intro...

So I said to this bloke....

As in the great tradition of all jokes, one bloke said to another, and before you know it, a throwaway remark became an idea, an idea became a plan, and then we had another beer and forgot the plan........

As all great family traditions start, it was over a couple of cold beers (well, at least with our family, that's how traditions start) on a warm evening, and even more beer flowed, and the conversation was making less sense... I'm Clint, a married father of two, and I was spending the evening with my young wife and kids at my parents house, catching up after a hard week. As the night went on, my kids went to bed, and me and me old man were chillaxing by his epic chiminea, My dad told me of his latest acquisition to his new hobby.

My dad has a semi-keen interest in old cigarette cards and silks, not the embassy "collect 200 for a heated blanket" kind, but the pre-war panini sticker type collections, where one would collect a set of  butterflies! or cricketers, or battalion flags, or.... ye olde inns...

This latest collection was a set of W.D & H.O Wills 40 old inns, documenting some of the most historic, interesting and famous inns and public house of the time. The cards were issued in 1939, and he managed to pick them up from a generic online auction site for the princely sum of £13.49, (including UK postage!) and he was well chuffed with them... (especially since he saw the exact same set for sale for £55!) (PLUS POSTAGE!!!)

So, the daft sod made a remark that would change our weekend plans, and bank balances, for the foreseeable future...

take it away dad....



My names Steve and I'm Clint's Dad. I'm a married father of three and Grandad to four wonderful kids. Last Saturday night I let my son, Clint and his family come round mine to sponge off me (He bought ONE crate of beer, I got three). We had a beer and then another,and another ad infinitum, then had a Chinese delivered (meal, not person) then more beer. Eventually the Grandkids and ladies went to bed and left me and my drunken son chatting in front of my epic chimenea! Eventually we got around to talking about my new hobby (Which normally bores Clint to tears) and discussing my new purchase, the set of Old Inns. 

Surprisingly, Clint seemed genuinely interested in them and we had quite a long chat about them.

Then I said " You know what, wouldn't it be great to go and visit all these old pubs and have a pint in each one"

From little acorns.......

Over to you Clint....


Being quite rash, and foolhardy (A knob) (thanks dad) I immediately exclaimed "What a fantastic idea!" and we had a lengthy discussion about the adventure we might have...

Upon sobering up the next day, I thought, genuinely, this might be a good idea. I mean, why not? Me and dad are great drinking buddies, (I pay a lot), He likes old... things, I like drinking, so we had a sober chat, and we thought it would be a good thing to do.

But then that acorn was still growing....

I don't know why I thought of it, but for some reason, I logged onto Facebook, and posted a status asking whether blogging our adventure might interest folk, then I posted it on the CAMRA page (CAMpaign for Real Ale), which prompted an invite to a history page, and posted it again, and in less than 12 hours I had a brilliant response from complete strangers from around the world saying they would read our blog....

So I'd better start writing the bugger.... and here we are, sat in the same space we were 2 nights ago, wondering about, number 1, what have we got ourselves into, and number 2, what excuse can we use to get off work tomorrow...

Here are some more precise details, there are 40 pubs/inns in the card collection, located all over the UK, from the highlands of Scotland, to the centre of our capital, via Wales, Cornwall, Northern Ireland, Irish Republic, and there and back again. We plan to visit every pub in the collection, whether it's still a pub or not. If not, we'll visit the local offy, grab a can of Tennants Extra and squat outside where it used to be. We plan on contacting each establishment prior to our visit, where we would hope to talk to the landlord and locals, grab a photo, and possibly obtain a souvenir and some local folklore, all of which we wish to share with you via this blog. We originally discussed visiting each inn as they are numbered in the collection, but the cost of logistics is currently out of our price range, so we will start with number 1, then visit some popular areas where several pubs are located. then we will plan on ending our trip at number 40. 

So, we have yet to contact the first establishment, but as soon as we have, we'll post details on this blog, share on facebook, and set the ball rolling...

Any other thoughts or feedback is gonna help, so please, please let us know what you think, and share with your friends.

Enough from me, you got owt to add Dad?


Not much, but there is one thing. A few people have asked for the list of pubs we are going to visit. I don't really wanna reveal it all to add a bit of mystery..... (plus I'd feel like Scott of the Antarctic to go round and find someone was beating us to it). However, when we post details of when and where we're going, all and sundry are welcome to meet us there.

Anyway, you'll have to excuse us now. our beer is feeling neglected...