ramp, n.³ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

ramp n.³

[the long wooden bar]

a public house or its bar.

1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 9: Ramp: Public house counter.
1936		H. Corey Farewell, Mr Gangster! 280: Slang used by English criminals [...] Ramp – public house.
1959		J. Gosling Ghost Squad 25: Thieves’ argot, spoken properly, is a foreign language which needs to be learned [...] ‘Ramp’ is a public house counter.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 9: They would stand at the ramp in naff wine bars delivering speeches.

on the ramp

1. out on a spree [? abbr. SE rampage; note ramp n.² (5)].

1892

E.J. Milliken ’Arry Ballads 51: The way the passengers stared at me showed I was fair on the ramp.

2. noticeable, active.

1886		Stephens & Yardley in Little Jack Sheppard 25: 🎵 If an innocent scamp / Ever gets on the ramp I dog him wherever he goes.
1889		‘’Arry on the Ice’ in Punch 23 Feb. 85: The Bobbies was then on the ramp, / And the trees was all ’ung with ‘Prohibits’.