A Pub For All Seasons

A poetic meditation on the public house, its history and place in our culture with some memoir deftly thrown in. Most of all it's an appreciation of what makes a pub great: the layers accumulated by decades - centuries, sometimes - of human interaction
In winter, "The warmth of the pub is physical, attention-seeking, a welcome hand on the shoulder" observes Tierney-Jones, a writer of beer guides whose prose takes a turn towards the poetic in this travelogue. The book follows the seasons, and does a smart job of being elegiac and a little magical without trying to deny modernity.
This is a splendid book, ruminative, delightful and as full of good cheer as the best pub.
'A fabulous year-long odyssey in search of the best pubs ... An evocative mix of travelogue, pub guide and social history ... A must-read.
A genial ramble of a book ... a paean to the pub and its crucial role in community life.
You've never read a book quite like A Pub for All Seasons before. It's a hymn to the unique charms of the British pub that encompasses aspects of memoir, travel and as you might expect quite a bit of beer. With writing that's elegiac, moving and as satisfying as a cool pint of Harvey's Best on a hot summer's day, Adrian Tierney-Jones is the undisputed bard of the bar room.
Adrian Tierney-Jones doesn't just visit pubs - he inhabits them and gives them a voice, allowing them to tell us how they act as the cornerstones of culture and community.
He takes the reader around the country and into pubs often at quieter contemplative times and at its heart it is a gentle contemplative publication ... It is to some extent a love letter to things lost but such is the style of Tierney-Jones that this is dealt with in a light touch and ultimately the book is upbeat ... Profound, personal and powerful.
This is slow travel, the time consumed by reflection. You can almost hear the leaden tick of a grandfather clock as he sips and muses and writes. The mood is frequently melancholic, 'the loneliness of the long-distance drinker' as Tierney-Jones has it.
A FINANCIAL TIMES AND SPECTATOR BEST DRINK BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2024

'A poetic meditation on the public house . . . an appreciation of what makes a pub great' Spectator

A Pub For All Seasons is the story of one man through the year as he travels in search of the UK's best pub. From mellow, gentle pubs in autumn and dim, cosy spots in winter to bright, lively bars in spring and wondrous, buzzing gardens in summer, award-winning beer writer Adrian Tierney-Jones speaks to locals and landlords, hears unique sounds and stories, and samples food, drink and atmosphere.

And what started as a simple quest, ends up revealing so much more: the secret to what truly makes the perfect British local across the four seasons.

'Profound, personal and powerful' Beer Insider

'A genial ramble of a book . . . a paean to the pub and its crucial role in community life' Country Life