Introducing: Pubs in 100 words

A new series of short prose pieces on some of Britain's best pubs.

Ah, pubs…

I really love pubs. Perhaps, more than I should. Pubs are inscribed into whichever part of my soul it is that houses that conceptual / cultural / geo-contingent thing we might call ‘Britishness’, whatever that may mean.

I was thinking about a new short-form series I could offer here. Something pithy and punchy, that I could publish more frequently (yes, I was thinking of YOU, dear reader!), and so, partly inspired by Lydia Davis’s self-limiting writing exercises, I came up with this.

That is: short prose pieces about the pubs I love, limited to EXACTLY 100 words. The constraint is everything. And 100 words is not a lot! The results are something more like prose poems, I think. Whimsical. Romantic. Rueful. In most cases, they provide a potted description of the pub in question, but also hopefully speak to some kind of ‘truth’ about the place, even if it’s one filtered entirely through my own experience.

Anyway, the plan is to post these more regularly, and I’ll be starting with a pub that has been a constant in my life for the last (I can’t believe I’m saying this) 25 YEARS. I’m talking about The Basketmakers Arms in Brighton.

So stay tuned, and do let me know what you think. And do also let me know of any pubs you think might be worth covering, any that have a special place in your heart, which need precisely 100 words written about them, and no more.

Thanks and love

Ben