13 Unspoilt Pubs:
Lots of writers who go to Hay for the literary festival meet Rick the South African ex-ostrich farmer. He used to pick people up from Hereford station and whisk them up to the festival site. I ran The Hay Festival of Literature Pub Quiz Night on a couple of occasions. The first time I did this, in the December before Perry and I set out on our modest quest, Rick picked me up at Hereford, and on the way to Hay, I outlined the scheme; that we would bimble about between the two most distant pubs in the British Isles. Rick asked me if I’d ever been to Lucy’s in Hay, and I admitted that I had not. So after my quiz gig, Rick picked me up and took me down to The Three Tuns, the tiny old pub on the corner of Bridge Street which was still presided over by Lucy Powell. Lucy’s father had taken the pub over in the 1920’s, and she claimed that the place had remained unaltered since that time. It’s still the only place I’ve ever been which sold draught perry in pints. I got talking to a few of the locals, and they told me that there was this list, which had been drawn up by a pub nutter, of the thirteen unspoilt pubs of Britain. The guy had gone to the trouble and expense of getting his list printed. They showed me this list, and although they said they did not have a spare copy, I was welcome to copy down the details. So I copied the list but, my journalistic instincts as undeveloped as ever, I forgot to write down the name of the guy who had made the list.

If Lucy only had one copy, would it be fair to imagine that there are only fourteen copies of this list in existence, one for each of the pubs, and one for the lost compiler? I don’t think it would. I’ve visited a few of the other pubs since, and no one else has ever heard of this list. Maybe that copy I copied at Lucy’s was the only copy left in existence. It is as if Jorge Luis Borges had written a Good Pub Guide. If so, it has gone now. In February 2005 Lucy’s burnt down; and the list seems to have been lost with it. If any readers know anything else about this list, please let me know.

With the loss of Lucy’s, the list has trimmed to 12 anyway. As I write, these places are highly endangered. You will be very lucky to get into The Sun at Leintwardine, for example, even if you can find it. The people who run these places are often elderly. This list is already obsolete, but chase it if you can; it is your last chance to visit the real living rural culture of 100 and more years ago.

Dyffryn Arms , Pontfaen,Pembrokeshire
The Red Lion, Llandovery, Carmarthenshire
The Three Tuns, Hay-on-Wye, Brecknockshire
Luppit Inn, Luppit, Devon
The Sun, Leintwardine, Herefordshire
The Seven Stars, Halfway House, Shropshire
The Cider House, Defford, Worcestershire
Red Lion, Ampney St Peter, Gloucestershire
Turf Tavern, Bloxwich, Staffordshire
Queen’s Arms, Cowden Pound, Kent
Duke of York, Elton, Derbyshire
The Eagle, Skerne, East Yorkshire
The Star, Netherton, Northumberland

Please let us know if you manage to visit these vanishing pubs; also if you have any information as to who drew up the list.

I showed Chris Garrand this list, and he insisted that I add at least one more; what you might call Gabby Chris Garrand’s Appendix to the Borgesian Good Pub Guide. This is The Three Stags Head, Wardelow Myres, Derbyshire.

If you know of any pubs which are unchanged since forever, please let us know, and we’ll add some more names to the list.

Perry's Special Reserve: The Seven Stars, Falmouth, Cornwall