Pubs for the People

The fight for the pint and the nation

by Sivamohan Valluvan and Amit Singh

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Publishing Date: October 2026

Price: £18.99

Pages: 264 (Hardback)

ISBN: 9781526194541

A heartfelt case for why the English pub still matters and how we can save it.

In Pubs for the people, Amit Singh and Sivamohan Valluvan offer a daring defence of the humble public house, waging battle against those who see the pub only as a poignant symbol of a bygone England.

Making a journey into the nation's living room, they blend tales of Singh's father - the founder of London's first 'Desi pub' - with a lively travelogue that carries them from a hipster nightmare in Shoreditch to an izakaya-inspired Eccles pub run by migrants from Hong Kong. Along the way, they take on private equity, yuppie gentrifiers and culture-war blowhards who use the pub as a prop for their rage-baiting patriotism.

Life today can seem lonelier, angrier and poorer than it did before. But as Singh and Valluvan show, the pub offers the inviting prospect of a more equal, sociable and comfortably multiracial England.

About the authors:

Sivamohan Valluvan is a sociologist at the University of Warwick. He is the author of The Clamour of Nationalism: Race and Nation in Twenty-First-Century Britain (2019). His writing has appeared in the Guardian, Renewal, Salvage, Red Pepper and Progressive Review.

Amit Singh is a sociologist at University College London. He is the author of Cancelled Futures: Class, Race, and Place in Post-Industrial Britain (2026). He would, in another life, have been a fourth-generation publican.

Praise for the book:

‘By taking us for a pint in a variety of establishments, from Wetherspoons to Black Country desi pubs, this book nudges our understanding of the English pub away from today's right-wing hallucination and back towards something more accurate and nuanced. In doing so, they reveal the pub's capacity for ordinary, everyday togetherness. A clever, charming and powerfully convivial book.’

Emma Warren, author of Dance Your Way Home

‘At a time when everything is pushing us all to be as isolated, alienated and automated as possible, Pubs for the People reminds us of the importance of protecting the Great British pub as a space where all communities can share in kinship and merriment. Written to be read with one hand, whilst you hold a fresh pint with the other.’

Kojo Koram, author of Uncommon Wealth

'Raising a glass from Dar es Salaam to the desi pubs of Dudley Road, this book offers an up-to-date examination and possible path forward for the Great British pub and its loyal patrons.'

John Warland, Founder of Liquid History Tours

'Pubs for the people is an enjoyable counterpoint to declinist narratives about the health of the pub, and also the country itself. It eschews nostalgia for what pubs used to be and instead celebrates them as a resilient and fluid format that has adapted to the needs of people today.'

Jonathan Nunn, writer and co-editor of Vittles

'With Pubs for the people, Amit and Vallu have really captured the spirit of the British pub and offered a crucial perspective on the importance of its continued existence. So often this great cultural institution is taken for granted, but here it is captured with deep respect, an incredible level of research and some wonderful writing.'

Matthew Curtis, editor, Pellicle Magazine

Launch events:

Waterstones Trafalgar Square, London (22nd Oct)

Five Leaves, Nottingham (28th Oct)

Track Taproom, Manchester (2nd Nov)

Caroline of Brunswick, Brighton (5th Nov)

Conway Hall, London (18th Nov)

For further information please contact Becca Parkinson via Rebecca.parkinson@manchester.ac.uk.

Third-party news items are published as received for informational purposes. Publication does not imply endorsement by the Guild. Please use the contact details within the post for any enquiries.