The Mystique of Running the Public House in England Quest for El Dorado, 1840-1939

"This book has been long in the making, and certainly worth the wait. Over some three decades, David Gutzke has rethought the relationship between brewers and their publican retailers and concludes that the mystique of 'El Dorado', rather than geography and local economics, was particularly influential in shaping this dis-functional alliance... Drawing on new archives, including royal commissions on licencing and company records, that capture the experiences of the tenants of Britain's 60,000 pubs, in order to paint a far more reliable portrait of British pub tenants and their financial struggles in the century before the Second World War... Gutzke provocatively suggests that brewers did little to discourage the unrealistic expectations of those seeking to enter the trade of alcohol retailing, let alone improve the training of publicans over a period that saw intensifying competition and significant changes in the industry."

Jonathan Reinarz, The Journal of the Social History Society

"The Mystique of Running the Public House in England represents a significant scholarly achievement, providing a focused argument and comprehensive historical portrayal of English publicans and the tied house system... This work stands as a testament to Gutzke's lifetime of scholarly inquiries into the English pub, its proprietors, and their enduring significance. While written largely for academic readers of English history, its straightforward style makes it accessible to a broad audience with an interest in gaining a deeper understanding of the fortunes of this English social institution."

Bradley Kadel, Fayetteville State University

"David Gutzke's books and articles, published over the past thirty-five years, establishes him as the leading historian of the English beer trade. He is renowned for his mastery of archival and rare print sources. In this new book Gutzke proposes an original thesis, the myth of El Dorado. He shows that the untrained men who aspired to the life of a publican had a naïve optimism about its financial rewards, a myth that the brewers encouraged. Gutzke cites primary source material previously unexplored such as secret testimony at a Royal Commission, buried in the Public Record Office, and job interviews for those applying to become public house tenants. In his new book Gutzke adds to our knowledge of the publicans, men (and a few women) who straddled the borders of the upper working class and the lower middle class."

David M. Fahey, Miami University, Ohio

"The book provides a powerful illustration of the traditional pub business in England... [and] represents a valuable addition to the studies concerning the pub, beer and brewing history. Many of the themes developed in the book can be easily contextualised and transferred to different historical perspectives within the pub and beer industry in Britain and beyond. For this reason, the book has potential in terms of attracting a newer and more diverse audience."

Ignazio Cabras, Business History, DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2024.2421726

"David Gutzke's book is a valuable addition to the history of the UK pub industry and will spark interest from scholars enthused by the trove of under-utilized archives yielding a quirky analysis of social phenomena."

Julie Bower, The Economic History Review

"In so carefully illuminating the untold and changing history of pub management, Gutzke has done UK social historians a considerable service."

Edward Higgs (2025), Social History, 50:4, 480-482, DOI: 10.1080/03071022.2025.2543634