ONLY 17 months after a book on Worcester's love-affair with its pubs became the city's number one best-seller, a second volume is set for release this weekend.

Bob Backenforth's Worcester Pubs Then and Now Vol 11 - The Early Victorian Years 1837-73 will be launched at the Anchor in Diglis on Sunday, June 14 from around 2pm. The setting is the location of one of the saddest events in the city's history – the inquests into the deaths of twelve navvies drowned in a single incident on the Severn on August 10, 1844.

"It's purely coincidence that the Anchor, Diglis, is set to host the launch: it just happens to be a long-term favourite of mine and has been for more than half a century," said author Bob Blandford, a former journalist and ex-City Council press officer. "That the Anchor has also been the scene of more inquests that probably any other city location with the exception of the Guildhall and the Infirmary, just adds an extra dimension to the occasion."

Volume II of his book covers the early Victorian years in amazing detail, listing not only every known licensed house, but also their stories and those of their landlords and an often volatile clientele, covering the tales of more than 100 notorious Worcester characters of the day.

The 516-page book additionally accounts dozens of murders, tragic accidents and personal tragedies that culminated in inquests in many of Worcester's 200 public houses of the day, looks closely at the heroes of the former Worcester City police force who took on all-comers and often came off worst, and tells how an often sadistic judiciary dealt with the offenders.

Featuring hundreds of engravings and illustrations never seen before, Bob Blackenforth's Worcester Pubs Then and Now Vol 11 - The Early Victorian Years 1837-73 is priced at £17.99, and available at Waterstones, The Hive, Worcester Tourist Information Centre, Tudor House and Worcester City Museums and Amazon.

It is also available direct from bob.backenforth@worcester-pubs.co.uk and via the FB Friends group Worcester Pubs Then and Now

https://www.facebook.com/groups/worcesterpubsthenandnow which currently has nearly 2500 members. A series of signing sessions is being planned in several local pubs.