A note on documentary research

The Context

Pub Heritage Group's Selection Criteria for selecting entries to the National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors states that: ‘The genuineness of historic internal fabric is not always self-evident and great importance is placed on obtaining verification, wherever possible, by reference to documentary sources like original plans, building and planning records, early photographs and other kinds of authoritative historical material. Anecdotal testimony from people familiar with the pub over many years may also be of assistance but needs to be treated with caution.’.

Hence, the evidence derived from visiting and viewing a pub should be supported by evidence from research before it is proposed for inclusion in the Inventory. There is a rich variety of resources available, but records are often incomplete and sometimes misleading. It would too much to expect that every proposer of a pub needs to explore all the potential sources listed below. However, a simple desk-based search of the more obvious on-line sources, such as planning information available on local council websites, and/or an enquiry to the local library or archive office, would be a reasonable start.

More diligent research will sometimes be necessary where a pub’s history is complex or (as sometimes happens) disputed. In case of doubt, advice may be sought from experienced PHG members. The local CAMRA branch may also sometimes be able to provide background information and suggestions.

Where to go for this kind of information?

(1) An initial search of on-line resources is a useful starting point. This may filter out some candidates which appear promising, but turn out to be false friends. Listed building information can be found on-line, and the local planning portal (see (8) below) can also be very useful. Some other on-line resources are also dealt with below. Historic Environment Records (HERs), which can be accessed through local planning departments, are a potential source of information on historic buildings, although they are at different stages of development in different parts of the country and the information contained in them may vary from area to area.

(2) After consulting on-line resources, your local library, museum and/or city/county archive centre is a good next port of call. They may have a catalogue reference for the pub in question. Their local history collection might include old local newspapers (which were sometimes highly detailed in their accounts of new pub openings), trade directories and street directories, often going back to the 1830s (which, whilst little concerned with building details, can sometimes help with dating), historic photographs, and even architectural drawings. Archive centres sometimes hold detailed building and planning records from before 1974 (transferred to them following the radical reorganisation of local government that year) and licensing justices records from before 1985 (when licensing became an entirely local authority responsibility) – see (5) below. Unfortunately, many such records, including material from the mid twentieth century, were never actually deposited in archives, and have been lost or destroyed.

(3) When using archive centres, one potential difficulty is that county and other local authority boundaries change over time (see below), and records do not always follow the changes. It is occasionally worth checking whether a record is held in the archive of a different authority from that where a pub is now located. When using a record office, it is usually worth speaking to the staff to get an idea of what kinds of records remain, cataloguing systems, whether there is any relevant uncatalogued material and help with searches.

(4) Plans for new buildings and structural alterations to existing ones have required local authority approval since the 1850s, and licensing justices’ approval from the 1870s until 2005. Such old records, which by the 1890s could be highly detailed and elaborate, can be a very useful information source where they survive. For the years up to the 1960s, these are usually held at archive centres, the catalogues of which can be searched online. Sheffield Archives (online catalogue and visits), for example, have a licensing file for many pubs (and ex-pubs) which include licensee lists, photographs, plans and assorted papers. In rare instances, some Court Offices still retain their own copies of documents.

(5) County and local record offices also sometimes hold drainage plans, which can include floor plans of premises where drains need to be re-routed. More recent alterations are to be found by searching a local authority’s Planning Portal, usually found in a local authority website. Whilst planning portals do not generally go back for fifty years, they can provide a wealth of information on recent changes to internal layout, and often contain floor plans.

(6) Archive offices may also occasionally hold records of old local and regional brewery companies. For example, London Metropolitan Archives holds records relating to Whitbread, a London-based firm. Whilst these will not usually include building plans, documents like directors' minutes will record details of the letting of pub building and refurbishment contracts, and there might also be newspaper cuttings and historic photographs.

(7) Local authority planning and building control departments have – or may know the whereabouts of – old plans, application details or other records which might throw light on the pub interior in question (i.e. what changes it has undergone and, ideally, what it was like before the Second World War). The first approach is best made to the conservation team or conservation officer in the council's planning department, who will often be interested and willing to help. Many historic records remaining with local authorities have been captured on microfilm or microfiche, and the planning team should be able to facilitate access. Records from the 1990s and later have often been made available via local authority online ‘planning portals’ (whose format is fairly standard across the country). They include a Search Planning Applications tab which, on entry of a postcode, building, or street name, calls up all planning and listed building applications received for that property in date order, and usually gives detailed access to their contents. Where content is incomplete, and the missing parts seem especially relevant, a courteous call to planning staff may provide the necessary clarification. Once records have been found, it is worth looking in particular at the ‘documents,’ ‘property history’ and ‘related cases’ tabs. In rare cases, some online records go further back than the 1990s; for instance, Portsmouth City Council’s online ‘planning portal’ includes information and architectural drawings going back to at least the 1950s.

(8) Old large-scale maps such as Ordnance Survey maps can help define a pub’s footprint, rough date and evolution, although not its internal structure. Goad fire insurance maps are an exception, in that they provide information about a building’s structure (e.g. number of storeys, building materials). These were produced between the 1880s and 1970 but only cover densely populated urban areas of Britain; they are especially useful for commercial and industrial areas in cities and towns. Census records, recorded by address and widely available on-line and in archive centres, can also help by identifying a building’s residents. Many newspapers have been made available online through the British Newspaper Archive, and this is worth searching to find articles about a pub’s opening, etc.

(9) Some brewery companies produced in-house journals and magazines. These can be an extremely useful source of information about pubs, especially those dating from the C20th. These publications often include articles about new pub openings and historic photographs. Most are held at the British Library – such as House of Whitbread – as are other periodicals of relevance, including the Brewers’ Guardian and Brewing Trade Review. For regional breweries, these journals and magazines might be held by the relevant local archive centre.

(10) Other Information sources include:
CAMRA: Pub Heritage publications and online; Good Beer Guide, CAMRA online pub guide, local guides, local websites.
Old Ordnance Survey maps: are available online from the National Library of Scotland.
Other publications: brewery guides, local history books, pub guides (especially older publications dealing with “The Ancient Pubs of…..” such and such a county, of which there are many). These can be found in libraries, or sometimes can be obtained through websites dealing in old books, such as World of Books.
Other organisations: Local and national history societies and similar organisations for example: Pub History Society, which contains useful information about sources on their research page. The University of the Third Age (U3A), which has local branches in most counties and many towns, often runs local history groups. Information is usually available on the local U3A website.
Artificial Intelligence: It could be useful to investigate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. For example: ChatGPT, DALLE-2, CoPilot, and Gemini. A search using ‘History of (pub name), (location)’ is likely to provide much information you have gleaned from other sources. However, there may be other useful snippets which can provide other lines of research. Unfortunately, as most archive information is not yet digitised, AI will not provide new information.
Useful websites: (a) Brewery History Society; (b) England's Historic Pubs | Historic England (c) Goad Fire Insurance Plans (Scotland) (d) Goad Fire Insurance Plans (Layers of London); (e) Historic England guide to Historic Environment Records; (f) London Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors: CAMRA London Pubs Group; (g) London Pubology; (h) National Archives; (i) National Brewery Heritage Trust; (j) National Library of Scotland; (k) Pub History Society; (l) Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Archive; (m) World of Books: ‘Pub History’
Archives: (a) County record offices; (b) London borough archives; (c) London Metropolitan Archives; (d) National Archives; (e) Westminster City Archives; (f) Some large towns maintain their own record offices.
(11) Referencing: You want multiple sources to agree and together provide a coherent picture. Hence information sources need referencing – it is essential to keep references as you research: do not leave it until the end!

Access  and overcoming obstacles!