How Long Does It Take to Draw a Picture of Every Pub in London?

Summary

At 10:30 a.m. on a recent Wednesday in southeast London, the artist Lydia Wood stood next to a dumpster and set up her easel.She rubbed sunscreen on her neck and sized up her subject: The Lord Clyde, a pub in Southwark, just south of the River Thames, that was built in 1913. Then, for an hour, she drew flat out, her eyes flicking between the tall, tiled boozer and her page.“Oh wow, that’s so good!” said Emily Finch, 33, a passer-by on an early lunch break.“Thank you,” Ms. Wood replied. “I’ve got a long way to go.”That was true in more ways than one. Ms. Wood, 31, is on a mission to draw every pub in London. She has completed about 300, and has about 2,500 left, according to data on the city’s pubs from CGA by NIQ, a research consultancy.The project has won her tens of thousands of social media followers. It’s also given her a front seat to fears about the future of the city’s pubs, which are grappling with skyrocketing rents, noise complaints, the rise of the sober-curious and other pressures. Ms. Finch, the passer-by, said that the Clyde had become one of her go-to’s, because “a lot of my locals have closed down.”That has led some to wonder whether Ms. Wood’s project is an ode, an archive, or, for the unluckier pubs, a requiem.“What will be painful is seeing, by the time she starts and the time she finishes, how many have closed,” said Alistair von Lion, a pub historian and tour guide who runs a website called the London Pub Explorer.Britain’s public houses are thought to have evolved from the wine bars — or tabernae — introduced by the Romans after they invaded some 2,000 years ago. These roadside inns became known as taverns, and tended to serve more British-made ale than wine.Over the centuries, the neighborhood pub took on a vital community role in many towns and villages. Today, it watches over first dates and post-work vents and breakups. It is a living room for friends whose apartments are too small to host a birthday party, a micro-stadium for a sports fan ...