Getting on the inside of the region’s heritage pubs

A Grade II-listed pub in Birmingham which appears in a guide to Britain’s best heritage pubs will welcome the author next week.

The revised edition of Britain’s Best Real Heritage Pubs which was named the best-selling title at the Great British Beer festival, will be celebrated at the historic Woodman pub in Birmingham next week.

Renowned Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) author Geoff Brandwood will visit the Grade II-listed pub that was recently re-opened by Birmingham Inns. Built in 1897 for Ansells’ Brewery, the pub is a fine example of the tiled and terracotta pubs that used to line the streets of Birmingham.

The book accumulates 25 years of research by CAMRA, exploring 260 UK pubs with interiors of real historic significance from the north of Scotland down to Falmouth.

Author Geoff Brandwood said: “Very few pubs have really genuine historic interiors so we set about doing this work to identify them and we’ve brought it all together now in this rather handsome book.”

CAMRA first started the project after concern over the loss of historic pub interiors and have worked with English heritage to increase the publicity of these pubs in the hope of protecting their heritage.

Mr Brandwood added: “If they have got important historic interiors and the more people we can get to visit these pubs then the more chance they have of surviving really.

“Although many pubs are very old, really it’s unusual to find interiors in terms of fitting and seating prior to the end of the late 19th century.”

Despite the rare nature of heritage pubs, one of the oldest pubs featured in the book still has part of it intact from the 17th century.

“Well the one I was mentioning, perhaps The George in Southwark, sets a record in terms of its woodwork and so on, but one of the most interesting we know of is one called the Victoria which is near to Paddington station where there’s a dated clock from 1864 in the bar back. We think the whole scheme probably is dated from that time, but as I said it is quite unusual to find interiors of that age.”

The book, which took 18 months to write, particularly concentrates on parts of London, Birmingham, the West Midlands and the North West. The pubs must have either an unaltered interior for over 70 years or contain rooms of national significance to be featured in the guide. 

“A good pub of course has to have a welcoming atmosphere, good beer, hopefully have good food and better still – the ones that we’re featuring here – a genuine sense of tradition and history about it,” said Mr Brandwood.

“There are lots of people who do value these pubs and they do seek them out, one of the things we’ve included in the book is a tick-list for people visiting them. 

“Some people have visited hundreds of these pubs and you know, it’s incredibly gratifying.”

The book signing will take place on Wednesday, August 31 and will include a short talk on how to identify, conserve and preserve treasured national heritage pubs.

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