Pub History Society

The Society was initiated in February 2001 to help bring together like minded individuals who enjoy some aspect of pub history. Many of our members have written books and articles about the history of pubs, others are just enthusiasts who enjoy nothing more than visiting unspoilt or historic pubs.

Essentially the PHS exists to:-

Encourage research into the public house, the people who worked in them, and their importance to society as a whole.

Co-ordinate and publicise the work of people already researching the subject using newsletters and the website.

And above all, to celebrate and commemorate a unique heritage - join one of our guided pub-crawls of historic pubs.

Over the last couple of years we have had various meetings in different parts of the country and we host regular 'Pub Tours' during the year. These Tours are suited to anyone with a passing interest in unspoilt pubs and provide a nice comfortable social environment in which to meet fellow enthusiasts. Full details can be found on our Diary Dates page as well as dates for Non Society activities.

Many people who contact us are looking for ways to trace their ancestors who may have

been in 'the trade'. Simon Fowler, Chairman of the Society and Editor of Family History Magazine has put together a guide to tracing ancestors who worked in pubs. The guide also gives general details about tracing the history of a pub. You can find links and ideas on how to carry out you own research on our Researching the History of a pub page.

As a society dealing with public houses and their history we thought that a useful project to embark upon would be a bibliography of books, publications and articles that relate in some way to pub history. The project has now been made available online and we would invite all visitors to have a peruse. If anyone is able to help add to the project please let us know by following the links at the end of the Bibliography. We would particularly like to hear from anyone who has published anything that might be relevant. We will then be able to make webspace available for the publisher’s or author's use.

The work of the late Bryan Lacey who was a member of the society has now been transferred to space on the Brewery History Society website. Bryan spent a great deal of time recording instances of defunct brewery livery or logos that still existed on or in pubs. He had built up a large number of entries in the database. Visit the Defunct Brewery Livery Project via the BHS website for more information.

For those interested in Tavern Tokens, we have a list of ‘Mystery Tavern Tokens. Perhaps you might be able to help identify them. PHS member Neil B Todd would love to hear from you.

We are currently building up a small library of books, publications and articles. Our newly acquired Librarian, David Muggleton will be looking for donations of same. Our Library Page has more details.

Several times a year we like to publish and circulate a Newsletter via email. If you would like to get on the mailing list please see below.

Click here to receive occasional 'e-newsletters' from the Pub History Society - [addresses will NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE PASSED ONTO ANY THIRD PARTY].

We have made available a selection of our e-newsletters that we send out to interested parties. They provide a flavour of what is contained in our printed version (available to members). Go to our News Page where you can follow the links to the past issues.