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The Longest Crawl
According to G.K. Chesterton, the act of getting to and from a pub is central to an understanding of British life and landscape. So bon viveur, pub singer and writer Ian Marchant set off with photographer Perry Venus on a gruelling month long British pub crawl, to go to and from a lot of pubs in order to test Chesterton's hypothesis.
1 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
10 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Ian Marchant
21 books19 followersIan Marchant wasn't born in Newhaven in East Sussex in 1958, but he often claims that he was because of his deep embarrasment about his real place of birth.
But he really did grow up in Newhaven, and went to school there, and he still sees it as home, even though it quite clearly isn't, given that he lives 250 miles away in Mid-Wales. He didn't graduate in Philosophy from St David's University College, Lampeter in 1979. Or ever. He is currently a Masters student studying church history at Lampeter, though, honest.
He didn't make a living singing in bands in the late 1970's and early 1980's; nor did he become a civil engineer in the late 1980's, as he didn't have any facility for the maths. He was surprised to learn recently that he didn't graduate in the History and Philosophy of Science with a Creative Writing Minor from Lancaster University in 1992. He really did live in a caravan for many years, but he didn't share it with a chicken called Ginger, who was rather an occasional visitor.
He put his 'career' as a 'novelist' on 'hold' when his second novel 'The Battle For Dole Acre', (whose title he can't pronounce),didn't really sell. He decided to write non-fiction instead, because reality is so much less plausible than made up things. Like, there was the time with a pair of twins on duty at a Travelodge in Ely, which no one believes, but which really happened.
He didn't know much about railways or pubs when he started writing his acclaimed travel memoirs 'Parallel Lines: Or, Journeys on the Railway of Dreams' and 'The Longest Crawl: Being an Account of a Journey Through an Intoxicated Landscape or a Child's Treasury of Booze', (though he does now). He did stay awake for months to write his last book 'Something of the Night.
His latest book, 'A Hero for High Times: A Younger Reader’s Guide to the Beats, Hippies, Freaks, Punks, Ravers, New-Age Travellers and Dog-on-a-Rope Brew Crew Crusties of the British Isles, 1956–1994', has not yet been optioned for a fillum, so get in quick, I would.
He no longer sings in a cheesy cabaret duo called 'Your Dad', because the other half of 'Your Dad' died.
He does still support Brighton and Hove Albion, make radio shows when he's invited, and enjoy a cooked breakfast in Elda's Colombian Coffee House, High Street, Presteigne, Radnorshire.
You can read his blog, which he doesn't update enough, via his website, www.ianmarchant.com
But he really did grow up in Newhaven, and went to school there, and he still sees it as home, even though it quite clearly isn't, given that he lives 250 miles away in Mid-Wales. He didn't graduate in Philosophy from St David's University College, Lampeter in 1979. Or ever. He is currently a Masters student studying church history at Lampeter, though, honest.
He didn't make a living singing in bands in the late 1970's and early 1980's; nor did he become a civil engineer in the late 1980's, as he didn't have any facility for the maths. He was surprised to learn recently that he didn't graduate in the History and Philosophy of Science with a Creative Writing Minor from Lancaster University in 1992. He really did live in a caravan for many years, but he didn't share it with a chicken called Ginger, who was rather an occasional visitor.
He put his 'career' as a 'novelist' on 'hold' when his second novel 'The Battle For Dole Acre', (whose title he can't pronounce),didn't really sell. He decided to write non-fiction instead, because reality is so much less plausible than made up things. Like, there was the time with a pair of twins on duty at a Travelodge in Ely, which no one believes, but which really happened.
He didn't know much about railways or pubs when he started writing his acclaimed travel memoirs 'Parallel Lines: Or, Journeys on the Railway of Dreams' and 'The Longest Crawl: Being an Account of a Journey Through an Intoxicated Landscape or a Child's Treasury of Booze', (though he does now). He did stay awake for months to write his last book 'Something of the Night.
His latest book, 'A Hero for High Times: A Younger Reader’s Guide to the Beats, Hippies, Freaks, Punks, Ravers, New-Age Travellers and Dog-on-a-Rope Brew Crew Crusties of the British Isles, 1956–1994', has not yet been optioned for a fillum, so get in quick, I would.
He no longer sings in a cheesy cabaret duo called 'Your Dad', because the other half of 'Your Dad' died.
He does still support Brighton and Hove Albion, make radio shows when he's invited, and enjoy a cooked breakfast in Elda's Colombian Coffee House, High Street, Presteigne, Radnorshire.
You can read his blog, which he doesn't update enough, via his website, www.ianmarchant.com
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 22, 2018
My favourite sort of book, an entertaining, humorous and educational travelogue.
The author, and his mate Perry (whom I am not totally convinced actually exists) head out on a month long pub sojourn between the two extremes of the UK - from the far South West in the Sicily Isles to the Sheland Isles.
He picks the best of the pubs that the county has to offer. Proud to say I have been to around 50% of them and many of the others are now on a "to visit" list. Including Eli's in Huish Episcopi.
Not all are still available - particularly galling is the fate of the Fox and Hounds in Great Wolford in the Cotswolds. The only pub in the village, standing for 400 years. Bought and to be converted into a private dwelling or ransomed back to the village for a cool £1m. See Website
This is why books like this are important. In some respects, they are documenting disappearing history.
He packs a lot in along the way - informative information on beer, ale and whisky production. The role of the pub in society, culture, art, state of the nation and so on. He writes superbly, so by the end of the book you feel like you know him. Certainly you'd like to share a pint and some pork scratching with him.
Highly recommended.
The author, and his mate Perry (whom I am not totally convinced actually exists) head out on a month long pub sojourn between the two extremes of the UK - from the far South West in the Sicily Isles to the Sheland Isles.
He picks the best of the pubs that the county has to offer. Proud to say I have been to around 50% of them and many of the others are now on a "to visit" list. Including Eli's in Huish Episcopi.
Not all are still available - particularly galling is the fate of the Fox and Hounds in Great Wolford in the Cotswolds. The only pub in the village, standing for 400 years. Bought and to be converted into a private dwelling or ransomed back to the village for a cool £1m. See Website
This is why books like this are important. In some respects, they are documenting disappearing history.
He packs a lot in along the way - informative information on beer, ale and whisky production. The role of the pub in society, culture, art, state of the nation and so on. He writes superbly, so by the end of the book you feel like you know him. Certainly you'd like to share a pint and some pork scratching with him.
Highly recommended.
August 12, 2012
"According to G. K. Chesteron, the act of getting to and from a pub is central to an understanding of the British life and landscape. With around 60,000 to choose from, he may have had a point."
Ian Marchant decided to set off with his mate Perry Venus and document his month-long British pub crawl from the two fartherest apart pubs he could find. Witty, informative and thirst-inducing, this is the authors journey both personal and researched, reflecting an integral part of British Life - the Pub. When I came to England, I was amazed by the role the pub plays in English life, straight out from work, you gather in the pub to moan, cry and laugh at life. A man's local is his paradise.
What I enjoyed: This is a long, slow burning read, perfect for rainy Sunday afternoons (accompanied by a beverage if desired - highly recommended). I loved the sheer enjoyment and whimsy of the author as he meets up with his many friends along the way, but also explores the fantastic history of the various pubs, monasteries, breweries and stills around the English country side. I ran a pub for the first year I was here in England, and witnessed first hand the close relationship that can develop in a friendly local - I met my husband working behind the bar, and one of my (other) favourite regulars even brought in his fiancee to meet me!
The only trouble is: I've now bookedmarked about a dozen places to check out for ourselves. Road trip here we come!
Definately a must-read, great as a travel read, a rainy day read and a slow-burner read, you feel like you are accompanying the author. Marchant is beautifully chummily written author, and I am going to be on the look out for further works.
Ian Marchant decided to set off with his mate Perry Venus and document his month-long British pub crawl from the two fartherest apart pubs he could find. Witty, informative and thirst-inducing, this is the authors journey both personal and researched, reflecting an integral part of British Life - the Pub. When I came to England, I was amazed by the role the pub plays in English life, straight out from work, you gather in the pub to moan, cry and laugh at life. A man's local is his paradise.
What I enjoyed: This is a long, slow burning read, perfect for rainy Sunday afternoons (accompanied by a beverage if desired - highly recommended). I loved the sheer enjoyment and whimsy of the author as he meets up with his many friends along the way, but also explores the fantastic history of the various pubs, monasteries, breweries and stills around the English country side. I ran a pub for the first year I was here in England, and witnessed first hand the close relationship that can develop in a friendly local - I met my husband working behind the bar, and one of my (other) favourite regulars even brought in his fiancee to meet me!
The only trouble is: I've now bookedmarked about a dozen places to check out for ourselves. Road trip here we come!
Definately a must-read, great as a travel read, a rainy day read and a slow-burner read, you feel like you are accompanying the author. Marchant is beautifully chummily written author, and I am going to be on the look out for further works.
August 8, 2016
A really interesting booze traveller's history around the country. Stories of whisky distilleries, breweries and the pubs and characters that serve and drink upon them. There is also plenty about the towns and industries that also used to be. Ive never learned so much about the production of pork scratchings ever. A very entertaining read, great camaraderie between friends and lots of very fascinating facts. Well worth a read.
January 29, 2009
quite enjoyable if you like British pubs. I thought he was very brave to intervene in a horrible fight, but then I met him and he's about 300 feet tall.
November 3, 2020
I loved this book. It is interesting, funny and you get the feeling that Mr Marchant would make quite good company on a pub crawl. Which is a happy coincidence, because that’s exactly (of course) what the book is about. You already know – or should do - that this is a tale of two blokes zig-zagging their way from hostelry to hostelry across Britain’s landscape, from the Scilly Isles’ Turk’s Head to the Shetlands’ Baa Bar. What you get along the way is social history, personal anecdotes, some of the science that goes into beer, ale, cider – and more – and introductions to some wonderful characters along the way. There’s even a bit about pork scratchings – and you can’t say that about many books, can you? My only minor criticism was the use of the term ‘pished’, which I found slightly irritating. But I was sad to get to the end of this book and happily intend to read it again.
December 16, 2018
Just the sort of book I love: part travelogue, part biography, part history. Marchant has an honesty married with an ability to tell it as it is.
March 3, 2025
Ispiratore
July 8, 2012
For a more detailed review, please visit my blog http://cornishamy.blogspot.co.uk/2012...
I found this book for a couple of pounds in The Works (ssh, don't tell the author), and I bought it on impulse because I know a couple of places mentioned in the blurb on the back.
In Marchant's book you learn quite a lot about the author himself, as well as learning a lot about the processes of making alcohol (Plymouth Gin, somerset cider, beer). He is very self-deprecating and plays on the pub-bore side of his personality (without being boring): while his friend Perry flirts with cute barmaids and tour guides, he is the one asking technical questions about brewing and fermenting. He is funny and frequently quite politically incorrect (with, I think, no malice), and he is very thoughtful along the way about the UK's historically fraught relationship with the demon drink.
I found this book for a couple of pounds in The Works (ssh, don't tell the author), and I bought it on impulse because I know a couple of places mentioned in the blurb on the back.
In Marchant's book you learn quite a lot about the author himself, as well as learning a lot about the processes of making alcohol (Plymouth Gin, somerset cider, beer). He is very self-deprecating and plays on the pub-bore side of his personality (without being boring): while his friend Perry flirts with cute barmaids and tour guides, he is the one asking technical questions about brewing and fermenting. He is funny and frequently quite politically incorrect (with, I think, no malice), and he is very thoughtful along the way about the UK's historically fraught relationship with the demon drink.
January 7, 2009
Terrific road trip lit - though such a physically large book seemed daunting at first; I paused roughly halfway through, and came back to the story a few days later.
Defintely recommended, but it's not a breezy read; Marchant crams in quite a bit of detail (and, yes, goes off on a few tangents as well), so a couple of chapters at a time was about my limit.
Updated to add: if you enjoy this one, try Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie.
Defintely recommended, but it's not a breezy read; Marchant crams in quite a bit of detail (and, yes, goes off on a few tangents as well), so a couple of chapters at a time was about my limit.
Updated to add: if you enjoy this one, try Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie.
August 6, 2011
A long and whimsical book about a long and whimsical pub crawl. It took me until the second half to really get into it and some of the writing in the London chapter made me bite my knuckles but overall, enjoyable. I guess I'm not really the target audience though. After all the build up, I can't believe he didn't try the Buckie! And he didn't get "pished" (aaargh!) very often either which I would have thought was a given for writing a book about pubs.
August 12, 2013
Wonderful account of the author's month long excursion which saw him travel from the southernmost pub/bar in England to the northernmost pub/bar in the Shetland Islands, and all the stops in between. Charming anecdotes relating the characters who inhabit the pub world throughout, along with detailed historical information regarding brewing / distilling in Great Britain and how the pub fits into the cultural tradition of the region.
January 18, 2011
We're largely dependent on finding books in various sailor exchanges around the islands, so we sometimes read the oddest books. This was a grand surprise "travel" book about a pub crawl from the most southern to most northern pubs in the UK. We laughed out loud and learned quite a lot about beer, ale, whiskey.
October 26, 2012
A road trip book based around a pub crawl from the Scilly Isles to the Shetlands. Well written, with a lot of information about the processes of making different types of alcohol and it's history in Britain, as well as some autobiographical information that comes out of the places they visit.
February 4, 2015
13CD talking book version. Narrated by the author. Easy way to make a book while having fun. From the Turk's Head in the Isles of Scilly to the Baa Bar in the Shetlands. Light entertainment and enjoyable
April 30, 2013
An excellent account of a pub crawl - the longest one possible in Britain. Full of funny anecdotes and useful information about pubs, British drinks, pork scratchings etc.
July 9, 2013
Very entertaining travelogue of two guys who spend a month doing the longest pub-crawl in Britain - from the Sicily Isles to the Shetland Isles.
February 6, 2019
Dal pub più a sud a quello più a nord attraverso la società britannica.
Consigliato a chi: Ama la birra, ama la storia e vuole conoscere a fondo la società inglese
Consigliato a chi: Ama la birra, ama la storia e vuole conoscere a fondo la società inglese
March 28, 2018
This is two books really. Or is it two people in one author? It describes two guys on a journey from the Isles of Scilly to the Shetland Isles visiting pubs and breweries (etc) along the way and encountering places, characters and history. It’s entertaining enough but it sort of becomes parallel texts with the’ I don’t give a damn’ boy-man trading places with the in-depth travel writer. After a while I wished it was either one or the other. There are historical expositions on such things as coaching inns, the hospital of St Cross, Winchester, yeast genomes, etc all written by a guy who can’t refrain from drinking because he’s afraid of looking like a wus. But overall Ian Marchant is not a bad travel companion.
March 14, 2019
I really liked Parallel Lines: Or, Journeys on the Railway of Dreams (2003), and I absolutely loved A Hero for High Times: A Younger Reader’s Guide to the Beats, Hippies, Freaks, Punks, Ravers, New-Age Travellers and Dog-on-a-Rope Brew Crew Crusties of the British Isles, 1956–1994 (2018) which was the best book I read in 2018.
Perhaps it was to do with expectation but, given my track record with Ian Marchant's other non-fiction work, I was expecting to feel as positively about The Longest Crawl: Being an Account of a Journey Through an Intoxicated Landscape or a Child's Treasury of Booze (2006). Do not misunderstand me, it is very enjoyable, just not quite as coherent and compelling as the previous two books by him that I'd read.
In The Longest Crawl: Being an Account of a Journey Through an Intoxicated Landscape or a Child's Treasury of Booze, Ian Marchant chronicles a pub crawl that goes the length of Britain which is tied to our heritage as a nation of drinkers. As usual it's a combination of psychogeography, memoir and triv filled wonderland. It is also inspirational. You may well emerge with a list of places to visit and explore.
3/5
Perhaps it was to do with expectation but, given my track record with Ian Marchant's other non-fiction work, I was expecting to feel as positively about The Longest Crawl: Being an Account of a Journey Through an Intoxicated Landscape or a Child's Treasury of Booze (2006). Do not misunderstand me, it is very enjoyable, just not quite as coherent and compelling as the previous two books by him that I'd read.
In The Longest Crawl: Being an Account of a Journey Through an Intoxicated Landscape or a Child's Treasury of Booze, Ian Marchant chronicles a pub crawl that goes the length of Britain which is tied to our heritage as a nation of drinkers. As usual it's a combination of psychogeography, memoir and triv filled wonderland. It is also inspirational. You may well emerge with a list of places to visit and explore.
3/5
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews