Haunch of Venison celebrated in new Great Pubs of England book

The medieval Salisbury pub, The Haunch of Venison, has been featured in a new book which celebrates the greatest pubs in England.

Created by the acclaimed photographer Horst A Friedrichs and travel writer Stuart Husband, ‘The Great Pubs of England’ brings together 33 of England’s most distinctive inns, with The Haunch of Venison featuring on the front cover.

The Haunch of Venison is one of the region's oldest pubs with records dating back to circa 1320 when the building was used to house craftsmen working on the Cathedral spire.

The venue has a wealth of history, with the "Horsebox" section of the pub reputedly used by Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower during the planning of D-Day landings back in 1944.

Speaking about their appearance in the book, Anastasia, Land Lady at The Haunch of Venison, said, “It is such an honour not to be just listed in Great Pubs of England book, but to be on its cover!

“There was quite a competition for it, but our House of Commons bar featured is truly unique. It has so many original parts you can see, including a pewter top bar with an original set of gravity-fed spirit taps -believed to be one of only a few left in the whole country. There is so much heritage in our little cozy place and we would like to share it with the whole world!”

Photographer, Horst A Friedrichs, said that for a book like this, they had to balance the visual, the anecdotal, and the experiential.

Speaking to Love Salisbury he said, “The pubs had to look good, they had to have a bunch of good stories attached to them and they had to be places you'd want to linger in. I wish I could say that we fed all these factors into a super-computer and worked off the resultant algorithm, but the fact is that we pulled together a bunch of places that we knew, that we'd heard about, and that we discovered online, and narrowed our final choices down from there.

“For me as a photographer, I wanted to see how 700 years of history looked like. The Haunch of Venison made a big impact on me in terms of interior decor, atmosphere and ambience.”

When asked how they decided which pub made it onto the front cover, Horst said, “They say never judge a book by its cover but I have to admit, when my publishing team at Prestel and I began the book cover discussions for Great Pubs of England, I never thought it would be so tough–and interesting!

“Our process was long, fun and a bit stressful, but mostly I thought that it would be nice to shine some light behind what goes into that cover. This is when you think about the book’s first impression. How do you sum up an entire book in one page? People or no people? Good captivating typography? The font design is inspired by the typefaces used in old English pub signs. In the end, we got a winner - The Haunch of Venison”

For more information on Great Pubs of England and where you can buy a copy of the book, click here.

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