From Taverns to Gastropubs

This book charts the social historical development of the English public house from the period of the Restoration to the twenty-first century, culminating in the contemporary gastropub. Continuities and differences between taverns, inns, and (gastro)pubs are highlighted, with a focus on issues around food, drink, and sociality. The analysis of food and eating out encompasses their material, as well as their symbolic properties, both historically and at the present time. One recurring theme is the constant contest between English and French cuisine for diners’ allegiance. The book studies the gastropub in the context of large-scale pub closing since the 1990s and views it both as reaction to the end of the traditional drinking pub and as a promising alternative to it. The subordinate relation of the pub to both breweries/pub companies and to the regulatory and taxing state is presented as contributory to pubs’ decline. The book uses the theoretical lenses of class, gender, and national identification to explore issues of social and organizational identity. The gastropub’s organizational identity is viewed as unsettled. The author relies on historical diaries, memoirs, industry reports, and scholarly secondary sources, as well as utilizing original data, gained in forty in-depth interviews of publicans in different parts of England.