An essential visit for anyone who sets foot on British territory, the pubs represent the identity of United Kingdom, whose inhabitants come to celebrate in them from weddings to funerals.
In fact, there are few things as British as these taverns that populate the streets of the country, including its capital, where almost one in ten of the establishments of this type in the entire national territory are concentrated.
More than thirty of them were visited by the guide and founder of the ‘Liquid History’ tours in London John Warland and the photographer Horst A. Friedrichs, who now tell it in their book ‘Local legends, the hidden pubs of London’where they represent the history of these unique establishments, accompanied by photographs that condense all their character.
Although according to Warland, the concept of ‘pub’ has evolved throughout history, the essence of all of them – like those included in the published compilation – is that they make you feel at home.
“What characterizes a pub is the social network, it is an escape from the outside world at your door, whether from work or financial concerns,” the author said of the establishments he considers a kind of “park for adults“.
Relevance even in politics
Faced with the closure of pubs -from 2009 to 2022 more than 9,000 closedup to 38,225 at the end of that year -, their social relevance means that they reach the political sphere, including the electoral programs for the next general elections on July 4.
Ye Olde Miter, in the Farringdon area. Photo ShuttersockWhile the Conservatives indicated that they will maintain the reduced tax on pubs for each drink they serve, Labor announced that they will give communities the right to buy the pubs that have closedamong other measures in this regard proposed by both parties.
In Warland and Friedrichs’ book, the main taverns are those with the greatest weight in the United Kingdom: those that are really local, with which citizens identify and which they see as a kind of safe spaces.
“They are not the most famous pubs in the world, where Shakespeare or Dickens might have gone, but rather the ones that Londoners know and love,” the tour guide specified.
Between 2009 and 2022, more than 9,000 pubs closed in the United Kingdom, and at the end of that year there were 38,225. Photo ShuterstockShared characters
The dark wood of the walls, the printed carpet with geometric figures or soft and warm light coming from lamps located above the bar counter are some of the characteristics that make these bars unique, and that are, at the same time, shared between them.
Among the chosen, ‘Ye Olde Mitre‘, where a blue carpet with red, yellow and green details greets customers, who sit around wooden tables under a ceiling full of beer mugs.
According to the authors of the book, this is one of the most difficult pubs to find in London, despite being located in the central area of the city, where there are also others highlighted in the compilation such as ‘The Cockpit‘, ‘The Hand & Shears‘ o ‘The Holy Tavern‘.
The Hand & Shears, en la esquina de Cloth Fair y Kinghonr St. Foto ShutterstockTo find others, it will be necessary to have a transport card, as specified in the title of one of the chapters of the work, such as ‘The Mason Arms’ or ‘The Park Tavern’, both in southwest London.
Regardless of their location, for Warland, they are all united by being run “with passion” by their owners.
“That’s why the book talks about local legends:Is it the pub or is it the people?“?” he asks.
Cristina Alonso Pascual / EFE