Pub history archive gets library home

A NEW home has been found for an extensive collection of research detailing 400 years of pub history in Huntingdon. Newspapers extracts and reports of incidents in pubs were uncovered by Malcolm Cohen in the Godmanchester home of his recently deceased fr

A NEW home has been found for an extensive collection of research detailing 400 years of pub history in Huntingdon.

Newspapers extracts and reports of incidents in pubs were uncovered by Malcolm Cohen in the Godmanchester home of his recently deceased friend, Ken Loughlin, a retired RAF photographer.

The research includes details of pub buildings, owners and tenants with information from the census dating back to 1841.

One newspaper extract describes how a drunk man found unconscious outside the Golden Lion in St Germain Street in 1903 was taken to the police station in a wheelbarrow after police failed to rouse him.

After much interest in the collection following last week's article in The Hunts Post, the research will be kept for anyone to access at Huntingdon library. The work will need to be archived before it is available to the public, which could take a few weeks.

Chris Jakes, principal librarian local studies at Cambridgeshire libraries, said: "I am really pleased that this material will now be preserved for the future and accessible to all.