Notes on a Beermat was written by Nicholas Pashley, the former manager of the University of Toronto Book Store, and it’s a critique of modern pubs and how they have fallen from their traditional role within communities. In addition to his time well spent in pubs and his regular duties Pashley found time to publish and edit The U of T Bookstore Review. The journal was professional, and it provided “the hand seller’s” unique perspective about the publications under review. Nicholas also served as a director of the Canadian Booksellers Association and as a juror for the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Awards and the Journey Prize.

While trying to decide what volume on the shelf to present at a Men’s Non-fiction Book Club, I thought that this title was perfect for a group which mostly met in local pubs. We started at the Canoe and Paddle, but it was too noisy, so we segued to The Thirsty Loon until it relocated and eventually, we wound up using Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic with no pub. In eight years, we covered a lot of non-fiction titles. Our penultimate meeting was in the Silver Bean Café at the Canadian Canoe Museum last spring.

The foreword to the book is written by author Bill Bryson, who is a friend of Nicholas’. The two writers share a witty, satirical style of humour drawn from daily life and ordinary events. In fact, not long ago I re-read Bryson’s sequel to his 1995 exploration of Britain Notes from a Small Island, titled The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island. In both books, Bryson recalls incidents and meetings with local characters during his travels across Britain, many of which took place in UK pubs. For that reason, any recommendation from Bryson is to be respected. Pashley was born in Sussex, England and his family emigrated to Etobicoke, so he has a similar trans-Atlantic experience, but in the opposite direction from Bryson who was born in Des Moines, Iowa, but has lived in the UK for most of his adult life.

Most of the bars and pubs mentioned in the book were in Toronto, but many of these “watering holes” have dried up. However, Grossman’s Tavern at 377 Spadina Avenue, which specializes in live blues and jazz, is still open. Not surprisingly, some of Pashley’s favourite pubs are back in England. He provides a general history of beer and brewing traditions Pashley is very down on bars with low lighting (he likes to take a book to his favourite bar), canned muzak or loud rock & roll and large TV screens surrounding the customers with a wall of sports to distract them and make conversation impossible.

One of the most interesting stories that Pashley relates involves Canadian beer magnate E. P. Taylor and his efforts to destroy the British brewing industry by buying out all the independent companies or putting them out of business. Apparently, most British pubs were owned by breweries, so this effort to standardize the industry around a single supplier had very negative effects on the centuries-old pub tradition. 

Pashley relates that: 

“From 1960 to 1967, Taylor and the companies he controlled bought up 273 British breweries, closing them down and keeping the pubs. By the end, Bass Charrington controlled a fifth of British brewing and 11,000 pubs. The destruction of the rich British brewing heritage was underway, and it was a Canadian who put the boot in. And why? Carling bloody Black Label.”

Notes on a Beermat was first published by Polar Bear Press, a small Toronto-based publisher specializing in local histories with titles like Ghost Towns of Ontario. However, Harper Collins picked up the rights to the book and unbeknownst to yours truly, they also published a sequel in 2010 called Cheers!: An Intemperate History of Beer in Canada, which I must make a note to acquire.

The only previous book review I could find online of Notes on a Beermat was a 2001 issue of the trade journal Quill & Quire, about the original Polar Bear Press edition. It was perceptive then for Harper Collins to purchase the rights to the text and publish a second edition plus a sequel. It’s fortunate for readers that someone at a mainstream publishing company recognized what a small gem this book of humorous stories is, and how a comparison with Bill Bryson is not a stretch. In conclusion I’ll give Bill Bryson the last word: “A truly wonderful book from beginning to end, hugely comic, delightfully acerbic, gloriously discursive and staggeringly well informed. In short, it is very like an evening with Mr. Pashley himself, but cheaper and with fewer trips to the men's room." - foreword by BILL BRYSON