Pete Brown

Pete Brown was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and still occasionally gets dewy-eyed about northern bitter. Since 1991, he has worked in London in various marketing roles, the best of which have involved advertising beer. He runs his own marketing consultancy, writes regularly for the brewing industry trade press, and appears on TV every now and then talking about beer.

Latest publication CLUBLAND - HarperNorth - June 2022

Shortlisted for the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards 

Pete Brown is a convivial guide on this journey through the intoxicating history of the working men’s clubs. From the movement’s founding by teetotaller social reformer the Reverend Henry Solly to the booze-soaked mid-century heyday, when more than 7 million Brits were members, this warm-hearted and entertaining book reveals how and why the clubs became the cornerstone of Britain’s social life – offering much more than cheap Federation Bitter and chicken in a basket.

Often dismissed as relics of a bygone age – bastions of bigotry and racism – Brown reminds us that long before the days of Phoenix Nights, 3,000-seat venues routinely played host to stars like Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, and the Bee Gees, offering entertainment for all the family, and close to home at that. Britain’s best-known comedians made reputations through a thick miasma of smoke, from Sunniside to Skegness. For a young man growing up in the pit town of Barnsley this was a radiant wonderland that transformed those who entered.

Brown explores the clubs’ role in defining masculinity, community and class identity for generations of men in Britain’s industrial towns. They were, at their best, a vehicle for social mobility and self-improvement, run as cooperatives for working people by working people: an informal, community-owned pre-cursor to the Welfare State.

As the movement approaches its 160th anniversary, this exuberant book brings to life the thrills and the spills of a cultural phenomenon that might still be rescued from irrelevance.

Praise for CLUBLAND

'Pete Brown is a brilliant master of ceremonies as he brings the history of these fine institutions to life and demonstrates their importance in working class communities across the country.' Alan Johnson, author of This Boy

'A compelling mixture of social history, vivid reportage and candid autobiography, CLUBLAND makes a crucial contribution to our understanding of Britain in the last century and a half.' David Kynaston, author of Austerity Britain

'Leave any flat-capped clichés at the door: Brown offers an earnest exploration of this crucially formative area of British social history.' John Warland, author of Liquid History

'Pete Brown writes poetically and with great authority on a slice of culture that has been ignored or derided for many years. He illuminates these art centres, debating halls and palaces of carefree delight with love and care.' Ian McMillan, author of Neither Nowt Nor Summat

'Brown writes beautifully.' Financial Times

'A diverting journey through an important chapter of British social history. A portrait of the working man at play, at the bar, at the committee table at the club at the end of his street and yet... within touching distance of Tom Jones.’ Mark Radcliffe

'Brown's enthusiasm is infectious.' The Sunday Times

''At last the Working Men's Club gets its turn in the cultural spotlight. Pete Brown has written an important history and a heartfelt tribute to the friendship, organisation, humour and community to be found in these remarkable institutions.' Ian Clayton

'This fine book is more – far more – than a social history of working men’s clubs. It’s a blistering attack on snobbery and class prejudice, interweaved with the author’s own emotional difficulties in growing up in a mining community where going to university and pursuing a career in advertising and writing marked him out as being “different”.' Protz on Beer

'An award-winning food and drink writer who has always blended social history and cultural commentary into his warm, witty work, Brown writes this study with humour, but also rage.' Guardian

Previous publication PIE FIDELITY - Penguin Books - April 2019

In Britain, we have always had an awkward relationship with food. We've been told for so long that we are terrible cooks and yet when someone with a clipboard asks us what the best things are about being British, our traditional food and drink are more important than the monarchy and at least as significant as our landscape and national monuments in defining a collective notion of who we are.

Taking nine archetypically British dishes - Pie and Peas, A Cheese Sandwich, Fish and Chips, Spag Bol, Devonshire Cream Tea, Curry, The Full English, The Sunday Roast and a Crumble with Custard - and enjoying them in their most typical settings, Pete Brown examines just how fundamental food is to our sense of identity, perhaps even our sense of pride, and the ways in which we understand our place in the world.

Praise for PIE FIDELITY

'A much-needed book that mixes personal and social history … readers may thank him for writing a heartfelt book that makes an important point without false pride or sentimentality.  When it comes to food, we’re better than we think.' The Times

'Brown is a natural raconteur, as listeners to Radio 4’s The Food Programme will know … This memoir mixed with a ‘defence of British food’ sees him at his funniest and most insightful. Highly recommended.' Sunday Times, Book of the Month

'Pete Brown’s quest to discover and codify the nation’s nine most popular meals from the humble cheese sandwich, through fish and chips and curry, to the ubiquitous Sunday roast. This mouth-watering menu is rendered even more piquant by his decision to sample an archetypal example of each dish, rather than necessarily the best. Thus he enjoys a sandwich in Sandwich, fish and chips in Blackpool, and searches (largely in vain) for a traditional Soho greasy spoon at which to enjoy a fry-up. The result is part Nigel Slater, part Bill Bryson, and wholly delicious … Funny, informative and written with passion, Pie Fidelity is a love poem to all that’s great in British cooking.' Michael Simkins, Mail on Sunday

'Erudite, personal … Brown’s writing has a pleasingly loose-limbed feel: he flits easily between memoir, food history and travelogue … Brown evokes the emotionalism of eating, but can also play the role of grown-up journalist.' Observer

'The book examines a series of traditional British meals with Hornby’s geeky obsessiveness and Orwell’s incisive class observation … His prose is engaging, his storytelling effortless … Brown writes beautifully and fondly of every dish in a way that will have you desperate to taste it again at the end of each chapter.  This historical information he weaves around the food is plentiful, accurate and worn lightly, and his observations are fresh and provocative.' Financial Times

'Lively and spirited, stuffed with juicy, mouth-watering food-writing.' Herald

Praise for THE APPLE ORCHARD - PARTICULAR BOOKS - SEPTEMBER 2016

'His ability to laugh at himself, openness to wonder and willingness to go wherever the search takes him make Brown an engaging writer and The Apple Orchard an entertaining journey.' Mail on Sunday

'Wonderful, revelatory ... very moving.' Sheila Dillon, BBC Radio 4

'Taking us through the seasons in England's apple-growing heartlands, this magical book uncovers the stories and folklore of our most familiar fruit.' Lovereading

'This impassioned, patriotic, richly informed book is really a piece of travel-writing … Brown’s enthusiasm is infectious … Just plant yourself an apple tree; after reading this delightful book, I will.' Sunday Times

'An absorbing love letter to the English apple tree ... lyrical and joyful.' TLS

'The masterful Pete Brown tackles the apple and all it has done and all it means. A lively first-person romp through orchards and fairs over a year of a planting, harvesting and processing. No matter your apple knowledge, you’ll finish this book with a greater appreciation.' Daily Record (USA)

'Pete Brown has charted the fruit’s journey from April’s blossoms to October’s harvest… the beliefs of the Celts and Christians, the Romans, the Persians, the Greeks and the way that folklore and fairy tales often have apples at their heart. All this from a snack that’s often seen as the least glamorous item in a lunch box.' Rebecca Armstrong, Independent

Praise for Pete Brown

'This book is delightfully tongue in cheek but deeply informative. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan of beer, travel or history, you’ll end up feeling all the more informed of and entertained by all three subjects.  Engaging, side-splittingly funny at times – and all the more rewarding for it.' Bookseller

'Like a good drinking companion, Pete Brown tells a remarkable story ... The beer drinkers’ Bill Bryson.' Times Literary Supplement

'Like an evening in some louche boozer packed with crackpot regulars, this travel-cum-history book about India Pale Ale froths with offbeat charm.' Boyd Tonkin, Independent

'The tale of his travels and the alcoholic history of the Raj is big beery fun.' Times

'The action-filled book by Pete Brown covers everything from the definitive history of Indian Pale Ale to the chaotic recreation of its 30,000 mile sea journey.' Metro

'This account of his beer-inspired voyage is as entertaining as it is enlightening.' London Review of Books

'An engaging travel tale ... whether you’re a beer aficionado or not, it’s a fascinating story.' Scotsman

'This is one of the drink books of the year. Beer lovers should hope to find Hops and Glory beneath their Christmas tree.' Daily Express