Many of the buildings in St Albans and its environs with an interesting story to tell are current or former public houses, coaching inns and hostels for pilgrims. Some lie on major thoroughfares; others are stranded on quiet back streets that were once important coaching routes.
Drawing on his grandfather's memories, Stanley Kent's charming evocation of a town that had seen only gradual change before the coming of the railways takes us past splendid town houses, the old Market House, into pastry shops, and past the many inns that had served St Albans when it was an important coaching halt.
By his own account, Thomas Coleman was a successful hotelier and sporting impresario. But was there less to him than met the eye?
The medieval buildings of the former the Fleur de Lys pub and the Christopher Inn narrowly escaped demolition in the 1950s. A. S. Moody, then City Engineer, describes the subsequent survey, and the works undertaken to fit the buildings for re-use.
How the 'last' coachman of St Albans was nearly ruined by the arrival of the railway in Watford.
An architectural survey of the former Crown & Anchor Inn, an admirable example of a timber-framed sixteenth century inn.
The creation by temperance campaigners of pubs that emphasised food, soft drinks and recreational activities drove more widespread changes to the layout of many pubs.
For several centuries, many towns and villages lacked public buildings that could be used for civic purposes. Churches and pubs were often used instead - even, aJon Mein explains, as temporary mortuaries.
Did King John of France stay at the Fleur de Lys pub on French Row?
The Fighting Cocks pub is certainly an historic building, but is it really the oldest pub in England?
In early February 1914 the Six Bells was under threat of closure. In cities like St Albans, there were too many pubs to meet diminishing customer needs. For example, according to the City police, there was one pub for every 165 people in St Albans in 1901.
The history of the White Hart tracks the rise and fall of coaching inns in St Albans, and how those that survived had to adapt to changing trading conditions.
When an alehouse on Chequer Street stood in the way of the turnpike, there was only one answer.
Why does the Lower Red Lion have its unusual prefix? The answer lies in the 18th century pub trade in St Albans.
Nineteenth century residents of St Albans did not have far to go to find a pub, and for a while even the Clock House (as the Tower was then called) retailed beer.
