The Pub: Wit, wisdom & weirdness on Britain’s best-loved establishment

by The Fence

'The literary equivalent of a great session.' Felicity Cloake

'A brilliant hymn to the holy sainted pub' Marina O'Loughlin

Would Queen Victoria have been good value over a pint? Where can you find the most northerly pub in the UK? What is good pub etiquette and do you follow it?

This isn’t just a book full of Britain’s best pubs, although rest assured, we have plenty of them. Rather, this is a book that is as much for the pub as about the pub – a collection of ale-sodden stories from every corner of the UK, from the country’s classiest pub urinals, to the Wetherspoons inside a service station just off the M40.

With tales and trivia from Lanarkshire to the Lizard, this is a love letter to the great British pub, in all its faded and eccentric glory.

Compiled by The Fence, contributors include Tom Parker Bowles, Charlotte Ivers, William Hanson, Jimmy Mcintosh, John Banville and Katy Hessel.

234 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 14, 2025

Reviews

[Jack Kerkham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Few good stories about… the pub

[Joe O'Donnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having very recently read Donal Fallon’s superlative social history of Dublin pubs, for me The Fence magazine’s attempt to celebrate the humble public house suffers slightly in comparison.

“The Pub” does an excellent job across its pages of making the case that these establishments are “our greatest national institution”. And there are some stand-out pieces in this collection of essays, among them Charlotte Ivers’ account of recreating a day in the very sozzled life of Tom Baker in Soho, and Róisín Lanigan on the post-Troubles pubs of Belfast.

What “The Pub” might have done would have been to give their writers *more* space to rhapsodise about their favourite public houses (and to excoriate what British pubs get wrong). The Fence have assembled some tremendous writers here (Jimmy McIntosh, John Banville!), but they could have provided them with greater room to allow their essays to breathe. Still, the standard of writing is uniformly high throughout this book. And if you haven’t done so already, take out a subscription to The Fence – perhaps the finest magazine currently published in these islands.

[Matt Fuller · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most southerly pub 'in the UK' can't be in Jersey because Jersey is not in the UK. The most northerly pub on the British mainland can't be the old forge in Knoydart - look at a map its south of Inverness.

I expect someone will be sacked over this.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laughed out loud when [REDACTED]'s xontribution was about a pub with a ceiling painted by A Woman — a pub owned and operated by The Groucho :)

[Donald Dresser · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable collection of stories and articles about that most British of institutions, the pub.