Tolkien seems to have been influenced in his choice of the name Ivy Bush by a pub of that name that would have been local to him during the time he lived in Birmingham. Though now relatively rare as a name for a real inn, the use of a bush as to signify an inn was common in ancient times. A bush of ivy would at one time have marked out a tavern where wine could be served, but later came to be used more widely for inns or taverns of any kind.