An Illustrated Ode to London’s Pubs
Lydia Wood, Sceptre, £20

PUBS have always been my church. The go-to place for laughter, gossip, confessions and remembrance. The shocking statistic of two pubs closing in the UK each day, with the loss of up to 2,000 jobs is of real concern. So, the need for an artist like Lydia Wood is more important than ever.

Wood states her introduction to pubs was when she was 11. She moved from London to North Yorkshire to be near her mother’s family. And there the “slowed-down countryside existence” would be found at her local, the Black Horse Inn. A pub that saw her grow up.

Returning to London years later for art school, she saw her local, the Marquis of Granby in New Cross, as “an attempt to re-immerse myself in the city I was born in.”

When the 2020 lockdown was lifted Wood took to teaching art classes to young children across south-east London and started to use a pencil to sketch clients’ homes, wedding venues and local pubs. She then had the idea of trying to draw every single pub in London. Originally, she worked from photographs. She had doubts this would work and then realised if she drew these pubs “live” it would make her more of an explorer and expand her knowledge of the city she thought she knew. “The stories and personal anecdotes came flooding in.” She was off!

I found it interesting that her memories of the Black Horse Inn in North Yorkshire also existed across London boroughs. As she says: “I discovered that for some regulars, the simple solace of the pub offers them that crucial time for socialising.” The word “crucial” I think is key to Wood’s work.

All her drawings are done in pencil, her “lightweight companion.” In her waterproof backpack she has a sharpener, a pencil extender (small wooden sticks with metal fasteners) and a rubber. She also takes with her a travel stool, a sheet of wood, a tripod, paper and masking tape. She never uses colour, although some of the pubs are very colourful. As she says, never “underestimate graphite” for its rich detail.

The format of “Locals” follows a pattern of showing where the pub is and her journey to it; her drawing of it and the finished result, which she shows us along with the drawing’s “after story.” What Wood has also done cleverly is to divide each section in the subheadings of — “Local,” “Detail,” “Small,” “Cats,” “Alleyway,” “Names,” “Plants,” “Water,” “Ancient,” “Landlords” and “Locals.” This stops the book from becoming an “A-Z of London Pubs” and to be, as she beautifully puts it, something that “delights in the detail of the mundane.” She says that she cannot wait to share more of the life of locals.

This project began in 2021 and as there are over 3,500 pubs in London it could take her at least 10 years to finish, as this book covers over 60. I agree with Wood when she says that any pub should feel like a second home where everyone is a local. In “Local” she invites us for a wander around the city with her “all-encompassing project.” I am more than willing to join her. So, Morning Star readers… come join us. Mine’s a pint!