Smuggling Tales.

My love of the English pub will be self evident from simply reading a single week's worth of posts. So it was a great delight to me that the famous English foodies the Hairy Bikers are appearing in a new series on British pubs. A short gentle stroll through this institution has been a delight. Tonight they were looking at smuggling pubs in Cornwall.

Much of the English speaking world will have heard of Jamaica Inn the title of Daphne Du Maurier dark novel. Beka is a great fan of her works. I've never been to Bodmin Moor where the inn is situated. But being from Kent I'm know a few tales of smuggler's pubs.

The Bell Inn in Hythe played a huge part in my life. I call it the "pub at the bottom of the hill" in A Pillar of Impotence, many of my Kent friends met me there. Long before it was my local it was a smuggler's pub. They say the tunnels going through to the mill house behind still exist. In the 1960s the then landlord decided he wanted to open up the chimney to have an open fire. They did not expect to find the skeletons of two customs officers complete with decaying uniforms and identification bricked up in there. That is precisely what they found.

I love a pub with a good story. All along the coast are such places. Dymchurch down on Romney Marsh holds the annual "Day of Syn" after the smuggling local vicar of years ago. The Ship is at the centre of the day.

Far away from the sea as I am now there are still great stories to discover. The Horns at Datchworth is rumoured to be haunted by a highwayman who was killed by locals and his body to taken to the pub over night. A great party ensued and he has haunted the place ever since.

Such a shame this wonderful mark of the British is losing so many establishments every week. The smoking ban, high taxes and cheap loss making supermarket booze all take their toll. So long live the pub and enjoy them before they are gone.

I Heard a Voice.