A new exhibition will put the spotlight on Bushey’s unique pub heritage and we want to know if you remember any of the pubs above, or if you have any photos of them in their glory days. 

In 1984 the authors of From the Wheatsheaf to the Windmill said of Bushey: “The population in 1871 was 4,500 and there was an inn or beer-house for every 120 citizens. There are over 30,000 people now in the same area served by twenty-four pubs which is a neat tenfold change to 1,200 people per pub.”

It is from this that Bushey Museum takes inspiration for the new exhibit, Then and now: Pubs of Bushey, opening on Saturday, November 26.

A new edition of this book preserves this original text, but the appendix listing the current status of the pubs is out of date, but has been revised - only a dozen pubs remain of the twenty-four, although many of the buildings still exist as licensed premises or private houses.

This exhibition shows you what many of the 50 pubs described in the book looked like, and what they look like now. Two artists in particular have documented Bushey’s pubs – Clem Davy and Gordon Metcalfe.

Clem Davy was a local artist and had a very individual style. He was clearly as interested in the people as the buildings. Viewing these works is rather like peeping into the 1950s with the fashions and the cars – or dearth of them.

Gordon Metcalfe was born in North Yorkshire. He is a landscape painter, especially of the Yorkshire Dales. He also records the changing face of Bushey. He taught Art and Pottery at the Royal Masonic School for Boys, Bushey, until the school closed in 1977. He then became Head of Art at the Royal Masonic School for Girls at Rickmansworth and took early retirement in 1994. His pub pictures date from 1996 or later.

The exhibition also shows some of the photographs from From the Wheatsheaf to the Windmill juxtaposed with modern photos of from the same viewpoints. Four of these have been selected from course work by two students at Bushey Academy, whose aim was to show the passing of time in Bushey.

Let us know what your favourite pubs once were, and if you have any old photos please send them in to mattie.laceydavidson@london.newsquest.co.uk.

Bushey Museum, Rudolph Road, Bushey, WD23 3HW, Saturday, November 26 2016 until Sunday, March 19 2017. Details: 020 8420 4057