C O N T E X T 9 8 : M A R C H 2 0 0 7 9 houses inspired by Greek and Roman architecture, and others such as the ‘chaste Palladian’ La Tourette farm in New Jersey, and the Schinkel-inspired Lundewitz House in frankfurt. The professional sympathies between author and subject are reflected in well-judged accounts of the architect’s thought processes. These accounts reveal many situations where Terry has reinterpreted classical exemplars with flair and where the ‘dazzling qualities’ of his craftsmanship shine to best advantage. This will be Terry’s legacy. Yet many of the conflicting views surrounding Terry’s more controversial projects are not always rigorously examined, but are instead dismissed as unworthy or simply ignored (Downing College, Cambridge; St Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate, London; the Riverside interiors). Neither can one escape a sense, despite the fine photographs, that some of Terry’s output veers towards over-correctness. a few of his houses look over-dressed for lambent English settings. The clients’ whims, perhaps? I am not sure. I miss the joyous idiosyncrasies and the playfulness which the Edwardians brought to their reworkings of the classical manner. Dogmatism can be trying. Impartial this book is not. Read it for its survey of Terry’s buildings and the ideas which have nurtured his thinking. Enjoy the best of his oeuvre. Enjoy too Watkin’s moralising, whether you find it thought provoking or outrageously provocative. But ponder, withWatkin and Rogers, just why it is, with the uK’s plethora of planning controls and quangos, that so much new-build is remarkable only for its banality and lack of imagination. How right they both are to be concerned. finally, a plea to Mr Terry: more of your mouth-watering Baroque please. Therein your powers excel. Jennifer Freeman, director of the Historic Chapels Trust Last orders Licensed to Sell: the history and heritage of the public house Geoff Brandwood, Andrew Davison and Michael Slaughter, with a foreword by Bill Bryson, English Heritage in association with CAMRA, 2004, 192pp, 41 black and white and 240 colour illustrations, ISBN 1 85074 906 X, £14.99 along with the Tower of London, the K6 telephone kiosk and the doubledecker bus, the English public house is often thought of as a national symbol. Most western societies have drinking establishments, but the English pub has traditionally had a special character and a favoured place in society. With the church, the pub was usually recognised as the social hub of agrarian communities. It somehow managed to preserve that role, in an enlarged, more commercial form, as the population migrated to the towns and engaged in industrial employment. That special character has been explored by many commentators over time, not least by George orwell in his engaging essay of 1946, ‘The Moon underWater’. But I would suggest that the quintessential appeal of a classic pub lies in the combined availability of conviviality and privacy in a single, relatively small building. Traditional public house layouts allowed a raucous conversation with drinking companions or a comparatively sober business meeting; a singsong or a tryst. Licensed to Sell tells the long story of the English pub, with useful and illuminating forays toWales, Scotland and Ireland to compare and contrast. It meticulously explains the historical processes at work as medieval inns, taverns and alehouses gradually evolved into the 20th century pub. Licensed premises always had to adapt to a complex web of legislation and regulation that often had a significant impact on internal layout, the services offered and the day-to-day operation of the business, sometimes in unexpected and unintended ways. The text is closely argued and concise, and always lucid. There are particularly interesting passages on the temperance movement of the 19th century and its long, but ultimately fruitless campaign to provide viable alternatives to the pub for the working man. But the book is most at home exploring the complexities of the traditional pub interior, which became characterised by separate rooms or compartments for different uses and users, some very subtly differentiated. The sad fact is that this subtlety of function is now under enormous threat. a few large pub companies now dominate the management of the nation’s public houses. Most seem to regard a large open room with unimpeded floor space for large numbers of standing drinkers as the optimum business model. The intimate snug, the gentle social segregation of public bar and lounge, and the provision of games or a club room are now regarded as things of the past. Regulators also tend to frown on the enclosed spaces of the traditional pub. They fear that a room that was ideal for a business meeting can now be used for deals of a more illicit nature. In practice, the capacity of the traditional pub to absorb a wide spectrum of people engaged in a wide range of leisure activities had a self-regulating function. Youngsters could be boisterous in a games room, hardened drinkers could curse in the public bar, and the middle classes could converse in a lounge. The monoculture of today’s bars tends to cater for only one of these groups, usually the one that spends most freely. The others have been driven to the surviving havens in the back streets or the suburbs, or simply stay at home with a bottle of supermarket wine. The regular refurbishment cycle operated by most pub companies and breweries also ensures that any historic interior will be threatened on successive occasions. If the conservation professional manages to save it once, the depressing fact is that he or she will probably have to have a similar argument in about seven years with another interior designer or marketing guru. Even if a further victory is secured, there is still a chance that the pub will close altogether, particularly if it serves a scattered or declining clientele, or the market value of other uses grows to eclipse the original one. This book conclusively proves that the perpetual battle to save the best surviving examples is more than worth the trouble. Some conservation officers have a lifetime’s experience of the public house. They will adore the wonderful array of elaborate and simple pub interiors illustrated on the pages of this book. The photographs are well chosen and lovingly shot, ranging from the unpretentious, unadorned interiors of the country pub, to the lavish ‘gin palace’ of the great industrial cities.
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