A LOCAL historian has produced an updated version of a popular book chronicling Romsey's pubs past and present.

Barbara Burbridge is behind the second edition of So Drunk He Must Have Been To Romsey, even though she is teetotal.

"I don't drink alcohol or even tea or coffee, water is my usual tipple or occasionally orange juice," said Barbara a member of the Lower Test Valley Archaeological Study Group, which has published the book.

The original edition sold out within three weeks of publication and Barbara is hoping her version will do the same.

"The original book by Phoebe Merrick in 1974 was a runaway success and it was reprinted in 1982. My book is a complete re-work of the original and Phoebe has helped me with it," said Barbara.

"I used material from the original book and found out a lot more information for mine. It was surprising what I found out," said Barbara.

At one time, Romsey had a pub for every 151 residents and down the years there have been 89 pubs in the town - of which a full list of names, licensees and locations appears in the book.

Some of the pub buildings have disappeared but others have been converted. Morris Dibben estate agents, for instance, was once the Red Lion; The Conservative Club was the Swan Inn and Bell Antiques was the Royal Oak and then the Queen's Head; and Kersey's jewellers, The Good Intent.

The book explains how circumstances came together to make Romsey a pub crawler's paradise. The town was a route centre, standing on the roads from Winchester to the West of England and from the wool producing areas of Wiltshire to the port of Southampton.

The cloth trade brought prosperity to the town and business to the publicans and a weekly market attracted other regular visitors to Romsey.

Barbara looks at how licensing laws were put in place in the town - at one stage the council tried to limit the number of inns within the borough to six.

She has also researched the characters who ran the pubs, one of whom, the landlord of The Hatchet, ended up being murdered.

The book also details the town's breweries that came and went over the years. Romsey's most famous brewer was Strong's and Barbara has a section on the company which was taken over by Whitbread Wessex in 1974.

Barbara said that by the beginning of the 21st century the "glory days" of Romsey's brewing industry had faded into history - although Hampshire Brewery moved to the town in 1997 from Andover.

"Present inhabitants no longer have their nostrils assailed by the regular smell of hops during the week," said Barbara.

Currently, there are 11 pub in the town (including the White Horse hotel).

The only new pub that has opened in Romsey since the original So Drunk... is the Luzborough House. So Drunk... makes an ideal Christmas gift. It costs £5.95p from Romsey Tourist Information Centre and Volumes Bookshop and other bookshops.