Book Review
LONDON HERITAGE PUBS
Reproduced from the Oct./Nov. 2008 edition of the London Drinker Magazine.
Ever felt like drinking in 200 years of history when supping your pint? Then the latest publication of the CAMRA Heritage pubs group is for you. Entitled ‘London Heritage Pubs - An Inside Story’, the 208 page book is a catalogue of all the best, genuine historical pubs the city has to offer. Sumptuous photographs and detailed text accompany each well researched entry. You won't find the ‘basic boozer’ beloved of CAMRA diehards here but rather the magnificent, often but not always palatial, polished architectural gems that still remain scattered across London and its suburbs. Most originated in Victorian times and we are indeed fortunate that so many are still with us.
The special features of each pub are painstakingly described with additional information on the listed status of each pub and even whether they sell real ale. (But no details of the ales on sale are given - this is a book primarily concerned with the physical surroundings, not the gastronomic or liquid offerings). I liked the clarity of the maps provided throughout the book, showing the general position of the pub but not cluttered with detail. I haven't checked their accuracy though! I'm not sure of the need for the “Ten pubs not to miss” section at the beginning. Some readers will possibly only visit those, which is a shame. For visitors and tourists alike the ‘History in the area’ footnotes are particularly good, wetting one's appetite for further exploration of the area.
I have two quibbles however, both concerning presentation. There are too many blank white spaces on the outer edges of most pages, leaving the text positioned very near the binding. This means one has almost to prise the book open flat to read it. Secondly, a lot of the photographs appear to have been taken in the early morning with bright sunshine falling on the many polished surfaces causing reflections which blur the detail. In comparison, an earlier classic, ‘Victorian Pubs’ by Mark Girouard (Studio Vista, 1975) uses black and white photography which gives much clearer definition. It would also be nice to see more pictures with the odd customer contentedly supping his pint just to show that these pubs are not museum pieces but well used and loved pubs.
The glossary is a welcome inclusion but I am surprised there wasn't rather more on the definition of real ale - it is a CAMRA publication after all! - perhaps drawing the distinction between handpumps and keg fonts - always a source of confusion to foreigners but interesting in themselves as genuine dispensing devices (such as the ‘cash register’ style handpumps in the George Inn at Southwark mentioned on page 139).
Finally, I particularly liked the ‘Features’. These are a collection of short articles distributed throughout the book giving a potted history of the drinking scene in London over the past 300 years. Titles such as ‘How old is old?’', ‘What we used to drink’, ‘From Brewery to PubCo’, and ‘Closed pubs’ will undoubtedly prove useful to those whose primary interest is architectural but who lack the intimate knowledge of the social drinking scene that most CAMRA members take for granted. Perhaps it may persuade more people to visit these pubs and others in search of distinctive drinking places before they all disappear. I hope so.
Sue Hart
LONDON HERITAGE PUBS - AN INSIDE STORY can be bought in all good book shops or ordered on-line at the CAMRA shop, priced £14.99 (£12.99 for CAMRA Members).
