From Taverns to Gastropubs Food, Drink, and Sociality in England

The pub is a prominent social institution integral to British identity. From Taverns of Gastropubs: Food, Drink, and Sociality in England charts the historical development of the English public house from the Restoration period to the twenty-first century, culminating in the contemporary gastropub. It explores issues of class, gender, and national identification to understand the social identity of patrons and how publicans conceive of their establishments' organizational identity.

In the context of large-scale pub closures since the 1990s the gastropub is viewed as both a reaction to the traditional drinking pub and as a promising alternative. From Taverns to Gastropubs uses historical diaries, industry reports, and a wealth of in-depth interviews in order to understand the rise of the gastropub and how food, drink, and sociality has changed through time.

Christel Lane is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and a Fellow of St. John's College at the University of Cambridge, UK. Professor Lane's work on fine-dining restaurants in Britain and Germany and on gastropubs combines her long-standing interest in economic and organizational sociology with the sociology of culture. Her previous books include The Cultivation of Taste: Chefs and the Organization of Fine Dining (Oxford University Press, 2014), and she has published articles on food and dining in Food, Culture and Society, British Journal of Sociology, Poetics, and Industry and Innovation.

Part I: Historical Perspective
1. The Historical Development of Taverns, Inns, and Public Houses
2. The Social Identity of Taverns, Inns, and Public Houses
3. Eating Out in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: the contest between English and French food
4. Eating Out in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries: changes in food and in social identities
Part II: The Rise of the Gastropub
5. Publicans Between and the State and the Brewers: a subordinate relationship
6. The Gastropub and its Divided Identity: food, drink, and sociality
7. Social Identity in Gastropubs: a focus on class, gender, and nation
8. The Future of the Pub: are gastropubs the saviour or the nemesis of the traditional pub?