Copyright © 2005 the Brewery History Society

• Pp ?,Camberley: Hampshire Hogsheads. £7.99 (incl p&p) ISBN: 0 9528750 2 0
• Available from: 25 Humber Gardens, Wellingborough, NN8 5WE 01933 674856
• Email: Brewdelver@aol.com

This follows on from Keith's previous book on brewing in Huntingdonshire. The latter contained details of Eaton Socon, a town which we may look at in more detail in the newsletter. The book is printed in black and white and the standard of production is very good for a non-commercial operation. Names are highlighted in bold which helps pick out the individuals. There are some very interesting copies of old photos, which I assume are from the local record office.

The book focuses on the past 150 years of brewing and covers 42 villages and towns in some 105 pages. One drawback is that there is no index which makes it difficult to find individuals, unless you know where they brewed. There are some slight glitches with alphabetical order for some entries, but I have much sympathy with anyone trying to keep track of the entries in a directory. Keith also uses a mixture of personal names and brewery site names. I am not sure about this, although it seems to be becoming more common. In our earlier texts we have tended to use the name of the last recognised brewer or firm and would be interested in hearing from members as to which is the preferred method of layout.

Sticking with my own passion for interfamilial links there are some snippets which help confirm the reasons for some of the later mergers and take-overs. Possibly the story of Charles Wells is a little accepting of the standard publicity, another area which will be followed up in the newsletter. I would also like to have had more on the Dixon family and the development of Flowers keg, but perhaps that is a little out of the remit of a directory. In fact Keith is to be congratulated on sticking to the facts rather than some of the speculative purple prose which seems to flourish amongst the beer writing fraternity.

The bibliography draws on local history books and Keith's own research. The text contains many interesting illustrations of sale details and labels from Keith's collection. It also contains some useful copies of maps for those like me who want to track down sites and photograph any remains. I think the Dunstable story is still a little confusing; hence we will include details of this in the newsletter, plus various other bits drawn from our records.

There is an appendix of pubs owned by brewers from outside the county, broadening the research interest. Although dates are not always given, I assume they are c1876 when the licensing list was drawn up. Perhaps other authors might also give more information on dates when pubs were actually held by the brewers. Sometimes lists give no indication and which is more important in the case of leased houses. Another appendix gives notes on JW Green's other takeovers.

Overall there is a wealth of detail which will be of great interest to historians, both brewery and local. A most reasonably priced addition to anyone's collection.