Pocket Guide to Pubs and Their Histories

The portable guide to potable purveyors. “From alehouses, inns, and taverns, to the pubs we know today, Gordon Thorburn explains all . . . Cheers!” —Best of British

Is there really a pub called The Toad Rock Retreat? Which one town has the pubs with both the longest and the shortest names? How many Lions, Crowns, and Horses are there? How many pubs are called The Speculation, The Triple Plea, and The Welcome Stranger? Why would you give your pub a name like The Geese Have Gone Over the Water?

The author, in his valiant attempt to answer these and many other questions, has produced a book which is surely essential reading.

What exactly is a pub? What should pubs be like? Why do we think that way? Is there a perfect pub? Can we imagine one that nobody would ever go in? Who does go in pubs, and why, and for what? Where is the straightest pub crawl?

So, how did we get where we are, and where do we go from here? Whether it’s to The King’s Head, The Queen’s Arms, The Three Legs or The Eel’s Foot, be sure to take this book with you.

“An entertaining, amusing account of pub life and culture. It is a book for dipping into rather than reading solidly, and is definitely memorable.” —Monsters & Critics