Acclaimed photographer Horst A. Friedrichs and travel journalist Stuart Husband have released a new photography book, Great Pubs of England. Published via Prestel, this book is a travel guide turned virtual pub crawl, bringing together 33 of England’s most distinct inns that pay homage to England’s heritage.
Speaking about how they chose which pubs to include, Stuart explained, “‘Best pubs’ is, of course, a very subjective thing – everyone will have their favourite and will have as-they-see-it airtight reasons for it being their favourite. In a book like this we had to balance the visual, the anecdotal, and the experiential – that is, they had to look good, they had to have a bunch of good stories attached to them, and they had to be places you’d want to linger in.
“I wish I could say that we fed all these factors into a super-computer and worked off the resultant algorithm,” Stuart continued. “But the fact is that we pulled together a bunch of places that we knew, that we’d heard about, and that we discovered online, and narrowed our final choices down from there.
“Speaking for myself, I wanted to showcase the full range of pubs in England today, from old-school boozers and ultimate locals to gastro-temples, cabaret venues, and legendary landlord/landlady-fronted places, and I think the book reflects that rich variety.”
Great Pubs of England follows the history of England’s pub culture, charting the traditions that have kept them going for nearly 500 years.
On what makes England’s pub culture stand above the rest, Stuart suggested, “I would quote William Blake: “A good local pub has much in common with a church, except that a pub is warmer, and there’s more conversation.” The pub ethos is democatic – it’s a public house, after all – and a lot of the places we’ve featured, like The French House in London or The Gunton Arms in Norfolk, stress the importace of pub serendipity – striking up conversations with complete strangers at the bar and enlarging your acquaintance and experience.
“Thus, the best pubs offer spiritual as well as corporeal succour – no idle consideration when we’re apparently suffering from an “epidemic” of loneliness,” he added. “Like churches, they’ve provided the backdrop to life’s most significant events, from wedding receptions to funeral wakes, but unlike churches, they’ve also helped foment revolution, hosted everything from local sewing circles to drag superstars-in-the-making, and usually offered a roaring hearth and/or ample beer garden to gather around or in while doing so.”
Most people would agree that pubs are embedded in our British soul. Stuart commented, “I’d add a quote from the American writer Martha Gellhorn: “In the end, in England, when you want to find out how people are feeling, you always go to the pubs.””
About Horst A. Friedrichs
Internationally renowned photographer Horst A. Friedrichs was born in Frankfurt in 1966. He studied photography in Munich and has worked for a number of noteworthy publications including National Geographic, The New York Times and The Observer, taking portraits of everyone from Robbie Williams, Peter Gabriel and Tony Blair to Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking. Though he made a name for himself with commercial work, it is his long-term book projects, documenting subcultures and architecture, that bring out his fierce and excitable passion. From the Sufis in Pakistan to the Mods and Rockers of the British underground, Horst has spent decades digging into these scenes and cultures and capturing their fascinating characters. He has published numerous books including the bestselling Cycle Style, I’m One: 21st Century Mods, Or Glory: 21st Century Rockers, Drive Style, Denim Style, Coffee Style, Best of British and Bookstores (all by Prestel). He is currently based in London.
About Stuart Husband
Stuart Husband is a Hastings-based journalist whose work has appeared in Monocle, Four Seasons, the Telegraph, Observer, Sunday Times, and The Independent. He is the author of Bookstores with Horst A. Friedrichs.
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Image credit: Horst A. Friedrichs
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