The Search for the Perfect Pub

by Paul Moody

In 1946, George Orwell, a man fond of a pint, wrote about his favorite pub, The Moon Under Water, in his Evening Standard column. But it didn't actually exist. It was Orwell's vision of a perfect pub. Today, Wetherspoons have fourteen Moon Under Waters, and the nation is awash with identikit, high-street lounge bars competing for a dwindling clientele. Paul Moody and Robin Turner's road trip around Britain, therefore, is not just a search for the perfect pub. It is a deeper investigation into what has happened to British pub culture, once the toast of the world. In fact, it is a search for a kind of life-force kindled by the British public, something the powers-that-be are forever trying to extinguish. Along the way, such luminaries as Pete Brown ("the King of Beer"), Tim Martin (Wetherspoon's boss), Iain Sinclair, James Dean Bradfield, and Paul Kingsnorth are consulted—along with a host of micro-brewers, landlords, politicians, bloggers, and barroom philosophers. What emerges is a picture of the country as seen through a pint glass, a vision that goes to the heart of what it means to be British.

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2013

Reviews

[Stephen]

interesting travelogue looking for the search of the perfect pub or as orwell called it the moon under water as the author takes us to different parts of the Uk and different styles of pub from the fun themed ones to the back street boozer

[Mark]

Great book, very entertaining read. Explores the idea of the perfect pub, and looks at the current state of pubs and society in general from various viewpoints .