Sup Up & Away Chapbook by Ian Beesley and Ian McMillan - exclusive
£6.95
Just published and the most perfect Christmas gift!
Yorkshire poet Ian McMillan and his long term friend and collaborator, the great social documentary photographer Ian Beesley, have teamed up to create this beautiful chapbook celebrating sitting in a pub, reflecting on life, friendship, growing older and of course enjoying a pint or two. Here are Yorkshire pubs past and present, observations on the healing power of human contact be it sublime or ridiculous, and new poems from both Ian M and Ian B – who in semi-retirement has discovered the power of words as well as images. Sup Up and Away also features many of Beesley’s iconic monochrome photographs of pubs and brewers.
Beesley says: “Once a month me and Ian McMillan meet up in a pub and chat about projects we’ll probably never do now we’re a pair of old blokes. But this one just kept resurfacing. It fired us up and we just had to go with it. We all know 2025 is Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture and to me pubs are a massive part of culture. Whilst in the book I mourn the losses of the many extraordinary Bradford pubs I used to frequent, lots have survived and need to be cherished and indeed drunk in! These places nurture companionship and are an antidote to loneliness and isolation. They’re kind of like living works of art. They’re for the people and they’re made by the people in them. I find that incredibly powerful and moving – more so the older I get.”
Images from the book will be included in Mr Beesley’s latest additions to his 2025 Salts Mill exhibition Life Goes On in Gallery 2, open Wednesday – Sunday 10am-5pm, admission free. Many are also included in his retrospective Life which has just gone into its 3rd printing and is also available at saltsmillshop.
Designed by Martyn Hall. Proudly printed by Kolorco in Bradford on Cyclus Offset 100% recycled paper.
Extracts from Sup Up & Away
The Drop
It’s real name was The Bricklayers Arms but everybody called it The Drop because there was a steep step down as you walked in. One night a man came in selling Pit Socks and Bacon Scissors and everybody crowded round him waving fivers. ‘Why do they call them bacon scissors?’ said a bloke who hadn’t worked since the Suez Crisis. ‘Thee work it art’ said a man who worked down Darfield Main. The pit socks were huge and pliable. ‘One size fits all’ the seller said. He went out and a man selling shellfish came in.
- - Ian McMillan
The Defiant
Not old but older
Not bold but bolder
Not afraid to say
Sup up and away
- - Ian Beesley.
