One Way to Get to Know the Locals in Britain? Stay in a Pub.

New York Times

05-02-2025

To my right, two 70-something regulars at the Exhibition pub in York, England, peppered me with questions on American politics, taught me how to recognize a fresh pint of beer (it should leave a path of foam on the glass) and invited me next door for a curry at their favorite Indian restaurant.
To my left, a middle-aged couple visiting from Manchester recommended the pub's burger and identified the gaggle of college-age men in vintage golf attire — replete with tams and argyle prints — as playing 'pub golf,' a drinking contest that involves hitting 18 pubs.
This easy camaraderie was the byproduct of checking into a pub with accommodations. A pub stay offers the hotel-like convenience of on-site room and board with a bar-like following among the local community.
Challenged by everything from inflation to remote work patterns, many pub owners say renting rooms is increasingly important to their survival. The British Beer and Pub Association estimates there are roughly 45,000 pubs across Britain, down about 2,000 pubs since 2019.
The online platform I used to find the Exhibition, Stay in a Pub, lists more than 1,600 establishments with lodgings throughout Britain, which are searchable by facilities, activities and price (averaging 100 to 300 pounds a night, or roughly $125 to $375, usually including breakfast and taxes).
Sophie Braybrooke, the chief executive of Stay in a Pub, describes a pub stay as more social than an Airbnb and less insular than a traditional bed and breakfast, with authentic British flair.
'It's easy to walk into a pub, pet someone's dog and suddenly you're in a conversation,' Ms. Braybrooke said.
And in Britain, where many pubs with rooms are hundreds of years old, the establishment usually comes with a story — sometimes a ghost story.
A long history
Though it's unknown how many pubs offer lodgings, stays in them have a long history.
In 1577, according to Paul Jennings, a British historian and the author of 'The Local: A History of the English Pub,' Queen Elizabeth I ordered a survey that divided drinking establishments into three categories: inns, which offered lodgings for people and their horses; taverns, devoted to serving wine; and alehouses.
'Alehouses were everyday drinking places ordinary men and women went to,' Mr. Jennings said. 'The ordinary alehouse evolved into the 'public alehouse,' then 'public house,' then 'pub.''
By 1870, Britain had over 118,000 pubs, according to Mr. Jennings. Historically, pubs often provided lodgings for people who couldn't afford inns. Over the years, the line dividing inns and pubs has blurred and many pubs have gone upscale. (The Oak & Poppy in London's northwestern Hampstead area, for example, offers two stylish rooms that were recently priced at £400 a night.)
A source for rural stays
In 2013, Paul Nunny, who worked in brewing and founded a quality accreditation certification for pubs called Cask Marque, realized travelers who might enjoy pub stays had no easy way of finding establishments with rooms.
He founded Stay in a Pub as a directory, which expanded with a robust website and a curated selection of pubs in 2019, just before the pandemic froze travel and shuttered pubs.
Stay in a Pub isn't the only resource. The website English Country Inns includes pub stays, and the Good Hotel Guide, which reviews hotels, maintains an 'editor's choice' list of pubs with lodgings.
There are also pub hotel groups such as Fuller's, which has 31 pubs with rooms across England. The brewery Young's operates 40 pubs with rooms in London and southeast England.
Some listings overlap with Stay in a Pub, which operates on a membership basis but features many nonmember pubs that are chosen for geographic diversity or acclaim.
One Stay in a Pub member, the Bell in Ticehurst in East Sussex, about a two-hour drive south of London, dates to the 16th century and houses seven bedrooms (from £118). The pub's quirky décor includes bowler hats used as lampshades.
'We are quite remote,' said Rae Barnes, the reception and revenue manager of the Bell in Ticehurst. 'People looking for something homey and friendly will go to Stay in a Pub if they're not familiar with the area.'
Downy beds, sloping floors
Unfamiliar with much of the country, I used Stay in a Pub to book the Exhibition and the Swan Hotel on the River Thames in Staines, about a 15-minute taxi ride from London's Heathrow Airport, and convenient to Windsor Castle.
The Swan is named for the tradition of swan upping, historically an avian census conducted by the royal family on a stretch of the Thames. Since the 12th century, the monarchy has maintained the right to all mute swans — once a source of food, now a protected species — in the wilds of Britain. The ceremonial upping, which takes place annually in July, serves as a health inspection.
Built in the 16th century, the three-story whitewashed pub, run by the Fuller's hotel group, offers a historic setting for 15 refurbished rooms upstairs. My cozy room (£179), which had a downy bed, espresso machine, Bluetooth speaker and furnished balcony overlooking the river, testified to its age only in its sloping floor.
After a late afternoon walk along the river, I joined local fans in the ground-level pub for a televised soccer match and a pint of Fuller's Frontier lager (Fuller's sold its brewing operation to Asahi, which continues to brew under the Fuller's name, in 2019).
When a large group of office colleagues thronged the bar, making it impossible to continue talking to the dog owner next to me, I moved to the neighboring dining room for a comforting meal of chicken with tarragon risotto (£16.50) as I watched the light dim on the Thames.
Though I left too early for the full English breakfast (there's also a plant-based version) included in my room rate, I appreciated the Swan's one-stop appeal as a community magnet, quality restaurant and boutique hotel at one atmospheric address.
Stays with a story
In York, a stone's throw from the Roman walls that ring the medieval center of the northern English city, the Exhibition's story starts in 1702 when it was constructed as a private home. The rear beer garden and parking lot once hosted stables and servants' quarters.
It had been a pub for many years before Shuni Davies and her husband, Danny, bought it more than 40 years ago. They added the beer garden and food and gradually renovated two upper floors as their living quarters plus six rooms to rent.
'The two floors were derelict with no windows and full of pigeons,' Ms. Davies said.
Now the halls are filled with framed memorabilia, including a flyer listing 'Rules of the Inn' from 1786. One of the rules: 'Flintlocks, cudgels, daggers and swords to be handed to the Innkeeper for safekeeping.'
Tidy, comfortable and soundproofed from the pub below, my room, named Victoria (£115), had a bed piled with pillows. In the morning, a generous complimentary breakfast — I chose poached eggs on avocado toast — was served in the conservatory that juts into the beer garden.
I never sensed anything spectral, though Ms. Davies later told me that a former guest had once emerged from the shower to find all the paintings on the guest room's walls taken down and leaning against the bed.
'He ran down with just a towel around his waist,' she said, adding that she's never been spooked at the Exhibition. 'It's got a warm and friendly feeling. Even the ghosts are friendly.'