Roof Dog: A Short History of the Windmill

By Will Hodgkinson and Otto Hodgkinson

The Windmill is a flat-roofed pub in Brixton that for the past two decades has been at the epicentre of the capital’s underground music scene. Everyone from Mica Levi to Fat White Family to Black Midi has passed through its doors, which are presided over by a series of roof dogs including the legendary Ben the Rottweiler. With the help of impressionistic sketches by his son Otto, Will Hodgkinson goes on a spiritual journey to the heart of the Windmill, seeking to understand why this former Irish boozer has become such a magical space of freedom and discovery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rough Trade Books
• Release date: Jun 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781912722693

Will Hodgkinson

Will Hodgkinson was born in Newcastle and brought up in Richmond, Surrey. He is the author of Guitar Man (2006), Song Man (2007) and The Ballad Of Britain (2009), and presented the Sky Arts television series Songbook. He has written for the Guardian, Mojo and Vogue and is currently the chief rock & pop critic for The Times. He lives in Peckham, southeast London with his wife and two children.