Liquid History - the Orwell Pub Project

Background

The Orwell Pub Project (OPP) will identify historically "ideal" South Australian pubs, those that are "more equal than others"". The virtual project team members - pretty much anyone who wants to participate - will visit individual pubs to evaluate them against the criteria for the perfect pub proposed by the author George Orwell in his essay on the "Moon Under Water" published by the [London] Evening Standard on 9 February 1946. As it happens, the "Moon Under Water" was fictitious, probably an amalgamation of several pubs that Orwell patronised at various times. Nevertheless, more than any other, the "Moon Under Water" remains the archetypal pub, the ideal against which other pubs are judged.

Of course it would be ahistoric and otherwise simply wrong to apply Orwell's "above ten qualities that the perfect pub should have" in mid-twentieth century London to early twenty-first century Australian pubs. However, as shown in the table below, it is possible to abstract from Orwell's portrayal of the "Moon Under Water" a number of criteria that are both relevant to modern South Australian pubs and that together describe a pub in which a modern Orwell would be happy to enjoy a pint of draught stout.

The "Moon Under Water" criteria matrix (click here for larger .pdf image)

The Project Methodology

Orwell Pub Project Virtual Team Members will score individual South Australian pubs, selected ideally at random from a list of premises holding a "General or Hotel" license, against these 25 criteria. Each criteria will be scored "0" (nul), or "1" (lowest score), or "2" (median/average) to "3" (highest score); this scoring scheme is, we believe, simple enough to describe accurately that aspect of the pub but sufficiently flexible to allow the Project Team Member to exercise some personal judgement, just as did Orwell in relation to the "Moon Under Water".

As a guide to scoring, for #15: "Not a regular music venue", a score of "3" means that the pub never hosts live music; "2" means occasional and unobtrusive acoustic performances; "1" means occasional bands and/or DJs and "0" means that the pub is a regular music venue. Not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with pubs that support live music. From the perspective of The Orwell Pub Project, however, the critical question is "Would George have approved... and how much... a lot or not at all, rated between 3 and 0?"

The Orwell Pub Project evaluation form
(click here for a printable .pdf image)

The Orwell Pub Project is collaborative; anyone interested in The Project - or South Australian pubs generally - can become a member of the Virtual Project Team simply by contributing to The Project. The Orwell Pub Project Evaluation Form (shown above) can be downloaded from here or by clicking on the link above. Completed forms should be emailed, in strictest confidence, to Eric at Liquid History. Liquid History, the Orwell Pub Project, the Project Team and Eric will not share your email address or other contact details with anyone else.

Outcomes

The scores will be tabulated and reported on this site from the end of February 2022. Virtual Project Team Members will be notified by email when their evaluation has been posted.

Many thanks to those who participate in the Orwell Pub Project and to those who support South Ausralian pubs, Orwellian or not.

There's a selected bibliography if you want to read more on Orwell and/or the "Moon Under Water".