pinot "bloody" Noir) is unlikely to qualify for service.

Wine bars are perfectly acceptable members of The Local Network. While the Network has great affection for a good pint, passengers should never be denied a decent glass of wine, should the mood or company require it.

A pub must be capable of serving passengers during both the daytime and the evening. Establishments that emerge only after dark, such as nightclubs and similar nocturnal habitats, are not considered pubs and therefore do not appear on the Network map.

A good pub should permit conversation without the need for semaphore signals or industrial hearing protection. Excessively loud music counts against inclusion, except during organised entertainment such as live music, quizzes, sporting events, or other scheduled occasions where a little noise is part of the attraction.

Food is entirely optional. Many excellent pubs survive perfectly well without a kitchen. However, some form of bar snack should be available. Crisps, nuts, pork scratchings, or their regional equivalents are recognised as essential infrastructure.

A pub must be open to the general public without membership, sponsorship, secret handshakes, blood oaths, or family connections. Any passenger should be able to walk through the door and purchase a drink.

At least part of the establishment should exist primarily for drinking and socialising rather than dining. The Network celebrates food, but a pub should still feel like a pub even when nobody is ordering a main course.

An establishment must be properly licensed and operate as a genuine public venue. Your front room, garden shed, garage, or conservatory may be delightful and well-stocked, but opening it to strangers on a Saturday afternoon does not automatically create a pub.

Ultimately, inclusion on The Local Network is a matter of character as much as compliance. A pub should be welcoming, accessible, and somewhere a traveller would happily spend time with friends. The map may follow lines and stations, but the Network itself runs on hospitality.