The Soul of England

To the Public House!

I have always loved pubs. I don't mean the nasty roadside boozers hungover from the age of the commercial traveller, or the repellent "theme pubs" (main theme: vileness). In most towns there are harmless and characterful little pubs, and all around our countryside are our great gift to the world: the country pub. They are at the core of my sense of myself as an Englishman. As a child, I spent an inordinate amount of time with my father. In between his educating me in reading, history, church architecture, numismatics and various other necessary accomplishments, he also showed me the outside of a number of fine old English inns, some of which I still patronise to this day.