In my latest novel, Radwinter, the man character Thomas traces his family back to the 1860’s when they were in the nearby town of Easthope, living in the India Inn. His ancestor, also called Thomas, was the landlord, with his growing family living above the pub. I had an idea of the present day Thomas finding an old deserted pub which had lost its license in the 1960’s and been half converted into living accommodation, before being abandoned and becoming a squat. I had the old place clearly in my mind, It would be on the corner of a street near the old wharf, with a row of terraces on one side and an empty area which once had ware houses for all the goods brought off the ships. I imagined it with a door on the corner and boarded up windows. I imagined it with two floors, and with some old outhouses at the back.
I looked around our area for a pub of the right age which I could use as a model, but nothing was quite right. I looked on-line for pictures of old pubs, but again, nothing was quite right. Today I saw this old place; it is three not two storeys, and the windows are rather large, and there really needs to be windows on both sides of the door, but in other respects it’s perfect, and has a door on the corner,and a curving door, too, which I had never imagined!
When I wrote Radwinter, I had to change my description of the India Inn and have the door on the side because I couldn’t find a picture of a real inn which had a door on the corner. Now… should I go back and edit the text and change the description so there is a corner door as I originally imagined? Or should I just leave it as it is?
Radwinter is available on Amazon:
Lois Elsden 