A PARISH councillor and member of the Campaign for Real Ale is appealing for help to pen a book on the lost history of Swindon’s pubs.

John Stooke, 70, of Haydon Wick, is hoping to tell the story of the town’s old alehouses through the stories and anecdotes of publicans past and present.

He intends the book to be a treasured “historical record of something which is almost unique to the United Kingdom”.

A passionate John said: “I plan to talk about events, happy memories and opinions of customers. I want the book to be as readable as possible, a populist venture with many images and anecdotes and stories throughout the years, getting what we can down in print whilst these memories still exist.

“I also want it to be affordable but, also, the kind of book that I would buy, perhaps keep by the bed and dip into it now and again. If I can find retired landlords they could be a perfect source of stories.”

John is a committee member of the Swindon and North Wiltshire Campaign for Real Ale. In 1984 the late David Backhouse, the then Chair, wrote a book entitled Home Brewed which recorded all the public houses in Swindon and the surrounding area.

John said: “It was a very comprehensive, but fairly technical, record of pubs and brewing in these parts.

“I am planning to update and enlarge on that book, although this time it will be centred on only the 96 public houses that no longer exist in urban Swindon.

“In particular, I’m in search of drawings, posters, memorabilia, pub signs, maps, paintings, rare or unusual photographs – particularly any pictures of the interiors of some of the old pubs which are extremely difficult to find.”

He is currently working with such bodies as the Swindon Society, the Swindon Museum, Arkells, the Wroughton History Group and many others.

John said: “The book is not a commercial venture. I believe hard-working railwaymen in the glory days of the GWR probably did not treat their wives in the way they should have after a long Saturday night in the local, so there was a darker side beyond the facades and the built heritage.

“For this reason I plan to self-fund and use the book as a charity vehicle to raise what modest money I can for Swindon Women’s Aid.

Finally, I want the want the book to be a tribute to David's work, which took more than 12 years of his life to assemble. I want it to be a record of a rapidly disappearing part of our social history – the backstreet alehouse – and, I have to confess, it's a bit of a hobby which is turning into a bit of an obsession.”