Cheers! Neil takes a crawl
Saturday December 15, 2018
Historian Neil Collingwood talks to ADAM GRATTON about his latest book, which charts the history of pubs in his home town of Leek
AFTER more than two years of research, trawling through centuries’ worth of information, Neil Collingwood’s latest book Leek – A Historic Pub Crawl sheds light on the 150 public houses to have graced the streets of Leek.
After writing several books prior to this latest offering, Neil has finally got around to looking at the past of pubs – a project he’d been wanting to do for several years.
“For me the interesting thing about pubs is not the drinking which goes on, but how they are steeped in the social history of the area,” he said.
“Pubs were around in Britain as early as the Roman times; since then they have been a place for communities to come together.”
Neil, who admits he doesn’t spend a lot of time in pubs, says that while his book lists all the hostelries in the town, it is not simply a guide but rather a more detailed look.
He said: “After my own interest led me to start researching the topic of pubs in Leek, I realised there were no comprehensive guides on the subject. There was no historical insight into the individual parts of pubs in the town.
“The bulk of the book is comprised of a chapter in which the streets of Leek are arranged in alphabetical order, and the pubs within those streets are covered in the same way.”
Neil’s labour of love delves into every aspect of what makes up these much-loved watering holes, from the origins of signs and beer to the laws brought in to tackle alcohol issues.
He said: “The common phrase we often hear, not just in Leek but at any pub you walk into across the country, is ‘they serve a nice pint of ale’. The fact is, original ale has not been drunk in pubs since around the 15th century. What we are served today is beer, which was brought in from around the same time as ale ceased to be served.”
Shedding some light on this most fundamental aspect of drinking in pubs, Neil says it’s simple: “If it’s made with hops, it’s beer”.
However, this fascination, as Neil describes it, with the history of these cornerstones of the community is the driving force behind the book – not the drinking.
“Some of the things which interest me are the age-old phrases I hear which show the importance of the place the ‘pub’ has in Leek,” he said,
“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘per head, Leek has the most pubs in the country’. While the town has had 150 public houses over the centuries, it’s not a fact.
“But these phrases show how passionate people in the town are