Description

The days when Wheathampstead’s Hope Brewery sold beer at a shilling a gallon may be long gone, but this book offers readers a chance to explore the rich and varied social life in the parish’s 26 pubs more than a century ago.

All life was there – the good, the bad and the ugly. Pubs hosted Benefit Societies as well as thieves and drunkards. Landlords didn’t just sell beer, they also worked as bricklayers, farmers or sawyers.

Some weren’t above breaking the Sunday licensing laws with a spot of subterfuge. One catered for his thirsty Sunday morning customers by pretending the buckets of beer he was carrying contained water for his horses.

Now that the village can support a mere three or four drinking places, it is fascinating to see how much life went on in the pubs of yesteryear.

Paperback: 66 pages
Publisher: Wheathampstead History Society, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9160848-0-3
Dimensions: 24.6 x 16.5 x 0.8 cm