Laura 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. Spending part of her childhood in Violet's Home Counties establishment, Laura was 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. Laura's memories of this time are just as intoxicating, and through them she traces the story of the English pub, asking why it has occupied such a treasured position in our culture, and considering its precarious future.