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london photography pubs

GALLERY: Home Front Beer, WWII

We recently discovered the Imperial War Museum digital archive which is (perhaps surprisingly) crammed with pictures of pubs, beer and brewing.

Here are some of the best shots of ‘everyday life’ on the home front during World War II shared under the terms of their non-commercial license. (Click the ID numbers to go to the IWM website for bigger versions and more info.)

A mixed group of uniformed men and a barmaid.
Allied soldiers in a London pub, 1940. © IWM (D 1725)
A dimly lit pub with soldiers in discussion.
Home Guard members in a pub in Orford, Suffolk, 1941. © IWM (D 4852)

An elderly bearded man drinking beer.
A fisherman at the Crown & Anchor, Lindisfarne, 1942. © IWM (D 6777)
A sparse pub; soldiers; landlord; signs on the wall.
Reverend Joseph Stephens chats to American sailors in The Royal Albert, Silvertown, East London, 1944. © IWM (D 21032)
A man downs dark mild from a ten-sided pint glass.
Price Evans at the Wynnstay Arms in Ruabon, Wales, 1944. © IWM (D 18484)
Three men talking and drinking beer.
The Wynnstay Arms, Ruabon. © IWM (D 18478)
Bar scene: the landlady pours a bottled beer for a uniformed man.
The Cricketers, Brighton, 1944: Mrs Pitt pours a beer. © IWM (D 22509)
Optics and a piece of paper with beer prices.
The price list at The Cricketers. © IWM (D 18494)

3 replies on “GALLERY: Home Front Beer, WWII”

What wonderful photos, and what a great atmosphere they evince. I’ve not looked them up, and I hope I’m wrong , but I assume the pubs shown have been ripped apart according to the trends of the following decades, then closed due to lack of custom. And now most of us would travel miles to drink in such places, with such characters…

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