Pub salute by English Heritage

by Ewan Turney

English Heritage has hit out at the "plasticisation" of Britain's pubs, which has left just 250 untouched by the ravages of refurbishment and branding and, therefore, of any historical value.

English Heritage has published a new book on the history of pubs entitled Licensed to Sell celebrating the contribution the traditional pub has made to Britain's historic environment.

Although the authors claim the pub remains a "vibrant institution" they issued a stark warning against the sort of refurbishment that spoiled many interiors in the 1970s.

"Huge amounts of money have been thrown at pubs, almost, it would seem with the aim of making one pub look much the same as any other," said co-author Andrew Davison.

"All too often genuine features were discarded, only to have mock heritage reintroduced a few years later.

"For all that and despite the large-scale reordering, opening out and theming of recent years, there is still much to be enjoyed and appreciated in the surviving heritage of our pubs."

English Heritage commissioner Bill Bryson contributed the forward for the book, which also investigates the claims of six rival pubs to be the oldest in Britain. He said: "Pubs are what makes England what it is. And like so much of the almost embarrassing richness of England's historic environment we need to hang on to what we've got.

"There is so much of it that it's easy to dismiss a lost pub sign here, or a refurbished Victorian interior there, as not worth worrying about. But it is (worth it) ­ every last, minor detail. Every Old Red Lion pulled apart and plasticised and renamed the Frog & Orange diminishes us."

Six of the oldest pubs in Britain

Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, St Albans

Old Ferry Boat, Holywell

Eagle and Child, Stow-on-the-Wold

Bingley Arms, Leeds

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham

Skirrid Mountain Inn, Llanfihangel Crocorney