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Historic England is the Government body ‘that*looks after England’s historic environment’ and it*wants your help cataloguing pubs built after World War II that are still standing.

Estate pubs, as they’re sometimes called though not all are actually on housing estates,*are not always terribly attractive — sometimes cheaply built, they were often victim to panicked plastic-Victorian makeovers in the 1970s, and then subject to decades of neglect. Nonetheless, they’re an important part of our landscape which is in real danger of disappearing. (And, remember, Victorian pubs were once considered tasteless disposable crap, too.)
Here’s what’s left of the Pig & Whistle in Bridgwater, Bailey’s home town, where he attended family dos and childrens’ parties as a nipper:
SOURCE: Bailey’s Mum.The nearby Withycutter is reportedly still in one piece, but only just, while*the Black Horse, once Starkey Knight & Ford‘s flagship modern pub, on the town’s other big estate, was knocked down a few years ago.
So, do drop Jo at Historic England a line if there’s a flat-roofed beauty still in one piece where you live.
In the meantime, gathered from across our Facebook and Twitter accounts, here are some examples of the kind of thing they’re looking for:
The Rosetti, from a Fuller’s publicity leaflet, c.1979.The Pied Piper, Stevenage, 1950s.The Phoenix, Harlow, 1950s.The Holland Arms, London W14, c.1961.The Boddington Arms, Wilmslow, Cheshire, photographed by John Howarth and scanned from ‘200 Years of Beer’, Boddington’s, 1978.The Cross Hands, as pictured in Whitbread’s 1974 pub guide.Historic England and Post-War Pubs from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Over-thinking beer, pubs and the meaning of craft since 2007


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