Found in Europe, they possibly first sprang up when the Romans built their system of Roman roads two millennia ago. Some inns in Europe are several centuries old. In addition to providing for the needs of travellers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places.

In Europe, it is the provision of accommodation, if anything, that now differentiates inns from taverns, alehouses and pubs. The latter tend only to supply alcohol (although in the UK the conditions of their licence sometimes require them to have a nominal supply of food and soft drinks). Inns tend to be grander and more long-lived establishments. Famous London examples include the George and The Tabard. There is however no longer a formal distinction between an inn and other kinds of establishment, and many pubs will use the name "inn", either simply because they are long established and maybe were once a Coaching inn, or to summon up a particular kind of image; however, originally an Inn had to provide not only food and lodging, but also stabling and fodder for the traveller's horse(s) and for fresh horses for the Mail coach.

The original functions of an inn are now usually split among separate establishments, such as hotels, lodges, and motels, all of which might provide the traditional functions of an inn but which focus more on lodging customers than on other services; public houses, which are primarily alcohol-serving establishments; and restaurants and taverns, which serve food and drink. (Hotels often contain restaurants and also often serve complimentary breakfast and meals, thus providing all of the functions of traditional inns.) In North America, the lodging aspect of the word "inn" lives on in hotel brand names like Holiday Inn, and in some state laws that refer to lodging operators as innkeepers.

[edit] German language

The German words for "innkeeper", and "innkeeping" illustrate the historical importance of inns. An innkeeper is a Wirt, and innkeeping is Wirtschaft. This last word, Wirtschaft, has extended its meaning beyond the management of an inn and is now the German term for management in general and economy; the latter usage may have derived by analogy, as the word "economy" itself comes from the Greek word "oikonomia" for household management (from oikos, "house," and nemein, "to manage").

[edit] Inns of Court

The Inns of Court in London were originally ordinary inns where barristers met to do business, but have become institutions of the legal profession in England and Wales.

[edit] See also

• Bed and breakfast, B&B
• Public house
• Coaching inn
• Caravanserai
• Pub names
• Ryokan (inn)
• List of lodging types