The Good Pub Guide 2000: The Original Bestselling Guide to Over 5000 of Britain's Finest Pubs (Good Guides) Book

The 17th edition of the always excellent Good Pub Guide assesses upwards of 5,000 pubs in its ("fully inspected") main entries, with short listings for hundreds more in the Lucky Dip sections at the end of each county's chapter. To have qualified for a full entry, the pub in question will have survived the "acid test" of an "inspection" by the Editor or Deputy Editor, or both--what exhausting lives the pair of them must lead--and demonstrated some special quality that is likely to make strangers enjoy visiting it. Pubs receiving the accolade range from what are to all intents and purposes fairly smart restaurants that have grown out of pubs, such as the much-praised Angel at Hetton in Yorkshire (though strict criteria regarding residual pubbiness are applied), to fascinatingly rudimentary survivals like the Monkey House at Defford in Hereford & Worcester, which is "one of the last absolutely traditional cider houses", serving jugs of cider from a hatch by the front door. Beer (or equivalent), of course, is central to the assessment, though as pub clients become increasingly sophisticated eaters-out, food now occupies an important place. Essentially, the Guide is a triumph of participatory democracy, relying as it does on the tireless efforts of thousands of volunteers, who continually monitor and report on the state of the British boozer. The consensus this year is that it is pretty healthy, with even some of the big breweries recognising that at least the appearance of individuality is sometimes better than that of the conveyer-belt theme pub. (Incidentally, the Good Pub Guide is now available on the Internet at www.goodguides.com, handy I suppose if you work up a thirst web-surfing.) -- Robin DavidsonRead More