A PINT OF GOOD POOLE ALE

News of a new book on the public houses in Poole has reached ED’s Pint the book is to be published be Poole Historical Trust later this year hopefully ready for Christmas it will be called A PINT OF GOOD POOLE ALE the Poole’s Inns, Taverns and Breweries by Andrew Hawkes.  The story of Poole’s Inns, Taverns and Breweries starts from the town’s founding in the twelfth century.  Since the earliest times public houses have opened and closed as trade dictated and although a few have survived, most disappeared without trace. There are no records relating to these early inns but contemporary historians referred to them in their writings. For those built or opened in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, detailed records usually exist and street directories and telephone books confirm their location.  During his time as a Poole Librarian the late Harry

Johnstone compiled a list of the ‘Taverns, Inns, Beer Houses and Hotels’ that he found in Poole. It was his sharing of this list that led Andrew Hawkes to keep it up to date. As Andrew also collected pictures of old Poole and was fortunate to find an almost complete

set of postcards showing the public houses in Poole in the 1950’s, he was able to use these and others from his collection to piece together the first history of Poole’s public houses. He was also helped by Ray Farleigh who had detailed knowledge of Poole’s breweries and public houses, coupled with the resources of Poole Museum’s Archive and other members of the public, Andrew was able to complete the picture record. The only public houses in this book without pictures are the ones which closed or were destroyed before the invention of photography. Andrew Hawkes’ family has been associated with the town of Poole since the late eighteenth century and they have run the family shoe business in the High Street for over 150 years. Andrew’s hobby is collecting photographs of old Poole.

ED’s Pint will have a special offer price to readers later in the year