A good old knees up at the pub! From a couple’s VE Day kiss to Charles and Diana’s wedding… how Londoners have used any excuse to raise a glass or two down ‘the local’

• Photos of Londoners in the capital’s pubs are revealed in new book The London Pub
• One shows a young soldier kissing his girlfriend in a pub in the capital on VE day in May 1945 
• Another shows a landlady cleaning a sign commemorating King Charles’s wedding to Princess Diana in 1981
• A third workers enjoying a boozy lunch break in The Globe pub at Borough Market in 1955  

From raising a glass down the local for all manner of celebrations to sinking several pints after a long day in the office, the pub has been one of the pillars of British culture for hundreds of years. 

Whilst thousands in London and elsewhere have closed in recent times and industry figures warn about the threat posed to many others, pubs in lots of areas are still hugely popular. 

Now, stunning images revealed in a new book take readers back to the days when pubs really were the beating heart of life in the capital. 

Photos in The London Pub, published by Hoxton Mini Press, include one showing a young soldier kissing his girlfriend in a pub in the capital on VE day in May 1945, when Britain and its allies celebrated victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War. 

A soldier kissing a young woman in a pub during VE Day celebrations in London, May 8, 1945

A staff member at the Prince and Princess of Wales pub in Southwark is seen in 1981 – the year of the King’s wedding to Princess Diana – proudly cleaning the venue’s sign through an upstairs window. The sign featured a painting of the couple. The venue has since closed and is now a Londis outlet 

Private Thomas Nugent, who was among a batch of British Prisoners of War released from Korea in 1953 during the Korean War, is seen celebrating with his wife and other drinkers at pub in Edmonton, North London after finally making it home

Another shows a proud landlady cleaning the brand new sign of the Prince and Princess of Wales pub in Southwark in 1981, the year of King Charles’s wedding to Princess Diana. 

A third shows workers enjoying a boozy lunch break in The Globe pub at Borough Market, near Southwark Cathedral in June 1955. 

A fourth image reveals the team of mostly women bartenders at a London pub called The George in 1962. 

The new book tells how pubs were among venues that were forced to close under coronavirus lockdown rules in 2020 and 2021.

In this image that was taken in the 1950s, a barmaid is seen pulling a pint in a London pub as male drinkers enjoy themselves at the bar

Workers are seen enjoying a boozy lunch break in The Globe pub at Borough Market, near Southwark Cathedral in June 1955

A team of mostly female bartenders pose for a group photograph at a London pub called The George in 1962

In April 2021, pubs and restaurants with outdoor areas were allowed to partially re-open, but even then pubs were stripped of crowded scenes of joviality around bar areas as venues and customers had to stick to social distancing.

Speaking of the closures during the pandemic, the book’s introduction, by Pete Brown, notes: ‘Even in the Second World War, pubs had never closed like this. 

‘During the Blitz, bombed rained on London every night.  

But as long as the pubs opened the following morning – even if that meant stretching a plank across a couple of beer barrels to serve as a makeshift bar amid the rubble – we weren’t beaten.

‘Pubs are like air or water. They’re so important we take them for granted, until they’re gone.’ 

Whilst most pubs now serve food, things were different in the middle of the 20th-century, with most venues serving only drinks and bar snacks. 

Londoners are seen enjoying themselves outside a pub during a bank holiday in 1947. Whilst most pubs now serve food, things were different in the middle of the 20th-century, with most venues serving only drinks and bar snacks

American folk singer Peggy Seeger is seen entertaining drinkers at The Enterprise pub in Long Acre, Westminster, in 1960. Seeger is just one of a host of stars and acts who began their careers performing in bars, pubs and other small venues

A mother and baby enjoy the afternoon light in The Kenton Arms in Hackney in 1986. The pub is now called The Kenton, but still boasts its original sign at the top of the building 

An office worker enjoys a quiet drink as he reads the paper in a London pub in Soho in 1981. Lunch-time pints are now much rarer than they used to be

In the 20th century, an increasing number of pubs were bought by breweries. In the 1950s, Watney’s was one of the largest. The Baptist’s Head, a Watney’s venue in Clerkenwell, is seen above in 1954

The current energy crisis has seen pubs hit hard, with some venues calling last orders at 9pm or serving food for just three hours a day in a bid to avoid financial ruin.

In September, the chair of the British Chambers of Commerce warned that two-thirds of pubs could face closure. 

Landlords were reporting a 400 per cent increase in bills, with celebrity chef and owner Tom Kerridge revealing that the energy bill at one of his pubs was set to rise from £60,000 to a ‘ludicrous’ £420,000. 

The energy crisis came after annual figures released by CAMRA in June showed how five pubs a week were lost forever in Britain last year, with 290 demolished or converted and 500 shut permanently.

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