Leamington pubs history book out this month

Available from mid-April, the much awaited ‘Pubs of Royal Leamington Spa - Two Centuries of History’ by Allan Jennings, Martin Ellis and Tom Lewin takes the reader from the two earliest hostelries in Leamington Priors – towards the end of the 1700s – to the surviving traditional pubs and modern day bars.

It includes a history of each pub (present, past and long forgotten) – most of the landlords and the landladies names – over 250 photographs/illustrations – pub name changes (for better and for worse) – as well as a multitude of other interesting facts, including a note on what now stands on the once pub sites.

Commenting on the five year journey – since the authors joined forces in mid 2009 – Allan Jennings said: “The end result is fantastic for a number of reasons. Firstly, Tom and I live in Leamington and Martin lives in Australia. Without email the project would have taken a lifetime as we have exchanged an average of 20-30 emails a day for the duration.

“Collectively we have worked night and day throughout – as Tom and I finished at the end of a day Martin would be getting up in Australia and starting again.

“Fortunately, the three of us have different skills and interests, which has been an enormous bonus, and has produced a far better book than any one of us could have produced independently.

“Also, it’s hard to believe that we worked so well together for so long because Martin and Tom are both West Bromwich Albion fans and I support the Wolves - still, what do they know about football!

“During the four years of actual research, the three of us have each had the hard drive on our computer crash – testament to the volume of work undertaken – but fortunately the information was either backed up or recoverable.

“Tom and I were regular visitors to the library where we would sit at the viewer for hours on end checking old newspapers; in fact, we checked every Leamington Courier since it started in 1828 – that’s a lot of Couriers and a lot of hours. One aspect that I am really pleased about is that all manner of people have shown an interest in this book; the local historians were obviously going to be interested, but many people remember their old ‘local’ and are looking forward to reading about it or looking at a photo – nostalgia is alive and well.

“And then there is the person who just wants to flick through the photos while having a quiet pint – so everyone’s happy then.”

For further information relating to the book’s availability and price, contact Tom Lewin, email: [email protected] or call 0780 360 2970.