Howard Arms

The Minx's brother, Ben, has taken on a new pub, this time in Carlisle, so we drove up to see him after work. 

The Howard Arms was one of the pubs in Carlisle that was taken over by the government during the First World War, as part of the State Management Scheme, which saw the nationalisation of pubs in three areas of the country between 1916 and 1973.

According to Wikipedia "A central pillar of the scheme was the ethos of disinterested management: public house managers had no incentive to sell liquor, which supported the aim of reducing drunkenness and its effects on the arms industry. From 1916 to 1919 the scheme had a "no treating" policy, forbidding the buying of rounds of drinks."

And Ben told us this evening that the Howard Arms was the last pub to be sold out of the scheme. For the whole of that period, the tiles out front were covered up in order to make the pub less attractive. 

Architecturally and in terms of its layout and garden, I reckon it's a great pub. It seems there's a lot to be done, but Ben was fizzing with ideas. I enjoyed listening to him as we went 'round.

And we were quite taken with Carlisle, too - it's years since I've been - so we spent some of the journey home planning a visit.