The Story of English Inns

About the film

The roles inns have played in England over the years and the social centres they are today.

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Details

• Release year - 1944
• Production company - Hanover
• Narration - Bruce Belfrage
• Running time (minutes) - 8 mins 09 secs

Original description

The part it plays in social life

'English inns, from monastic times to the present day, have played their part in the social life of the country, developing inter-communication and trade by their hospitality to travellers. In modern times the inn is still the focal point of rural community for gatherings of every description.'

(Films of Britain - British Council Film Department Catalogue - 1946)

Did you know?

• A number of pubs appear in this film, though most of these are in Southern England. These include (in order of appearance): Ye Olde Fighting Cocks (St Albans); Barley Mow Inn (Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire); Pilgrimes Inn (Glastonbury); George Inn (Southwark, London); The Spaniards Inn (Hampstead, London); The London Apprentice (Isleworth, London); Ye Olde Chequers Inn (Tonbridge); The Comet (Hatfield); St Anne's Castle (Chelmsford); The White Hart Hotel & Garage (Dorchester on Thames, Oxford); Middle House Hotel (Mayfield, Sussex).
• In December 1941, the Ministry of Information stated that The Story of English Inns amongst other films, should not be distributed abroad, as it was counteractive to war effort. The Minister of Information, Brendan Bracken, personally wrote to the British Council, claiming that the film was "living proof of Goebbels' statements that the British are frivolous, or that they are fighting the war to perpetuate a way of living long since outmoded, or that they have lost the intellectual, moral and industrial lead which they once held."

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