New book on history of Wisbech pubs launched at museum

Andrew signed pre-ordered copies on request as stacks of the eagerly-awaited latest in the series Wisbech Inns, Taverns and Beer-houses Past and Present changed hands.

There are many funny stories in this new volume. (Image: WISBECH AND FENLAND MUSEUM)

The pictures and human stories – some funny, many scandalous and a few tragic – of the 200-plus hostelries past and present Andrew has tracked down over 20 years of research won him Best Citizen Beer Communicator from the British Guild of Beer Writers in 2023, when Volume Five came out.

He said: “I'd go round the pubs as a youngster in the late sixties when they were buzzing. I want to remember and celebrate them and have found that their story is a social history of Wisbech, with all its ups and downs.

“I'm proud to have traced the history of local hostelries going back more than 600 years and glad that quite a few people seem to be as fascinated by it as I am!”

Volume 6, which covers R to T from The Royal Exchange to The Three Tuns, won't be the final volume either – Volume 7, hopefully out later this year, will wrap up the series for the many readers who are collecting them all.

Andrew volunteers as a guide at Wisbech Museum and is treasurer to the Friends of the Museum, who publish the series and donate the profits after publishing costs towards much-needed museum running costs.

All of the first six volumes are now available for sale (one and two cost £10 each, 3, 4, 5 and 6 £14) online through the museum website and at the museum shop in opening hours, from 10am to 4pm, Wednesday to Saturday.

You could also snap up the latest volume now from Wisbech's newest pub The Magwitch in Hill Street or at the Community Hub in the Octavia Hill Birthplace House, South Brink.