A FINANCIAL TIMES AND SPECTATOR BEST DRINK BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2024
‘The book follows the seasons, and does a smart job of being elegiac and a little magical without trying to deny modernity’ Financial Times, Drinks Books of the Year
‘A poetic meditation on the public house … an appreciation of what makes a pub great’ Spectator, Drinks Books of the Year
“A splendid book, ruminative, delightful and as full of good cheer as the best pub.” Mail on Sunday
“A genial ramble of a book … a paean to the pub and its crucial role in community life.” Country Life
Ever since he was old enough to enjoy them, award-winning journalist and beer-expert Adrian Tierney-Jones has been visiting and drinking in pubs all over the country.
As the world opened up post-Covid and we were all finally able to return to our locals, Adrian’s love for this British institution burned even brighter and he promised himself he would travel around the UK in search of the best pub he could find.
The story of one man through the year and his travels to all corners of the country, A Pub For All Seasons follows Adrian as he visits far-flung corners of the country. From mellow, gentle pubs in autumn and dim, cosy spots in winter to bright, lively bars in spring and wondrous, buzzing gardens in summer, Adrian speaks to locals and landlords, hears unique sounds and stories, and samples food, drink and atmosphere. He watches the wild and beautiful similarities, differences between pubs, and notices how they all shift, tonally, throughout the year.
And what started as a simple quest to find a nice place to sit and drink, ends up revealing to Adrian so much more: the secret to what truly makes the perfect British local across the four seasons.
“A hymn to the unique charms of the British pub … Elegiac, moving and as satisfying as a cool pint of Harvey’s Best on a hot Summer’s day.” Henry Jeffreys
“Adrian Tierney-Jones doesn’t just visit pubs – he inhabits them and gives them a voice, allowing them to tell us how they act as the cornerstones of culture and community.” Pete Brown
“Profound, personal and powerful.” Beer Insider
‘The book follows the seasons, and does a smart job of being elegiac and a little magical without trying to deny modernity’ Financial Times, Drinks Books of the Year
‘A poetic meditation on the public house … an appreciation of what makes a pub great’ Spectator, Drinks Books of the Year
“A splendid book, ruminative, delightful and as full of good cheer as the best pub.” Mail on Sunday
“A genial ramble of a book … a paean to the pub and its crucial role in community life.” Country Life
Ever since he was old enough to enjoy them, award-winning journalist and beer-expert Adrian Tierney-Jones has been visiting and drinking in pubs all over the country.
As the world opened up post-Covid and we were all finally able to return to our locals, Adrian’s love for this British institution burned even brighter and he promised himself he would travel around the UK in search of the best pub he could find.
The story of one man through the year and his travels to all corners of the country, A Pub For All Seasons follows Adrian as he visits far-flung corners of the country. From mellow, gentle pubs in autumn and dim, cosy spots in winter to bright, lively bars in spring and wondrous, buzzing gardens in summer, Adrian speaks to locals and landlords, hears unique sounds and stories, and samples food, drink and atmosphere. He watches the wild and beautiful similarities, differences between pubs, and notices how they all shift, tonally, throughout the year.
And what started as a simple quest to find a nice place to sit and drink, ends up revealing to Adrian so much more: the secret to what truly makes the perfect British local across the four seasons.
“A hymn to the unique charms of the British pub … Elegiac, moving and as satisfying as a cool pint of Harvey’s Best on a hot Summer’s day.” Henry Jeffreys
“Adrian Tierney-Jones doesn’t just visit pubs – he inhabits them and gives them a voice, allowing them to tell us how they act as the cornerstones of culture and community.” Pete Brown
“Profound, personal and powerful.” Beer Insider
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Reviews
You've never read a book quite like A Pub for All Seasons before. It's a hymn to the unique charms of the British pub that encompasses aspects of memoir, travel and as you might expect quite a bit of beer. With writing that's elegiac, moving and as satisfying as a cool pint of Harvey's Best on a hot summer's day, Adrian Tierney-Jones is the undisputed bard of the bar room.
Adrian Tierney-Jones doesn't just visit pubs - he inhabits them and gives them a voice, allowing them to tell us how they act as the cornerstones of culture and community.
He takes the reader around the country and into pubs often at quieter contemplative times and at its heart it is a gentle contemplative publication ... It is to some extent a love letter to things lost but such is the style of Tierney-Jones that this is dealt with in a light touch and ultimately the book is upbeat ... Profound, personal and powerful.
This is slow travel, the time consumed by reflection. You can almost hear the leaden tick of a grandfather clock as he sips and muses and writes. The mood is frequently melancholic, 'the loneliness of the long-distance drinker' as Tierney-Jones has it.
A genial ramble of a book ... a paean to the pub and its crucial role in community life.
This is a splendid book, ruminative, delightful and as full of good cheer as the best pub.
A poetic meditation on the public house, its history and place in our culture with some memoir deftly thrown in. Most of all it's an appreciation of what makes a pub great: the layers accumulated by decades - centuries, sometimes - of human interaction
In winter, "The warmth of the pub is physical, attention-seeking, a welcome hand on the shoulder" observes Tierney-Jones, a writer of beer guides whose prose takes a turn towards the poetic in this travelogue. The book follows the seasons, and does a smart job of being elegiac and a little magical without trying to deny modernity.
'A fabulous year-long odyssey in search of the best pubs ... An evocative mix of travelogue, pub guide and social history ... A must-read.