Our story begins with a pub. I had only been living in Cambridge for a week when I went to meet up with some others from my Heritage Studies master’s course in The Elm Tree. A local Victorian watering hole, The Elm Tree is famed for its expansive selection of bottled Belgian beers – easily enough to tempt me from my student accommodation for an evening! However, that night I got more than the Trappist Ales and good conversation I had bargained for. There I met Josh – who kindly offered to walk me home – and within a year, we were living in our shared small flat not far from the pub where we were first introduced, keeping each other sane through the stress of submitting our Masters theses.
In order to distract ourselves from our impending deadline, we would often spend evenings exploring Cambridge’s many pubs and we quickly became mutually interested in the unique histories and cultural artefacts contained within these remarkable buildings, as well as Cambridge’s pub culture generally. It was under the white heat of academic pressure – as well as the clarity of mind that comes midway through a second pint – that we decided to undertake a noble quest: we would visit every pub in Cambridge. More than that, we would keep a diary of our exploits, keeping track of our conquests, recording each pub’s quintessential quirks and qualities, all while producing a definitive ranking of Cambridge’s pubs in order to keep track of our favourites. We developed a unique rubric that rates pubs not only by their aesthetic, ambience, service and beer selection, but also by their “ineffable pub quality” – that magical fifth element which elevates your average boozer to something legendary. Since then our quest to rate pubs has gone nationwide – from Portsmouth to Middlesbrough, and we never go anywhere without our trusty notebook tucked into a backpack.
Making these ratings encouraged us to think critically about pubs for the first time. We knew we loved pubs, but why? What made them special? Why did we want to come back? These questions – inevitably discussed over more than a few pints – led us to some important conclusions about the cultural and social role that pubs play in the United Kingdom. Crucially, we realised that this role is being ignored from a heritage context.
This blog space is exactly for those discussions. Josh and I are both experienced Heritage academics and practitioners with a burning passion for pub culture, travel and writing. We will not only write about the pubs in Cambridge which are not included in our tours, but the other pubs we visit as we travel around the country, as well as those from our youth which made us fall in love with pubs in the first place. You’ll see behind the curtain on our pub rating journey, and we’ll often post our ratings and discussions directly onto our blog. Most importantly, we will reflect on the elements of pub culture which mean the most to us, and expand on some of the key themes from the tours. Cheers!
