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Olympics Year 2012 :
21st February 2012 : I only have a limited amount of time each evening to update the deadpubs site; as I work during the daytime at a leading UK University. The deadpubs site is starting to add 1970 material, which is of great historical interest - do you have pictures and additional detail for this period and later, please? Thank you, Kevan.
If you fancy a break, and enjoy Italy
- as I do, here is another site I occasionally update. There are a number of
other sites I run, but one at a time will do.
14th February 2012 : Adding a few updates for Huntingdon tonight. Moving
north slowly, and pace is quickening. The pub historyt site will eventually
cover the entire UK. I need to speak to a few sites which are allowing copying
of my images and other detail, i.e. plagiarism. One area I do not need to
cover is Norfolk - a
brilliant site.
12th February 2012 : Adding considerable updates to Shoreditch this evening, and
Chelmsford.
11th February 2012 : It is very cold this week. Where has the time gone, perhaps
we are frozen in time - the historical pub site certainly is.
Aylesbury has been of
interest for the past few days. The Buckinghamshire area was originally built
for the site by Colin Ager; and Stephen Harris has added some excellent
photographs plus a little more detail by myself. Thanks to all. Also added
detail for Chenies, and also
a little for Cuddington. I
am interested in the Hollyman family linked to here, and there will be more
detail to come.
7th February 2012 : The latest pub history major updates include
Hemel Hempstead. Many
other areas updated too. I keep getting asked for pictures, this seems the norm.
30th January 2012 : Along with pub history updates, I continue to frown upon the
broadband services offered by some of the bigger and better known companies. My
current gripe is still with BT Infinity broadband, and their totally gutless way
of treating customers -
read more.
Incidentally, because of this, I have been watching the new BT TV adverts very
closely. They (BT) allege to be four times faster than SKY. (Sky is a low level
student package). They do not mention that Virgin broadband is about to double
its speed, making it twice as fast as BT Infinity at similar cost (and the
customer service is probably better too). If you are any distance from BT
exchanges, then I am afraid you need to move home to get any better service, as
BT does not really care about you!
30th January 2012 : Pub history updates are mainly in Kent - Sandgate,
Frindsbury, Upnor and also Folkestone, and Hythe. Some of these have been added
to heavily by pictures and research from Stephen Harris. Stephen not only
supplied the majority of the modern pictures on this site, he is also a major
researcher for the pubs he photographs and the relevant area.
Due to the appalling service levels by BT, I have been researching the Ofcom site, and
it's research into broadband speeds. It looks like BT generally tell stories
about their broadband speeds, and in fact Virgin are far superior in not only
their speed, but also their truthfulness in speeds advertised.
24th January 2012 : I have been offline for four days +, thanks to the appalling
BT Infinity service; and their total disregard to my level of service. The
broadband is now working, albeit slowly, and I am still awaiting the engineer to
arrive. I had three engineer visits booked by their call centre, and nearly took
three days from work (I did waste one day) - the engineer turned up on the third
booking after five days; other engineer visits were cancelled at the last minute
or not at all. BT
Infinity is being heavily advertised at present, but I will be
cancelling my BT
Infinity service when the minimum 18 month contract ends, and moving back to a
reliable and honest provider. Pub history updates continue, finally.
19th January 2012 : Limehouse pub history updates from Stephen Harris continue.
18th January 2012 : I regularly checkout how the pub history site (deadpubs)
is recognised in google. I do not bother with most other search engines. Google
pagerank is 4, which is reasonable. I then check Alexa to ascertain where I
stand (about 40,000 UK) - (about 900,000 World). I then type deadpubs to search
on links (info:deadpubs.co.uk) does the same thing. This produces differing
results at different times of day and from different email accounts. The last
thing I do is check what people are saying about the site. The most interesting
is the various county forums; and many of these posts either 'sell' the site as
fantastic (thanks), or berate the site as it is only listing 32 out of 40
historical pubs in Brompton, Kent (for example). It is always interesting that
the beraters never offer anything useful to this site, whilst those who rate the
deadpubs site are also often people who can be bothered to do some research and
share it with others. Anyway, on the back of this research, I have decided to
limit the deadpubs site on pub history to Essex, and London. And maybe Kent,
Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, and in fact continue what I am already doing - and
Wales? Whatever.
16th January 2012 : Lots more pub history updates for
Shoreditch pub in the last
few days, and continuing. I have a totally separate site on visiting
Italy which I may add
some updates very soon (and lots of lovely pictures). It is a welcome break from
all the history stuff.
14th January 2012 : Today, updating Croydon and neighbourhood (e.g.
Shirley, South Norwood, Croydon etc). Also updating
Shoreditch in 1871. Yesterday, I was discussing Ian 'Pubby'
Hunter and his fantastic Essex pub site. He started this site, and I hope he
likes what I have managed over the years to add to his great site, along with
many others. Thanks to Ian, god bless.
10th January 2012 : Updates of various areas in Surrey. Lambeth continues,
as does Croydon; and South Norwood
added. I added three fantastic images of the
Chez Laurie, in Herne Bay - I
wonder how long before these are copied onto the various forums without a proper
reference?
6th January 2012 : My interest (today) is in images on the site, of which
I have added quite a few this evening. Some of the better search engines
differentiate their search between 'everything', and 'sites with images'. I am
currently adding images (randomly) to the various index pages (as I can be
bothered). You have to somehow prove to the top search engines that you are a
useful site rather than the many that serve no purpose.
Stevenage in
Herts updated heavily today.
2nd January 2012 : The pub history site, and all the other sites that I run, now
create over 48,000 pages in the search engine (thanks to
freefind search engine -
which I get for free). Most of the pages are on this site, i.e. there are over
32,000 pub history pages. I have no idea how many pubs this includes. The pub
history site now covers all of Essex, London, Kent, most of the South Eastern
counties, and major parts of the South Western counties, etc. I am currently
adding Hampshire as fast as I can (does anybody have any old or new pictures I
can add to the site - plus pub history, of course).
I spend a variant amount of time on a an area. I spent several days recently
adding Bromley by Bow, to get a very brief thanks, but also a question as to how
I was able to find a pub that everybody else was attempting to research,
but could not find? The answer is that I am very good at research, and also
because I put the hours into the research. My research is not always available
for free. Contact me for details.
2011 :
28th December 2011 :
Southampton & neighbourhood pub
updates continue. I spent some time today to update the
Bromley, East London section in 1891.
25th December 2011 : Happy Christmas. It's 2.20am and still updating the site. I
will now take a couple of days off, but will be back after Boxing Day. Otherwise, the site is continually updated every day (random areas as I
see fit). Please keep the updates coming, thanks - Kevan.
24th December 2011 : Pub history updates continue.
Southampton is currently receiving massive updates for new 'historical' pubs
about 130 years ago. This is really a way of listing beer retailers at their
relevant 'named' pubs and lacks any considerable detail - it's a start!
19th December 2011 :
Northfleet, Kent - lots more added, or to be added.
17th December 2011 : Major updates for
Spitalfields
- courtesy of Stephen Harris; and also I have been in the Sheppy area of
Kent. This area
includes Sheerness, Minster and Queenborough. Many other pub history
updates have occurred; including major revisions at
Northfleet and Gravesend at present. Please, if you wish to use material and my time from this
pubs history site, all I ask is a reference / link to this site from each page
you copy material too. Southampton will
be the next area to get some major updates, please help me with this.
12th December 2011 : Updating the pubs history for
Cliffe at
Hoo, Kent tonight - courtesy of a number of rather excellent postcards from
Roy Barrett. I was searching the search engines today, and although I appear to
score well for pub history in the general search engine; it drops to zero when
also searching for images. The apparent discord is the fact I have zero images
on far too many of the index pages. This worked. I now need to add images to
other major index pages, e.g. London.
11th December 2011 : The weekend has been spent updating the pub history
in a small area in Buckinghamshire, i.e.
Burnham
(and Cippenham). It is quite enjoyable to select a small area to update
occasionally. I select random areas dependant on the input received. Colin Ager
updated this county considerably some time back, thanks Colin.
8th December 2011 : A major update for part of Westminster -
St
Margaret. Thanks to John Hills. I am still working on this update a it is
large. I am also working through Google webmaster tools to clarify where the
site needs minor changes to make the pub history site better (particularly in
regards to revenue).
5th December 2011 : Updates on pub history continue. I am a bit fed up
this evening. After a week of bad health, and now properly back to updates, I
realise that many areas are not as good as I previously thought. Cornwall is a
good example, as it is an area which has the odd entry and not much in addition.
Areas which have been heavily updated are
Ratcliff,
random bits of Essex,
Crawley,
Ashford and
much more too. Banana! Also, many pub history updates for
Hanwell, too.
On another site. I host a reasonable copy (not complete) of ray Long's
Cosford database. This was Rays
lifelong work on a part of Suffolk. It is just a copy, with pages missing, and
is for reference only. I am not updating it, or answering any queries about
this. I hope people find it useful. One silly thing I did recently was to sign
up for a new domain name with another provider. I then moved largish parts of
the site to this server. I am about to move it all back!
All areas moved back to this site, and now updating
Oxford.
27th November 2011 : Continuing the Portsmouth pub history
updates. As there are now two sites which are being used for pubs updates, I
need to make a final decision as to which site lists which areas. Sadly, if the
site 'ukpubhistory.com' was being enabled by a better ISP, I would move the
entire site here. Sadly not. I know that eukhost.com charge me a whole lot more,
but their response times to any problems are far better. Therefore see any
page on the site for a top level navigation to the relevant areas -
http://deadpubs.co.uk/index.shtml 20th November 2011 : In addition the weekend updates, I have been
on a
historical pub walk in Portsmouth, yet again. This is a really neat little
guide of the area, listing the Portsmouth area alphabetically by street, with
just Pubs, Hotels and Beer retailers. It only covers three pages, and you can
now walk along a road pointing out the historical interest of the area ninety
years ago! I am slowly adding all the relevant links to the pubs
concerned.17th November 2011 : The evening spent updating
Hemel Hempstead - a little
more to come.
13th November 2011 : For the past few days and weeks, Stephen
Harris and myself have been updating
Oxford pub
history. This is actually quite an easy task compared with Portsmouth or London;
and should only take a few days or so. Please notice this is on a newer and
additional site. Lots more to add.
8th November 2011 : I watched a hippo (1 million calories) being
devoured by a host of animals in Africa, tonight - brilliant. Then a few pub
history updates from Roy Barrett (Hythe, Kent), and Stephen Harris (Oxford).
Plus a simple email about just one page on the site - 'This is amazing, just
amazing.' I love comments like this. Thanks.
Over the coming months I will be asking people who find the pub history site
useful to make a charitable contribution to the VSO (Voluntary Services
Organisation). I will be helping my son raise a small amount of £1300 to
contribute to the VSO. But, as a nasty parent, I have asked that he quadruple
this amount to £5000, as it is for a great charity. I am hoping that all of
those that are forever using this site as a 'free' source of information will
join me in helping raise a decent amount for charity - more to follow. He is
visiting the base camp at Everest, and I will ensure that his personal trip
costs are paid by him (or probably me).
7th November 2011 : The pub history sites are very quirky. I do
not have enough time to update the historical side, and at the same time often
feel that I am missing about seventy years of modern history, i.e. from about
1940. The last thirty years have been about not just closing pubs, but also
about renaming then to modern names. At the same time, many new pub chains have
been making their brand new pubs look old and historical. The youngsters of
today have no idea what a pub was called twenty years ago, let alone one hundred
and twenty years ago. I will revisit this at some stage very soon, as it is the
youngsters who I should be aiming this site at, rather than the 90+ year olds.
5th November 2011 : Fireworks day tomorrow. I am continuing to
update Portsmouth - but have also been spending my time (which is very limited)
to updating other areas. Colleen, who sends me hundreds of new pictures a month
(some are duplicates) sent me a picture of the
Talbot Inn, Southwark.
A brilliant picture of a Pub which was demolished in 1873. The
Southwark St Saviour
pubs have been heavily updated for this period over the weekend.
As said, I have limited time to update the site, so do not ask for miracles. If
you can help me out, please also add as much additional detail as you think is
relevant. I have a folder in my inbox called 'inboxwait' ; this is my only
method of time management. If you send details which would take forever to
research, it goes into this folder.
25th October 2011 : Still updating Portsmouth (massively). I took a
refreshing break in Hertfordshire today. Thanks as ever to Stephen Harris for
all his additional work on the site, plus current photographs. Emails slowing,
does the site need a revamp? I notice all of the map links were broken, let me
know if you see masses of broken links on the site / s.
20th October 2011 : Just checking some old Hackney transcriptions. I am
now able to add many census details as the pub history site just continues to
grow in depth. I believe that the deadpubs site is #1 for pub history in
google (or thereabouts). Thanks to all contributors and me. Let me know if you
have any specific ideas for the site - thanks.
Kevan.
15th October 2011 : A little unhappy. I have just spotted a site which has
copied large parts of my family tree, and I have emailed them accordingly.
Actually, I may have done this myself at some stage; and therefore I have little
to winge about. I must admit that all the sites I run, of which there must be
about 20 different sites do need an overhaul (bigtime). I think that this
is probably a good time to make a list, which is coming now. I have just
moved Hampshire back on this site, as ukpubhistory.com site is too slow to
update!
I thought a search on alexa would give me a better idea of the various sites
popularity, essex1841.com used to be a particularly good site, but now is at
rank (6 million); whereas deadpubs.co.uk is at (GB 64,737). I need to revisit
this.
Sites: This is a reminder for me:
deadpubs - http://deadpubs.co.uk/
londonpublichouse.com - same as deadpubs
ukpubhistory.com - /
- similar site, but different area.
essex1841.com - http://essex1841.com/ +
Cosford database
History of Stratford -
http://historyofstratford.co.uk/index.shtml
History of Hornchurch -
http://pubcensus.co.uk/index.shtml (actually the same site as last
link)
UK best broadband.com -
http://ukbestbroadband.com/
13th October 2011 : A week on, and the deadpubs site is 'nearly' back to
normal. I am now spending far too much time on the
Portsmouth
pub history site! A break for updates in London, of which there are many. Busy
as hell at work, the University of Essex. My car passed the 66,666 miles today (
I purchased it less than three years ago with 16,000 mileage). Visiting
Westminster next. I have had a few brilliant pictures received recently, and
added to the site - keep these coming, thankyou.
6th October 2011 : I have now replaced the original site that was lost
through my bad management of the sites - I am now finally adding updates again. Enjoy.
Expect email responses soon. Portsmouth pub history continues at
Portsmouth.
I am still looking for proper advertisers on my many sites, google ads are
pretty much rubbish, although they cover site and server costs; but not my time.
I may drop the expensive server costs, which mean I will be updating on one of
the 'cheaper provider' sites.
Over the next month or so, I will probably be moving other parts of the
deadpubs site to the new site, maybe all of the site. Who can plan the future of
history?
25th September 2011 : The
Portsmouth pubs history update continues to the sad lack of updates to the
rest of the site. I received an £100 to spend on Google adwords.
19th September 2011 :
Portsmouth
pub history is the keyword for a few years. My son was dropped off at Portsmouth
on Saturday to start his degree, and a few random pictures were taken of the
area. An interesting venue supplied by modern (old looking) pubs, and probably
older pubs. If you have any 'original' pictures and history, I would be pleased
to hear from you. Random pictures found on other websites are of no interest, I
probably know all of these. Whilst in the town centre, which was actually the
Portsmouth University centre (in Landport); we were looking for lunch. The pubs
were generally busy, and there was a theatre offering food. The place was worth
a try. I like good food, and the
theatre food was excellent beyond belief.
12th September 2011 : Added the pub history of
Wootton Bassett as the first
part of Wiltshire. Do you have anything to add? And
Datchet, Buckinghamshire updated.
11th September 2011 :Mile End
is
currently being updated. I think I will add Wiltshire next. Some counties are
not updated as thoroughly, but hey ho - you can help me. If anybody has problems
with transcription errors, again - you can get involved. All hellp, or help is
welcome. Thanks Kevan. In addition, the 1921 London and suburbs
Hughes directory
continues to be added.
10th September 2011 :An update of
Holborn pub history in 1851 is now
complete. Mary Brodbin
has supplied me with a whole host of updates for the Hart and page families.
There are many earlier pubs still missing from the site, and these are slowly
being added. Stephen Harris has updated recently with a massive St Luke update -
thanks to all.
Mary asked me why I run this site on pubs history? Well, I am still attempting
to create a site which is half as good as the original Essex site - originally
created by Ian "Pubby" Hunter. I do not think anybody is measuring this, but I
would like his original site to be as good, but also covering London and the
entire South of England; plus a historical street directory. Well, this is the
plan.
3rd September 2011 :Lots of new updates. Stephen Harris has been updating
St Luke, Mary Brodbin has sent me
masses of Hart & Page updates for the site.
Tottenham pub history currently
updating, Sydenham (and Forest
Hill) ; Holborn has seen a major
update, bits of Hemel Hempstead - and probably a lot more too. London 1921
Hughes directory growing too.
We had a new Range cooker delivered today to discover that we had a gas leak in
the house. An hour later Transco confirmed this was a major leakage, and
switched our gas service off! Searching for Gas Safe engineers in the local area,
I tried this guy -
http://www.checkatrade.com/NrHeating/ ; what an excellent, first class
choice. Their feedback of 10 / 10 proved absolutely spot on. The engineer
arrived within 15 minutes; and eight hours later our house was completely
re-plumbed for the gas supply. The engineer was not only honest, friendly and
fully committed to safety - the job was excellent and very reasonably priced
too. I would recommend this company to anyone. Brilliant, thank you. By the way,
he is coming back in a week or so to fit us with a new gas boiler.
23rd August 2011 :Along with other updates, the 1921 Hughes London and suburbs
listing will be added soon- here is
A.
And, as an aside. I have been updating this page this evening, and along
with the many people who also spend hours updating the pub history site, I am
really proud of this achievement. Just a reminder to the memories of Ian Hunter
who started this off with his Essex Pubs site (and I have been adding to this
ever since after his demise - thanks Ian).
19th August 2011 :I am catching up with emails which arrived whilst I was on
holidays, and have a whole new site forming in my mind as regards hotels and
restaurants in Italy, and lots of bad pictures! I spotted one email which
complained about proof reading of my sites, i.e. errors. I apologise
[NOT at all - you do better].
A quick rejoinder on the sites I run. There are in excess of 100,000 pages
in total. I work full time during the day - plus a one hundred mile round trip
every day. After this work time, I update sites until about 1am in the morning;
often with a glass of wine. If I make mistakes, these can be fixed quite easily.
I do not proof read anything, this is your job - and appreciated. Thanks. Kevan
Just for info, I signed into the site at 2am when I returned from holiday, until
about 4am. This is what I do, because .... There a considerable number of sites
who need to remember that when they copy information from the deadpubs Pub
history site, that they need to reference this deadpubs site; Also, I get
a number of complaints about a pub being on the deadpubs site when it is still
alive and going strong. Well, all pages also respond to pubsinuk.com, e.g.
what's new on pubsinuk.com ;
the same pub history site with different names. Or you could just send me a
modern picture of the Pub as it is now (it's not that difficult) !
25th July 2011 : If you want to see this site at it's best - view
this sample page in Shoreditch of the
Spread Eagle. It's what I
do best with collaboration from top researchers like Stephen. Plymouth and East Stonehouse updates continued. I also
started adding many more of the thousands of images from Colleen - thanks for
these., which are very random and cover much of the site. There seems to be
quite an interest in Ray Longs Cosford database, which has been added for
Suffolk - (the place where they have the CAMRA site that steals all your
updates) - I have little to add to the site, as the Suffolk Record Office
(Ipswich) I have visited is not very friendly or useful. Meanwhile, the
'Suffolk' Cosford database is incredibly popular, I just wish I had the original
database for this.
21st July 2011 : Busy updating the site as usual.
Plymouth pub history has
been a major update, and quite interesting. Lots of other brilliant updates from
regulars and new persons adding detail. One update I was very pleased with was
the
Punch
House, in Westminster - what great 1930s Art Deco style. You need to follow
the links for the interior pictures. Thank you to all who continually strive to
add pub history dimensions to this site. I appreciate this help, thanks again.
Kevan.
15th July 2011 : Plymouth in Devon is now the flavour of the month. Thanks
to Pierre Renon for many updates. If you have any updates for Plymouth, please
let me know.
10th July 2011 : Quite busy this weekend. An amazing update for
Westminster St John, by
John Hills has been added; I have also added the
1899 beer retailers section for London, 1895 should be added over the next
few days. Various other updates, e.g. for all the pubs in
Old Kent Road etc. I added a
simple Sunday news site, it is very basic. If anyone would like to add any
articles, next weeks edition should be a big improvement -
http://suninnsunday.com/index.shtml (the whole site took a couple of hours
of precious time to plan and build - not great, but a reasonable start
considering the time constraints.) A reminder that the site lists not only
deadpubs, but also very active pubs - if you run one of these active pubs,
please send me some detail, and in particular an up to date picture of the
place.
1st July 2011 :I was treated today to a very nice meal at the
Bake House,
Wivenhoe, Essex. Good food, and excellent service. Thanks. Obviously
aiming for a Michelin star.
As an aside to Pubs; I sponsor a couple of children through World vision; and
received a letter today about a child I have sponsored through her life for many
years in Malawi. She has now moved village, and a new three year old has been
suggested as my new sponsoree - with a card @Hello I am Kettie; and
a picture, now continually peering at me. She is a cute three year old; and I am proud I do this, as it makes me
feel I am doing a little something, not a lot. Think about it, you could change
a life -
World Vision ; it's
about £20 a month which most people who work could afford quite easily.
26th June 2011 :
Somerset
in 1919
coming very soon. More to follow, and
1902 in Somerset. Plus the 1939
directory, and Glastonbury should be online soon.
25th June 2011 : Adding new areas as I do all of the time. Be
aware that in a new area I may only add one entry for a particular year, it is
an addition to the site and needs TLC from visitors and those with pub
connections for further updates. I am now currently back in Surrey
(Reigate to be precise). I hope you all have signed the petition against
education cuts - if not, why not?
21st June 2011 : Politic - just a word on education. I have no
(absolutely zero) confidence in the government's HE policies; join the campaign
at http://www.noconfidence.org.uk/
- please sign the petition against this crap coalition governments attack on our
childrens education. They would rather they claim job seekers allowance than get
educated.
21st June 2011 : There are three compass areas in Battersea area - well;
just east and west in 1891 and earlier. All being updated heavily; and close to
moving onto another area. I get asked why I list modern pubs that are still open
on the deadpubs site. Well, I do not have time to visit the 30,000+ (or so) Pubs
in person. I need more researchers to add to the site. I am happy to update the
deadpubs site with information, I just need it supplied - thanks to all who
continue to provide the same. Colleen spammed me with a few hundred pictures in
a couple of days! Thanks. Colleen.11th June 2011 : I recently discovered the
online OCR server which is fairly good at reading in small pdf documents and
converting to text or excel - just moving this up the list.
9th June 2011 : Updates continue, whilst I endeavour to 'ban the weed' (stop
smoking). Cornwall was being added to the site, but a distraction for Kent seems
to be the norm. There are a lot of Kent interests, and emails, and updates
happening. Tonight I am in Dartford (virtually as ever). Search engine updates
weekly, and google sitemap updated today.
8th June 2011 : I am a bit slow on the uptake, when flickr photo
enthusiasts allow me to use their pictures on the site. More to follow. Google
ads slowly improving, which pay for the server.
1st June 2011 : I am struggling with emails again! The (Suffolk)
Cosford database is
being added to one of my sites - it seems such a waste to lose Ray Longs
(Suffolk) Cosford database. A few statistics:
On the various sites I run for Essex, Suffolk and South of England Pubs there
are now currently over 45,000 pages. Of this, there must be 20,000 individual
pubs (most deadpubs) at a guess. Thanks to all the contributors to the site / sites - you are all stars.
Two recent 'regular' contributors are Roy Barrett and Roy Murrant; Thank you.
29th May 2011 :
An amazing Pub history update for
Whitechapel
has been added today from Stephen Harris. It is about 500 entries for the area
of Whitechapel only, and mostly all pre- 1850 entries. WOW. Plus a
few additions by myself as I worked through this magnificent pub research. A
segment of the 1851 census has now also been added. Thank
you. Kevan
24th May 2011 : A long time ago (it seems), I added a
couple of areas in West London to the Pub history site. Why, I was asking
myself. Could I ever cover the whole of London? Apparently, the answer is a
resounding YES. Many areas still need lots of TLC (tender loving care); and I am
always looking for more people to add updates for an area - but the site just
continues to evolve and grow, with an increasing number of people sending me
pictures, snippets, massive updates for an area etc etc. And I struggle to keep
up with all of this.
A while before this, the great
Ian (Pubby) Hunter sadly passed away. Ian had spent masses of his own time,
along with a team of helpers in Essex; in building an amazing Essex Pubs history
site. I was mad enough to offer to rebuild the site (with a lot of help). A
while later, the first parts of London and other areas started to add to the
site. Now the site covers most of the South of England, albeit it is patchy in
some areas. The moral of the story is: Updating Paddington tonight! Don't you
just love never knowing where you may be tomorrow, and in which time zone (a bit
like Dr Who, perhaps)? Off to Italy next - holiday, not pubs.
20th May 2011 : Updates of Chatham and local
area continue; plus many other areas of Pub history.
I get an occasional request about a modern pub, in particular accessibility to
wheelchair users. I have a particular interest in ensuring Pubs make 'reasonable
adjustments' for those who have access problems. Keep me informed if you want to
inform customers about your Pubs accessibility -
it's only an email, which is not too much to ask. I would also l
17th May 2011 : It appears the site
has received another mention in the May edition, of 'Who do you think you are'
magazine. Excellent. More importantly, there are about 45,000 pages on the pub
history site now - an educated guess would be of about 30,000 individual pubs
(probably more). Kent and London are the main areas being updated at present,
largely because of email updated information. Sussex and Surrey are the
secondary updated areas. It varies from month to month. Updates happen every
day, but I also need to sleep!
14th May 2011 : Chatham in Kent is the next
area I am updating. Due to popular demand, if you have anything of interest to add to the Chatham
area, it would be very welcome. Kevan (Chatham area includes Rochester, Strood,
Old Brompton, New Brompton etc etc - all very confusing)
12th May 2011 : The usual pub history
updates continue from Stephen Harris - these recently included London, Sussex,
Surrey, Kent, Middlesex, Hampshire, Devon, Suffolk etc - in fact, most of the areas that
I cover! Lots of new pictures from all around the south of England, and
historical research detail. Thanks as ever to Stephen.
11th May 2011 : I use BT broadband, and this regularly
crashes whilst updating the site. Do I recommend
BT broadband? Yes, it is better
than the other providers, but it is still a rubbish service. A student
at the University of Essex (part of his third year undergraduate study project)
was recently describing how companies limit bandwidth to their subscribers - it
is quite simple really. They sell you a marvellous service, then restrict it
through various 'scripting and blocking' methods (until you complain). This is
the start of my complaint about the rubbish service that BT offer, as their
staff often do not have a lot of idea about what you are talking about when you
contact them, Sad, but TRUE. Do NOT believe anything you see in the
advertisements, they are ruthless for new business however it comes; and the
service is limited.I received an email
from the
Save
Britain Heritage site about pubs.
7th May 2011 : The day spent wandering through Southwark St
George (Surrey / London) in 1851 - mainly the Borough Road section. One of the
many updates from a random request from Australia; from which I noticed many
early pubs missing from the site. Dead pubs are not always easy to find; but I
only need to find them once in the census, to get the Pub onto the site!
5th May 2011 : A whole host of updates coming in - thanks
to the Lost cousins newsletter, etc. Bear with me whilst I catch up. As an
aside, I noticed google was listing an older site for pubs history - i.e.
pubsinuk.com . I have today added pubsinuk.com and londonpublichouse.com as
additional domains for this site - same site - same content. Also added
today was the Herts Pubs in 1908, and other updates.
1st May 2011 : Quite a few updates added to Mile End and Ratcliff
for 1871; plus considerable updates elsewhere. Lots more to do. Back to work on
Tuesday. A reminder to all, and for new visitors to the pubs history site; the
search engine updates weekly, about Tuesday.30th April 2011 : I have started a long and interesting
walk through the pubs in Mile End, about 1871. This is an incredibly interesting
walk which will take some time. Roads in Mile End New Town and Old Town changed
considerably over the next thirty years, often changing more than once. A good
example is the Grasshopper which is at 15 Charles Street [near junction with
Thomas Street in 1871 and earlier; At 72 Bakers Row before 1899, and then Bakers
Row becomes the southern end of Vallance Road. This is the historical street
directory at it's best; but this will take some weeks to research and updates
added to the site - enjoy. I also discovered there were a couple of Pubs
which were missing from the relevant
Mile End index page.27th April 2011 : I am adding a host of directory listings,
e.g. Kent 1903 added this evening. London suburbs added recently, lots more to
come. I have discovered the
online OCR server which is fairly good at reading in small pdf documents and
converting to text or excel - this speeds things up a lot; although there are
lots of odd errors which still need checking.24th April 2011 : The
last performance of the Hornchurch Passion Play
took place tonight (Easter Sunday, 2011). If you missed it, it was an
absolutely amazing 'reality' theatre production telling the story of Christ, and
his resurrection. Thank you. A reminder of why I follow Christianity, and its
teachings. This is a good
article on the play, and those who came to watch.
20th April
2011 : I have been working on the London suburban directories, and in particular
the 1896 directory. This is one of the earlier directories when county pubs
became art of the London suburbs, and therefore quite important for searches.
Here is a start for
1896 London North
suburbs, and now added the London southern directories too.
14th April, 2011: Lots of pub history updates added over the past week or so. Surrey, Herts,
Kent, London etc, etc. I am working on Westminster St Margarets in 1851 at
present. I am sure I have missed lots of updates announcements, sorry.
3rd April :
Added a few Putney pubs today. I use the search engine on the site quite heavily
when searching for anything, including a reminder which county I am working in!
Putney, for example, is in Surrey until about 1888; although still listed in
1891 Surrey directories. It is then in the London suburban directories for the
next thirty years before finally being included as part of London. Whilst I
update and continue research, I am always amazed that this is a life times work;
and how the site barely scratches the surface of Pub history. It is a
rather fine search engine for London street addresses, although another couple
of years solid work by myself and other contributors is still needed.
Incidentally, my biggest nightmare is Deptford, on the Surrey / Kent borders -
and now in London. And Camberwell, and Lambeth and .......The search
engine updates once a week, usually about Tuesday. I also update the sitemap for
google about once a month- There are currently 40,000 pages on this site alone (
I have no idea how many individual pubs are listed), plus links to a few other
sites I occasionally find time to update.2nd April : I was going to update Lewisham this evening; but got stuck in
St Lukes, Middlesex (1851). Apologies to the Kent folk following the site. I am
sure I will get back to Kent soon.March 2011:
Census day,
27th March 2011 - completed the census (not impressed). The
Huntingdonshire area just added to the site - just skeletal entries for 1910 so
far. Devon and
Cornwall continue to be updated slowly. Kent is being updated heavily at
present.Late March : My mother died today. She was of the sort who never talked about
holidays on the phone, or in the garden; just in case someone was listening! She
was my confidante, my conscience, my accountant and a lot more too - and my mum.
God bless you.Another big update for Sheerness in the Isle of Sheppey, Kent - thanks
Stephen and others; still more to follow, including pictures.
A day spent in Hendon, Middlesex. There are lots of updates; with lots
more questions about the various beer houses.Hertfordshire is again being updated at present - it is only the 1881
census; but I only have directories between 1881 and 1937. This addition builds
upon data that is available. enjoy. Please add to the site by emailing me.
Thanks, Kevan.I have spent quite a lot of time in Willesden (probably too much); then in
Newington, Kent; and now back to Hertfordshire; where updates will continue.
There have been some considerable updates for Devon recently, thanks to Bev
Howlett. Colleen has been spamming me with excellent pictures (I have several
hundred to add), these are slowly appearing on the site.
St Giles, London is the
latest area to be updated at present. Lots more dead pubs to be added as I
find time - 1861 and 1901 census being added; plus relevant trade directory
entries. Devon is continually being heavily updated from Bev Howlett. 1901 added
to Aldersgate, amongst others today; plus lots of ad-hoc updates everwhere.
26th February 2011:First couple of entries for
Wiltshire and an entry page to
Cornwall. More to follow.... (Truro and
Falmouth first).I am about to add another
part of Surrey - i.e. Epsom; Cornwall may also follow soon, this is not in
Surrey. London and other areas are continually updating as ever. Keep the
information coming for all areas, please. Devon is being updated sporadically,
but at all times. Kevan.Apologies to those getting
Viagra adverts from my site (I certainly am getting targeted). These are coming from an ip address 93.155.184.153.
On the positive side, I am currently updating Shadwell with
entries from Stephen Harris and myself. Apologies to those who are waiting for
proper response; enjoy!
20th February 2011:I have
spent the day updating
Westminster St Margaret, which is long overdue for some material. Devon is
slowly updating. I have finally decided to add Cornwall, but give me a few
months on this. If you have material, please let me know.18th February : Considerable additions
to Suffolk and Devon are happening. Thanks to Bev Howlett for noticing that all
of the Devon 1889 entries were listed as 1899 - now fixed. In addition, Bev has
sent me a considerable amount of new data, much of which is still awaiting
addition to the site/s. Stephen Harris is continually updating London (and
everywhere else, from the looks of things), plus lots of modern photographs from
everywhere.
In Suffolk, there is now a new site, as previously mentioned. Tris calls
it a 'rather academic site' ! (I cannot remember his exact wording). I have
stopped updating the Cosford database site, as it should be back online in the
near future - I did offer that I could do this in 24 hours if supplied the
original data - hey ho, YOU will have to wait!And Colleen continues to
supply some amazing (old) picturesfrom her superb postcard collection.
I am sure there are many other people that I have not mentioned.
13th February : All major sites have now
moved onto the new server, this now includes essex1841.com ; one of my earlier
sites. Email is now working fine; I just need to find the time to answer all
emails. It has been quite an interesting and informative move, technically it
has proved I am good at what I do - which is nice. The
History of Suffolk site is being
updated as I speak, and is a great addition. 8th February : I am still moving sites,
and fixing broken links.
History of
Stratford site is now working (most of the time).
7th February; and the dead
pubs site, and the history of Suffolk sites are now on this remarkable NEW
server. It's so so fast. I am sure I have missed a few important files, so
please let me know if you spot anything missing, please. One of my emails is
currently not working, it will be soon, but in the meantime use
kevan@essex1841.com ; I hope you enjoy
the new server; and updates will commence again in the next couple of days. I
still need to port some of my other sites, hence I am not promising any updates
for a while - but it won't be long now!
Enjoy - Kevan. I am very much enjoying playing with the new toys (this is
what I do in the daytime - it's nice to go to work to just play.), and this
continues far too late in to the night as well. Cool.A big thank you
to the support at
eukhost.com
for all their help as and when needed. They have been incredibly helpful, and
come highly recommended.January 2011:
It is nearing the end of January 2011. The History of Suffolk site is growing fast;
as is the Cosford database. I will remove this, 'probably' , when Patricia Bridges
adds a site covering Ray Longs Cosford database onto the internet. I am still
working through Tottenham. Middlesex is slowly going through a transformation,
as I continue to add material, along with Tris. Meanwhile, Stephen Harris is
sending me new material for Kent.I had an email from a member of the
kenthistoryforum,
with a 54 page document listing many 1872 renewals of licenses - more to follow
on this; and much more detail coming.It is nice to see people emailing, just
to say thank you for the massive amounts of work added to the Pubs sites, and
the history sites - thanks to all for the feedback.A new site name has just been ordered, i.e.
historyofsuffolk.co.uk ;
expect to see some Suffolk updates in the near future (in 1865 in the first
instance). The Cosford database by
Ray Long disappeared about a year ago, and although this has been promised to
reappear, I have been working on this over the past few weeks - see
Cosford database; it is just
a slice of the original site - but what a brilliant site. Ray Long was my fifth
cousin, twice removed; he told me once. There is some friction on my starting to
host copies of the Cosford database; but I feel it important that it is not
forgotten. God bless Ray. I continue to work on many
other areas of the site, including a major update for
Tottenham which has been ongoing
for some months.
Updates over the weekend included a massive addition to Islington pubs, an
update to St Albans; and various areas in Kent (Greenwich & Northfleet). The
pantomimes went well. All advertising revenue for the last few months went to
a missionary working in Kenya (to build toilets etc). I am also continuing this
for the next couple of months.
It's Panto time, and a busy weekend! Also Pub history updates for Suffolk have started again
(no doubt the scumbag who updates the Suffolk CAMRA site will steal all my hard work again! ) ; plus I
have Stephen Harris and Tris adding a whole host of new pictures for London and
elsewhere. Plenty more smaller (but welcome) updates from many other
contributors have been added, thank you. Kevan
I get lots of requests about the 60s and 70s, meaning the 1960s and 1970s.
This may sound recent, but I need additional detail for this era, especially
pictures. Anything is welcome.
And previously in 2010 and earlier ...
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