In 1939, the illustrator Edward Ardizzone (1900-79) combined with his friend Maurice Gorham, a journalist (1902-75), to produce The Local. In 1947, there was a sequel, Back to the Local.
Beginning at their base in Maida Vale, it was a guide to pubs, their customs and culture.
There are chapters on the regulars, barmaids, saloon and public bars, outside and inside eating, drunks, musicians and after-hours drinking.
The Christmas show at the Christ Beetles Gallery in London includes a marvellous picture of a barmaid by Ardizzone. The artist Paul Cox has, like me, done a pilgrimage around the same pubs and painted them
