Shakespeare's pub A barstool history of London as seen through the windows of its oldest pub - the George Inn

Pete Brown, 1968-

Book - 2013

"A history of Britain told through the story of one very special pub, from "The Beer Drinker's Bill Bryson" (Times Literary Supplement) Welcome to the George Inn near London Bridge; a cosy, wood-panelled, galleried coaching house a few minutes' walk from the Thames. Grab yourself a pint, listen to the chatter of the locals and lean back, resting your head against the wall. And then consider this: who else has rested their head against that wall, over the last six hundred years? Chaucer and his fellow pilgrims almost certainly drank in the George on their way out of London to Canterbury. It's fair to say that Shakespeare popped in from the nearby Globe for a pint, and we know that Dickens certainly did. Mail car...riers changed their horses here, before heading to all four corners of Britain--while sailors drank here before visiting all four corners of the world. The pub, as Pete Brown points out, is the 'primordial cell of British life' and in the George he has found the perfect example. All life is here, from murderers, highwaymen, and ladies of the night to gossiping peddlers and hard-working clerks. So sit back with Shakepeare's Pub and watch as buildings rise and fall over the centuries, and 'the beer drinker's Bill Bryson' (UK's Times Literary Supplement) takes us on an entertaining tour through six centuries of history, through the stories of everyone that ever drank in one pub"--

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Subjects
Published
New York : St. Martin's Press 2013.
©2012
Language
English
Main Author
Pete Brown, 1968- (-)
Edition
First U.S. edition
Item Description
First published in Great Britain under the title Shakespeare's local by Macmillan.
Physical Description
352 pages : illustrations, map ; 22 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 343-347).
ISBN
9781250033888
  • Prologue: Concerning Scandal, Murder, Smuggling, Highwaymen, Coffee, & C.
  • Chapter 1. In Which We Make the Perilous and Eventful Journey to the George Inn, Southwark. From my House
  • Chapter 2. Concerning Dates, Names, Mutya, Heidi & C.
  • Chapter 3. Being Some Remarks on London's First Bridge, and How This Bridge Gives Our Story its Very Shape
  • Chapter 4. On Inns, Taverns, Alehouses, Pubs and Boozers. But Mainly Inns, and the Distinctive Nature Thereof
  • Chapter 5. The Poet's Tale, or, How English Literature was Born in a Southwark Inn
  • Chapter 6. In Which We Meet the Inhabitants of Sinful Southwark, and the Patrons of its Divers Inns, Taverns and Alehouses
  • Chapter 7. Concerning Bulb, Bears, Actors and Other Beasts, and their Various 'Entertainments', including the Sad Tale of a Monkey on a Horse
  • Chapter 8. Further Unsavoury Activities in Inns and Alehouses, and How These Places Were Burn'd by Almighty God's Fury (if You Believe in That Sort of Thing)
  • Chapter 9. Our Inn Enjoys a Golden Age of Romance, Highwaymen, Complicated Timetables and Sore Posteriors
  • Chapter 10. Concerning Drink, Hops and Politics, and How the George Inn Brings These Elements Together
  • Chapter 11. In Which the Road of Steel Replaces the Roads of the Romans, and the Inns of The Borough Suffer a Terrible Fate
  • Chapter 12. Concerning a Mother and Daughter, Two Brothers, and the Condition of Nostalgia
  • Chapter 13. In Which the George Inn is Sav'd for the Nation, and a Princess and a Bishop Have a Lock-In
  • Epilogue: A Drink at the George Inn To-Day
  • Timeline and Dramatis Personae
  • Bibliography
  • Acknowledgements
  • Picture and Text Acknowledgements
Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Brown's fourth book on the world of beer is a history of innkeeping in England, because inns found it essential to brew. At the center of the centuries-long story is London's oldest inn, the George, just a hop-skip south of London Bridge in Southwark. The George's heritage is traceable from Chaucer's day, though the Canterbury pilgrims embarked from the Tabard next door, and it figures in Dickens' The Pickwick Papers. Whether Shakespeare patronized the George can't be nailed down, but Southwark was London's theater district, so why not assume? The connections of inns and literature form one strand of Brown's exposition throughout, with wagoning (i.e., hauling goods), quartering both long-term and overnight, victualing, and conventioneering (local councils, clubs, political factions) constituting others. Less enduring but of immense importance is the great age of coaching, from the late seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century, during which inns flourished as never before or since. As befits his convivial subject, Brown writes as a spellbinding raconteur, keeping to each chapter's topic while taking off on tangents that never prove irrelevant and joking to beat the band but never trying our patience. A book to be read and reread, straight through or piecemeal, chuckling and, ideally, sipping a pint all the while.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

This rich paean to the venerable George Inn-the last remaining pre-Reformation coaching inn-crackles with literary wit, history, and pop culture. Londoner Brown (Man Walks Into a Pub), who is clearly well versed in the top shelves of bars and libraries, combines his personal knowledge of the place with plenty of research in this light-hearted yet informative portrait of the public house and the centuries of history that have trammeled through and past its doors. While Shakespeare receives dubious top billing-it isn't clear whether he actually ever visited the pub-Brown runs through a host of other famous patrons, like Charles Dickens and a partying Princess Margaret, as well as the pub's proprietors, including the incorrigible Agnes Murray, who ran the inn in the 1920s and famously charged Winston Churchill a corking fee for bringing his own port. But this isn't just a "barstool history" of the goings-on inside the George-Brown also offers a rousing take on the growth of the city outside. Despite the misleading title and occasional detours into the minutiae of historical records and beer trivia, this remains an entertaining tribute to the influence and staying power of a pub-"the primordial cell of British life." B&w photos throughout. Agent: James Gill, United Agents (U.K.). (May 21) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

The centuries-long story of the George Inn, which may not have been Shakespeare's local, but proves fascinating nonetheless. Brown (Man Walks into a Pub, 2004) admits that there's no proof the Bard of Avon ever set foot in the George Inn, but it's the logical place on which to center this book, as it's the only inn that survived fires, the railroads, the Blitz and modernization. The surviving section of the 16th-century pub is a perfectly preserved example of the coaching inns of the past. The author's vast research shows the centrality of these inns to everyday life and commerce. This is actually a history of Southwark, for so many years--nay centuries--the dumping ground for people, businesses and severed heads that the city across the Thames didn't want to deal with. Just as often referred to as "the borough," Southwark sits at the bottom of London Bridge, which until the middle of the 18th century was the only bridge across the Thames. With goods, and especially hops, arriving from the southeast, Southwark became the logistical distribution center of London. As such, inns required large yards for the wagons, coaches and their propulsion units: horses. The inn yards then evolved into the theaters of the area, supporting the plays of Shakespeare, enjoyed from the galleries for those who could afford a penny. The Canterbury Tales, as well as Piers Ploughman, showed the beginnings of the inn as a community gathering place, but Dickens' Mr. Pickwick made the George's name as tourists trolled for links to that most popular author. Brown's wit and extensive research make this a solid book of history, sociology and literature, as well as a great travel guide.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.