Time, gentlemen, to open your own pub, says Moore Allen

WITH 40 pubs closing in the UK every week, those lucky enough to have a boozer in their town or village might not have it for long.

Time, then, to convert a spare room into a bar for friends and family - and auctioneers Moore Allen & Innocent of Cirencester have almost everything you need to get you started.

Firstly you'll need a pub name. If you opt for the Fox and Elm, you're in luck - Moore Allen is selling a metal, hand-painted sign featuring the name, accompanied by a picture of a fox up an elm tree.

It is possible that this sign once belonged to the Fox and Elm at Tuffley, Gloucester, which Whitbread opened in the 1950s. In 1984 it was renamed the Blinking Owl, before reverting to its original name a decade later. The sign carries an estimate of £70 to £100.

Next you'll be wanting somewhere to store your beer. Short of digging a cellar, stoneware jars make an attractive alternative. Unsurprisingly there are some good lots in the sale.

The best is from W G Philips & Sons Ltd Brewers, Wine & Spirit Merchants of Oxford. With its metal handle, stopper and tap it carries an estimate of £20 to £30. Meanwhile, examples from Hunt, Edmunds & Co Ltd of Banbury, White Bros Botanical Brewers of Aston, Birmingham, and Gibbs & Tween of Stratford-on-Avon are part of a larger lot with an estimate of £40 to £60.

There is also a small wooden beer cask of coopered construction in iron bound oak, with an estimate of £20 to £30, although the auctioneers will not attest to its beer-holding qualities, and point out it is being sold as a garden ornament.

The sale, to be held on Friday, July 2 from 10am, also features indoor and outdoor furniture including tables and chairs, book cases and the antique books with which to fill them, mirrors, pictures and almost everything else required to create that 'quirky local pub' look.

Publicans, of course, are well known for their patriotism, so of particular interest to the home-publican, or the very many collectors of royal memorabilia, is a large collection of pottery relating to births, marriages, coronations and even the odd death of our royals, past and present.

The pieces - some by big names like Doulton and Wedgewood - date back to the silver wedding of Prince Edward and Alexandra of Denmark in 1888, marked by the production of a milk jug, the wedding of Prince George to Mary in 1893, and the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Victoria in 1897.

Anyone looking for a souvenir of the weddings of Charles and Diana, or Andrew and Sarah, or the 100th birthday of the Queen Mother in 2000 will not be disappointed, while among the more unusual items is a commemorative beaker presented to guests at the coronation of Edward VII in 1902, and cup marking his death eight years later, in 1910.

Pieces will be sold in lots relating to their occasion, with estimates of between £20 and £50. For more information visit www.mooreallen.co.uk

Moore Allen's 'build your own pub' kit	A collection of jugs celebration the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Victoria
A cup marking the death of Edward VII in 1910	A commemorative beaker presented to guests at the coronation of Edward VII in 1902