For centuries, the village pub has been at the core of rural community life acting as - in addition to a drinking haunt - a meeting place, a place for lodging, the village post office, a barber's shop and the local polling station. Beautifully evoked by Protz's prose and Sykes' glorious photographs, this book is a snapshot of the rural inn at the end of the 20th century.
As well as traditional village pubs - creeper clad, whitewashed exteriors, small latticed windows, large inglenook fireplaces and ancient oak beams - here are startlingly incongruous pubs, pubs that sheltered royalty and harbour ghosts, or with literary and artistic associates, or simply situated in spectacular settings.
