This film is part of Free

Esperanto Pub

Care for a drinko at La Verda Stelo? If so you might need a phrasebook as it's Britain's only Esperanto pub.

News 1974 4 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Media Archive for Central England

Overview

"Kion vi lavas? " Or in English, "What are you having?" At La Verda Stelo in Smallthorne, Stoke on Trent using the first phrase will take you a long way as we're in Britain's only Esperanto pub. Peter Green finds out how this pub in Staffordshire became dedicated to the international language created by Professor Zamenhof. On hand to provide the respondoj (answers) are experts in the language, Horace Barks and the Mayor of Stoke on Trent, Arthur Cotton.

Horace Barks, who was Mayor of Stoke on Trent from 1951 to 1952, was instrumental in creating interest in the language in the city. He started classes in Esperanto at the Wedgwood Memorial College in Barlaston and suggested the name of his local pub in Smallthorne.