Featuring over 150 photos of pubs from across the decades, Last Orders! Middlesbrough’s Lost and Historic Pubs is inspired by the Les Bulman Collection at Teesside Archives.

The book features previously unseen photographs and incredible accounts and memories of life in Middlesbrough’s famous pubs, bars and clubs including the Captain Cook, The Masham, The Shakespeare, Acklam Hotel, The Zetland, Billy Paul’s, The Madison and Club Bongo International.

Size: A4

Pages: 100

Paperback, full colour

About Les Bulman

Les Bulman started his working life as a fitter at Gjers Mills and ICI before transferring into instrumentation as an instrument fitter and then moving into construction where he progressed to be a site manager. However, his real lifelong passion was for Middlesbrough’s history. What he didn’t know about Middlesbrough wasn’t worth talking about! He had an interest in all things including pubs, land registries and the general layout of the land - what used to be there and what is there now.

When it came to pubs, he would go into great details such as when it opened, who held the licence and even what small changes had occurred over the years. He would spend hours at Teesside Archives and Middlesbrough Reference Library delving into historic collections dating back to the Victorian era as he sought to discover new information from dusty, old records. After work or when returning from working away he would often slope off to take photos of pub signs or would pop into a pub to see what had changed if there was a new name for a venue, refurbishment, or a new owner, landlord or landlady who had taken over at the helm.

Why pubs? We’re not sure but perhaps it was just a bloke thing and it was an easy means of following Middlesbrough’s history from the off. Afterall, beer and pubs were there from the town’s early days and he found himself at home amongst all the characters from across the decades that frequented the local pubs that were hubs of local communities.

We all have memories of heading to various pubs and even when it was clear we didn’t quite share the same passion for history, Dad would say “I know you’re not interested but I’m going to tell you anyway”! He was absolutely full of tales and we hope that through Tosh’s book, some of the research that Dad undertook with the aim of one day writing a book himself will help bring back memories of Middlesbrough throughout the decades.

The Bulman Family