{"product_id":"the-last-landlady","title":"The Last Landlady","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA memoir of the time Laura spent with her publican grandmother as a child\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eAn eclectic mix of social history and elegy, ironic comedy and indelible Englishness. It is about the pub as theatre\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e’ \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Spectator\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLaura Thompson’s grandmother Violet was one of the great landladies. Born in a London pub, she became the first woman to be given a publican’s licence in her own name. Just as pubs defined her life, she seemed in many ways to embody their essence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLaura spent part of her childhood in Violet’s Home Counties establishment, mesmerised by her gift for cultivating the mix of cosiness and glamour that defined the pub’s atmosphere, making it a unique reflection of the national character. Her memories of this time are just as intoxicating: beer and ash on the carpets in the morning, the deepening rhythms of mirth at night, the magical brightness of glass behind the bar…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough them Laura traces the story of the English pub, asking why it has occupied such a treasured position in our culture. But even Violet, as she grew older, recognised that places like hers were a dying breed, and Laura also considers the precarious future they face. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart memoir, part social history, part elegy, \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Last Landlady\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e pays tribute to an extraordinary woman and the world she epitomised. It was selected as a Spectator book of the year in 2018.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003eA lyrical portrait of a fast-vanishing way of life . . . Thompson is a terrific writer\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Last Landlady\u003c\/em\u003e is Laura Thompson's exquisitely observed and brilliantly written memoir of the life and times of her grandmother, the first woman in England to hold a pub licence\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eKathryn Hughes,\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Mail on Sunday\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003eA wonderfully observed story about female agency in the post-war period\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback: 272pp \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished: Wilton Square (December 2025) \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN: 9781783528455\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wilton Square","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53041367974215,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0920\/3784\/1223\/files\/Screenshot_29-12-2025_175543_m.media-amazon.com.jpg?v=1767030929","url":"https:\/\/wiltonsquarebooks.com\/products\/the-last-landlady","provider":"Wilton Square","version":"1.0","type":"link"}