Home Counties The Hairy Bikers' Pubs That Built Britain

Pubs have been at the heart of Britain for hundreds of years.

Cheers, mucker!

-And city taverns.

-And village inns.

Landlords have pulled pints for locals, travellers

and, well, the odd king or two...

myself included.

Try and have a drink now.

LAUGHTER

But with 30 pubs closing every week,

our historic taverns need defending.

Step! Step!

We're heading out to discover amazing stories linked to

the nation's watering holes.

-Not far to go.

-How far?

-Oh, a couple of miles.

-What?!

From the Wars of the Roses...

To shipbuilding on the Clyde.

We've ditched our bikes so that we can sample an ale or two.

Get in!

This is very good.

LAUGHTER

So join us for...

Today we are visiting alehouses in the home counties of England

to tell a tale of treachery and treason.

A complicated royal family feud

that you and I would know as the Wars of the Roses.

Battle after bloody battle was fought all over England

and it all began in the centre of St Albans.

It turns out that here in St Albans, Englishmen fought Englishmen,

cousin fought cousin in an attempt to control the King, Kingy.

I saw what you did there, dude. That was good, that.

It's 1455 and it's the first battle in the Wars of the Roses.

The only thing is, though, what has it got to do with roses?

Well, to get to the ROOT of that THORNY problem,

we're going to have to find a good pub to travel back in time.

Come on, petal.

HE SIGHS

We're spinning the clock back over 500 years

to the medieval England of 1455.

Henry VI was the country's king but he was losing his grip on power.

Noblemen from two great houses, the Yorkists and Lancastrians,

were locked in a power struggle over who should become his successor.

With tensions running high,

it was all about to kick off right here where this ancient pub stands,

in the bustling market town of St Albans.

-Here we are, then. The Boot.

-Well, mate, it certainly looks old.

Definitely older than the phone box, that's for sure.

It's believed that in this part of the marketplace,

it was used by tanners in the 1400s, hence the name, The Boot.

Ah, well, I never! You see, we have history all around us, mate.

All around us in these very walls.

This cracking pub is one of the town's oldest buildings.

We know it has been an alehouse since the 1700s,

but it's reckoned parts of the building

date back as far as the 1400s.

Wow, now, that's pretty ancient, dude.

You weren't lying, Kingy.

-The history is in the walls.

-It's also in the ceilings, mate.

They must have been pretty short in them days, mustn't they?

And we also know that The Boot is slap-bang on the site

of the first battle of the Wars of the Roses,

which is why it's officially a Battlefields Pub.

And we're meeting Mike Elliott from the Battlefields Trust

to find out more.

-Hello.

-How do, Mike? Dave. Pleased to meet you.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Mike, I'm Si. Pleased to meet you.

-Welcome to St Albans.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. It was the War of the Roses.

-Wars of the Roses.

-What were they fighting about?

-OK.

Lots of people get very confused about this.

They think that because it was York and Lancaster,

all the fighting was up in the North. Totally wrong.

It was actually a dynastic war.

There were two rival great houses -

the House of York and the House of Lancaster.

These two great houses were both saying

they had a claim to the throne.

So over a period of 28 years,

they fought a number of campaigns to try and decide who would be king.

So, in one corner, Henry VI and the House of Lancaster.

In the other, Richard the Duke of York and, you've guessed it,

the House of York.

Richard believed that he was in line for the throne,

but he had fallen out with the King.

The sides were squaring up for a fight.

So, Richard the Duke of York heard the King was out to get rid

of him, so did Richard come here to confront the King, to kill the King?

Well, he wasn't really out to get rid of him.

It was more a case of that the rival houses wanted to establish

who was next in line of succession.

The Duke of York wanted to make sure that the King knew that it

was actually he who was going to be the next king.

So the King left London in May 1455 to travel to Leicester

and St Albans, of course, is on the way.

The Lancastrian army arrives here in St Albans,

early in the morning on 22 May

and then they hear that the Yorkist army,

which outnumbers them by about 50%, is just outside.

There then precedes a lengthy period of negotiation

and eventually, Henry VI says, "Right, I've had enough."

And raises the Royal Standard.

-So, that was game on, then?

-Mm-hm.

And at that point, the Duke of York says,

"Well, I've had enough of this," and he decides to attack.

So the bell, which is in the clock tower just outside,

which was there at the time of the battle,

is tolled and that's the signal for all Lancastrians

who'd probably be in all the taverns

and drinking places around having breakfast,

suddenly realising, "Oh, golly, we've got to defend ourselves."

-And that's why they were late for the battle.

-Yeah, in a way.

-Having breakfast.

-Having breakfast.

-In a pub.

-Drinking ale.

I think that's brilliant! I mean, at least it's human.

Absolutely.

So, if I was standing here looking out the window

on the morning of 22 May, 1455, I'd have seen the battle?

What you would have seen here outside

would have been lots of Lancastrian men at arms frantically

-putting on their armour and getting ready to fight...

-Gosh.

..because it takes about 20 minutes to put on a full suit of armour.

The fighting only lasted half an hour,

so in many cases, by the time they got their armour on,

the troops had broken through into the town centre

and they were surrounded.

Why was it called the Wars of the Roses?

It wasn't actually called the Wars of the Roses at the time.

It was not until Shakespeare wrote a famous scene

in the Temple Garden in Henry VI Part I,

where the rival houses are confronting each other

in the Temple Garden and the Lancastrians select a red rose

and the Yorkists select a white rose.

Of course, it's all complete fiction.

But then, in the 19th century,

historians start referring in history books

to the Wars of the Roses,

basically because of the scene in Shakespeare.

-Right.

-Ah!

Well, I never. A work of fiction, eh?

Aye, but the war that Shakespeare christened certainly wasn't,

on and off, off and on, for 30 years they fought.

It was tough-going for the soldiers.

One bonus, though.

-They got to enjoy a pint or two.

-Indeed.

Kevin Yellen is a regular of The Boot

and dabbles in historic home-brew.

Just the man to show us what was being drunk

in the taverns of the time

before getting "the boot" back onto the battlefield.

Oh, funny, ha-ha(!)

-So, is this ye olde ale?

-It is, yeah.

This is recreation of what I believe a medieval ale

around May 1455 would look like.

-Shall we have a little sample?

-Oh, yeah.

-Definitely.

Talking of samples, it does look like one.

THEY LAUGH

Obviously, unfiltered.

THEY LAUGH

Said he, raising his eyebrows as a brewer.

-Go on, mate. We'd love to taste it.

-So, we've got two brews here.

What we have is, we would have mashed the grain

and then we have our first running,

which would have been very high in sugar,

so that'll produce a higher-alcoholic beverage,

and then with the same grain we'd add more water to it,

do a second mash and that produces a much weaker ale,

and, typically, what we expect is the weaker ale would be one

which would be drunk by the family and the stronger one would have

more of a preservative quality because of the high alcohol content

and that would then be able to be kept for a little while longer,

maybe kept for special occasions

and certainly would be offered to passers-by to purchase,

especially in a town like St Albans with, obviously, coaching routes

and the masses of pilgrims.

St Albans was the first stagecoach post north of London,

and its cathedral a sacred site for pilgrimage.

The town's coaching inn stabled over 2,000 visiting horses at any

one time, which meant lots of owners and lots of ale. What a hoof!

Very interesting that you said that ale would be drunk by all

the families. So, why weren't they drinking water at the time?

The Abbey has countless mills around 1455.

Obviously, that's going to turn the water up,

it's going to make it very turbid,

not very appetising to drink.

Brewing is probably second only to agriculture as an occupation

of people in St Albans at that time.

St Albans in the 1400s sounds like our kind of place, Kingy.

Home brew available all over the shop.

And I think a little sample is in order.

First up, the family brew.

What do you reckon, Kingy?

It's not what I would choose to drink.

-It's just a different palette, isn't it, now?

-It's very light.

We're expecting something that it's not delivering, in a way.

Absolutely. There's very little sort of complexity.

There's a little bit of a herbal taste to it.

I can see how you would feed this to your kids, there's nutrition in it.

Absolutely, it's not just a way of hydrating the family,

it's a valuable food source, all the vitamins which are in it.

-So this is the better one?

-This is the better one.

This is the one which is higher in alcohol.

-The first one around about 2.6% in alcohol.

-Oh! That'll be why.

We're approaching the 8% on this particular beverage.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Your very good health.

-Thank you.

-Oh, that tastes better.

-Fruity?

-Oh, aye.

We're onto a stout, aren't we now, almost?

How many pints a day do you reckon the average middle-aged sol...

Middle-aged! We're middle-aged soldiers.

How many pints a day do you reckon that the average soldier in the Middle Ag... Er...

This is very good.

LAUGHTER

How many pints of this stuff a day...

would the average soldier in the Middle Ages have got through?

-Not many if it had the same effect as it has on you!

-Aye.

Erm, but...

Anything approaching a gallon, I would have thought

might well be a daily intake for them.

Isn't it wonderful to think we're here drinking beer

-as it would have been drank then.

-It is.

-In a pub, on the edge of the battlefield.

-Absolutely.

-Except, the good thing is, we don't have to fight.

-That's good, yeah.

Fascinating stuff, mucker.

I'll tell you what, though, that ancient home brew's a bit rough.

Did you know, on the subject of drinking establishments,

in the Middle Ages, taverns were like modern-day wine bars,

providing for posh people like me.

Oh!

Well, alehouses were more like pubs,

which provided a drinking establishment

for the more common folk like...you.

Inns, like hotels, providing food and bed, stabling and entertainment.

Ah, which would be perfect for somebody like a king to stay in,

which would, of course, be me.

And that's not the only bit of ye olde tavern trivia up our sleeves.

Pub signs are full of fascinating facts, too.

And in St Albans, there's a few corkers.

The Six Bells is named after the number of bells

in nearby St Michael's Church.

A ringing endorsement, if ever there was one.

I like what you did there, Myers.

The Camp sits near the site where Romans set up camp

over 2,000 years ago.

And I can think of worse places than a pub to pitch me tent.

And the Verulam Arms is a 19th-century boozer,

displaying the crest of the Earl of Verulam.

The Latin motto translates as "mediocrity is safe."

I hope that doesn't refer to the beer!

But back to the St Albans of 1455.

We're taking to the streets, Wars of the Roses style,

to find out more about what happened when the battle kicked off.

It's time to prepare for battle. What's your favourite colour, Si?

Is it the King's Lancastrian red, or York's rebel white?

Rebel white, mate, definitely, definitely rebel white.

Good, because my patch is Barrow-in-Furness

and we used to be Lancashire.

So...let's bring it on!

Oh...

If I've got any chance of winning, I need the battle plan.

The Yorkist army were stationed outside the town walls

while the King and his Lancastrian troops

were hanging out in the streets and taverns, unprepared for battle.

I'm back outside The Boot to meet local historian Rob.

-Hello, Rob, I'm Dave.

-Hi, there.

-Rob, we're here at The Clock Tower.

So what part did that play in the battle?

Was it there to kind of ring seconds out or announce the kick-off?

The Lancastrian scouts climb up the tower to get a really good

view of the lay of the land.

They find the Yorkist positions are within a crossbow bolt of the tower.

-Right.

-They're really nearby.

This tower, it was here at the time of the battle?

It's exactly as it was at the time of the battle, yeah.

It's an amazing survivor.

A piece of medieval bling that was built by the townsfolk.

Rob, could you show me around the tower.

-Yeah, let's do it.

-Fantastic, thank you.

-It's very cramped in here.

-It is, yeah.

-We've got a narrow stairway to climb.

-Lead on, Macduff.

'Ere, I wouldn't fancy this in a full set of armour.

I wonder if I'll spot Si from up here?

Ah, so the sentries would be up here

and just reporting, really, on the state of the battlefield?

-That's right.

-How many troops did the Yorkists have?

They had about 2,500.

-The Lancastrians had 2,000.

-So the Yorkists really had the upper hand.

The Yorkists demanded the King surrender

one of his closest allies, the Duke of Somerset,

who was lining himself up as successor to the throne.

But when the King refused, the Yorkists stormed this very square...

..and an alehouse may very well have been involved.

They talk about coming across a pub called The Chequer

-and we think this is where they broke through the lines.

-Right.

They talk about breaking down walls and houses

to get through to the Market Square.

Can you imagine how terrifying it would have been,

having a pint in The Chequers?

-Absolutely.

-Yeah.

I love it where pubs really signify milestones in British history.

It's remarkable.

Once the Yorkists had stormed the town,

it was only a matter of time before they captured the King himself.

That happened in the town square below.

And they burst through into the market square

and they find the King and his royal retinue totally unprepared.

-Here?

-Absolutely, on this spot.

Eventually the King himself is wounded.

And I wonder how many people here doing their shopping

give it a second thought.

All this momentous fighting happened here, in the middle of St Albans.

It wasn't your regular battlefield scene

with knights on horseback, you know.

It was 15th-century street fighting.

The common soldiers didn't have full suits of armour like the noblemen.

Oh, no, they had to make do with pretty much naff-all.

But they did have weapons.

Ian, Max, great to meet you. How are you, sir?

-Not too bad at all.

-Good to meet you, thanks.

This is remarkable. This is remarkable.

So, what do we have here?

Well, in keeping with the location, St Albans, 1455.

What we've got here is Max wearing the equipment and clothing

that a soldier in the armies of 1455 in the battle

would have been wearing.

So they would have come out of the pub

-and they would have got all their clobber on.

-Aye.

And then legged it towards the battle.

And it becomes a dirty, nasty street fight.

When we say "dirty" we mean really up close and personal?

Really up close and personal. Do you want to see?

Yeah, go on, go on. Yeah, because I'm a Geordie,

I'm used to this sort of thing.

Hang on a minute, lads, I need to get into character.

Although we haven't got a helmet for you to wear,

let's give you a nice hat.

-You're joking, he wouldn't go into battle with this?

-Why not?

He would be encased in armour

but there's no reason why he couldn't wear it

and you look beautiful.

Let's remember everything's a fashion statement

-in the 15th century.

-Is it?

-Absolutely!

Your armour, your clothes, the weapons you fight with - it's 100% a fashion statement.

You are not a noble unless you have a true noble's weapon.

If you're fighting men and you want to use a sword,

the only weapon for you is the longsword.

-Flipping 'eck!

-The longsword, a beautiful weapon.

As you can see, it has got a name for a reason.

-Yes, it's long and it's a sword.

-Absolutely! It's that simple.

Let's say my lord York moves forward. I cut in like so.

There we go.

Then at this point, suddenly you've got a strong line.

You can bring your hands up in front of you, moving forward,

move that weapon slightly to one side

and you can thrust straight through and walk over me as I fall down.

Game over. You only need to go that distance into me

for me to fall over.

Flipping heck!

-I mean, the level of brutality is just...

-Vicious.

-..unbel...

It's vicious, man. The levels of skill that's required to survive

is...is mind-blowing.

Right, Myers, I've had some training now.

It's going to get up close and personal and nasty!

Oh-ho-ho!

Keep your hat on, Kingy, it's not 1455 now, you know.

-You're jealous because my side won.

-All right, I'll give you that.

Richard of York did thrash the King.

Phwoar, dear me.

Well, that was different.

You know, I thought like medieval battles happened

on fields with knights on horseback and armour.

It's strange to imagine knights in armour,

-running up and down the high street with broadswords and axes.

-It is.

I'll tell you what, they're brutal, those broadswords, mate.

-I've lost a finger look at that.

-Give over.

The King lost three prominent nobles and round one,

but that certainly wasn't the end of it.

You're not kidding, Kingy, England was in turmoil

as sporadic battles took place across the country for decades.

And at many of these ancient battlefields,

there still stands a great British pub...

..And a passionate punter fascinated by the history.

Time to meet a local who loves his local!

You'll find the Crooked Billet pub just outside

the North Yorkshire village of Saxton.

It sits at the site of an infamous Wars of the Roses battlefield.

It's the local boozer of Mark, who's been supping here for years.

The Crooked Billet at Saxton is a great pub,

I've been coming here for over 15 years.

Not only is the beer really good, the food's fantastic,

the service great,

its location, its setting.

It's set in rural Yorkshire

but also it's on the edge of the Battle of Towton.

Towton battlefield was the scene of England's bloodiest battle.

Because of that, heritage has been drawn into the pub.

The Battle of Towton marks six years in the Wars of the Roses.

Today the pub garden's still a target for local archers,

though, thankfully, not the killing kind.

You'll find that archery has been a real draw to get people

engaged with heritage.

It's a great sport and also it's good fun.

It's become known as the archery pub.

People will drive along the main road and see the archery

going ahead, pull in, have a meal and have a go with a longbow.

Well, it's kind of handy

if you ever find yourself in the crossfire of a bloodthirsty battle.

Archery was massive.

If you could imagine 20,000 or 30,000 archers on each side,

all shooting volleys of 12, 24 arrows at each other.

You know, in really atrocious conditions.

You can imagine what the sky was... Covered black with arrows.

Somebody's calculated there may have been

a million arrows in the sky at one time.

For me, the pub is just my pub.

When I drive into the area, as soon as I get out of the car,

I feel a connection with the locality, instantly.

You know, I look out upon a deserted medieval village.

I've driven through the Towton battlefield.

This is where myself and my peers come and do our archery

and I walk into the pub and it feels a connection straight away.

Back on our historic pub crawl, we're travelling to

Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire

to a pub that marks a very special occasion.

Indeed it does.

The end of the Wars of the Roses,

when the Lancastrians won the final battle at Bosworth Field in 1485.

I bet everybody was over the moon that it was all over.

Yes, there would've been dancing in the streets

and partying in every pub in Britain,

even down little country lanes like this one.

Oh, look at that.

For over 900 years, this hostelry has been known throughout the land.

So even here.

The Royal Standard of England is jam-packed with history

and royal connections to die for.

Its name was granted by Charles II in 1663

and is the only pub in Britain to be bestowed with such an honour.

Ooh-er!

Si, this is possibly the most beautiful pub I've ever been in.

It is, mate, it's absolutely gorgeous.

-You can certainly feel the history, can't you?

-It's great.

-Are you Tom?

-I am.

Barman Tom Murden's the resident history expert,

who's giving us the gen on how the good news spread.

Tom, can you tell us about this pub

and its connection with the end of the Wars of the Roses?

The pub would have been a site of celebration

and, in particular, would've been celebrated by the local traders.

In those days, it would have been the traders from Penn down the road.

They would've been tar merchants.

Most importantly, they would have shared the celebration with the Welsh drovers.

The Welsh drovers used this road as a route from the west,

into London, but also via market towns like Beaconsfield.

Do you know what always intrigues me, is that in those times,

how did people know that the Wars of the Roses were over?

I mean, there was no television news reports. There were no newspapers.

How did they actually find out it was finished?

-That's an interesting question because the drovers would've acted as news carriers.

-Ah...

Because they would have...

Obviously, droving from Wales to London

would've entailed a number of stops

and this wasn't the only place they stopped.

They would've picked up information along the way, sharing it with barmen and landlords.

They would be news carriers, as well as cattle drovers.

You see, that's fascinating, isn't it, because that kind of then again reinforces yet again

the kind of culture of the pub throughout British history.

Yeah, yeah.

Drovers moved cattle across the country

and would often pop in here for a bevvy.

And when peace was declared, they stopped in for a bit of a boogie,

medieval stylie.

The legend of the pub is built around the fact that there

-were a group of dances to celebrate the end of the war.

-Oh...

-They were called Border dances.

-Right.

It was a dance that was used for celebrations in the 15th century.

So, Tom, would you say the Border dances were anything

-like our Morris dances that we know today?

-Almost certainly.

Today we can see the regional dances as Morris dances.

Morris dancing is just an umbrella term.

It just happened to be the regional dance that was closest to the Welsh border.

That's a remarkable story.

It is incredible, isn't it, that this pub from the Wars of the Roses.

-Yeah.

-This pub has been there and witnessed it all.

Now some traditions never die and Morris dancing is one that's

still celebrated by the locals in this very pub.

The Grand Union of Morris Men dance in pubs across the country,

much like those 15th-century drovers.

MORRIS DANCING MUSIC

Dudley here is what they call the Grand Union Bagman.

-Dudley, that was brilliant.

-Was it good?

-It was fantastic.

We enjoy it, as well.

You know, Dudley, the question has to be...why?

If only I knew why!

We know where, we know how, but why... We just enjoy it.

A lovely pub and it's traditional Morris.

It's been around for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Do you all know the history of Morris, then?

It comes from the Dark Ages.

Some people say it's even pagan but that would be controversial.

All we do know, it was around at the War of the Roses and before

and it's evolved over the last few centuries to what you see today.

Dudley, I have to say, I have to say, it's got to be pagan

in some way, shape or form because you're dressed as a magic bush.

LAUGHTER

No, I'm the Green Man who is born each year on May 1st.

Well, there you are! That's pagan to me, mate.

It's a wonderful tradition.

It's great to see it's alive and thriving.

Dudley, it's a shame to come here and not join in.

-Do you think Dave and I could have a go?

-Of course you can.

It's easy, really, but it takes years of practice.

-Brilliant!

-Come and join us.

-Fantastic!

Well, I'd better get dressed for the part.

Somewhere there's a village missing its idiot!

Go!

And back.

And again.

We're getting the hang of this, Kingy.

That's it and now back.

What can I say, mucker, you can't teach natural rhythm like this!

-Skip!

-I'm skipping!

I'm following the bush!

No, Si, you definitely can't!

What a brilliant end to a brilliant pub tour.

Yeah, everything from medieval ale

to battlefield boozers.

Fantastic!

Right, mate, a final piece of Wars of the Roses trivia for you.

DAVE SIGHS

I bet you don't know this one.

The Duke of Clarence was executed in 1478 in the Tower Of London.

How was he put to death?

Of course I know this one, I did Richard III at school.

He was drowned in a vat of Malmsey wine.

He was an' all!

-That was good that, mate. Well done.

-I know. I have education.