The great British pub is not just a place to drink beer, wine, cider or even something a little bit stronger. It is also a unique social centre, very often the focus of community life in villages, towns and cities.

It appears that the British pub actually started life as a great Italian wine bar, and dates back almost 2,000 years. It was an invading Roma army, that first brought Roman Roads, Roman towns and Roman pubs known as tabernae to these shores in 43 AD. Such tabernae, or shops that sold wine, were quickly built alongside Roman roads and in towns to help quench the thirst of the legionary troops. It was ale, however, that was the native British brew. The native British brew of ‘ale’ was originally made without hops, and it appears that these tabernae quickly adapted to provide the locals with their favourite tipple, with the word eventually being corrupted to tavern.

Taverns and alehouses provided food and drink to their guests. Alehouses, inns and taverns collectively became known as public houses and then simply as pubs around the reign of King Henry VII. In 1552, an act was passed that required innkeepers to have a license in order to run a pub. Pubs of the age of the stagecoach, even relatively small ones, would typically be split into several rooms and bars in order to cater for differing types and classes of customer. In today’s ‘open-plan’ society such walls have been removed, and now anyone is welcome in the great British pub.