Signs of the times

Not since the whisky ran out in the Hebrides in Sir Compton Mackenzie’s novel Whisky Galore have pub landlords, those purveyors of good cheer, been more in need of our thanks and support.

Everyonewill be familiarwith at least one pub called the Fox & Hounds. But two – one on Dartmoor, the other in deepest Hertfordshire – have further tales to tell. At the Fox & Hounds at Bridestowe, in the hunting country of the Spooners and West Dartmoor, a full hunting mural may be found in the lower bar. It was painted by a German prisoner of war called Willie Brandt (not the future German chancellor), who so disliked Hitler – who himself hated hunting – that he spent his days of freedom on this sporting artwork. After the war, Brandt made his home in Devon, his mural much admired. In Barley, Hertfordshire, there is a gantry that rises over the road leading to the Fox & Hounds. In silhouette, it depicts hounds and