Tag: drinking

Contemporary History, 20th century history, Oral history, Parliamentary Life

‘You could drink to your heart’s content’: Drinking in Parliament, a hangover from the 1970s?

In a recent interview, the newly elected MP for Gorton and Denton, Hannah Spencer, has criticised fellow-MPs drinking whilst in Westminster. For Emma Peplow, head of Contemporary History, these comments led her straight to the HPT’s oral history archive. Hannah Spencer is not the first new MP to remark disapprovingly on Parliament’s drinking culture. From the viewpoint of our oral history archive, however, MPs’ tendencies … Continue reading ‘You could drink to your heart’s content’: Drinking in Parliament, a hangover from the 1970s?

Emma PeplowLeave a comment
James I to Restoration, 17th Century history, Economic history, Health and Medicine, Interregnum, Local History, Social history, Stuart

Red Streak: cider-making and drinking in Cromwellian Herefordshire

As we contemplate the further lifting of Covid restrictions on hospitality venues, Dr Patrick Little of our Commons 1640-1660 project looks at the pleasures and pitfalls of drinking a native beverage in the seventeenth century, and the science behind its production… Cider has been produced in England since Norman times, if not before, with different traditions emerging in the east (notably East Anglia and Kent) … Continue reading Red Streak: cider-making and drinking in Cromwellian Herefordshire

Patrick LittleLeave a comment
The Commons in the Wars of the Roses, 15th Century History, Buildings and Architecture, Medieval, Parliamentary Life, Social history

Pubs, Publicans and Parliament in the later Middle Ages

Dr Hannes Kleineke, editor of our Commons 1461-1504 project, is one of many people celebrating parliament’s decision to allow the re-opening of pubs, bars and watering holes in England from today. But in our latest blog he looks back to the later middle ages, when parliament’s influence on pubs and publicans was a common aspect of the industry… For many of us, one of the … Continue reading Pubs, Publicans and Parliament in the later Middle Ages

Hannes KleinekeLeave a comment