Alcohol licenses (1913-1917): alehouses.

Post date: Mar 24, 2014 8:20:2 PM

The attached file shows part of the licensing register for the Malling district from 1913 to 1917. It shows 31 alehouses (licensed to sell spirits) of the 86 total selected as those in Wateringbury (3- King's Head, Duke's Head and North Pole); and those owned by either of the Wateringbury breweries. It does not include beerhouses (not licensed to sell spirts) or other licensed outlets.

Jude Hanbury owned 17 (20%) and F. Leney & Sons owned (or leased) 14 (16%) of the Malling district's 86 alehouses, quite a considerable market share. They probably "tied" the licensees to buying their beer and may have lent money to the licensee.

F. Leney alehouses were prosecuted twice in this period both times for selling adulterated whisky -the Railway in Nettlestead in June 1915 (4s. fine) and the Queens Head in Snodland (£1 fine).

All the alehouses that were there at the beginning of the period were still there at the end and no new ones appear. This is somewhat surprising in that given the restrictions placed by the government on alcohol consumption and the large number of men absent in the armed forces. The turnover of licensees does not appear excessive.

On 8 August 1914 the Defense of the Realm Act (DORA) made it an offense to treat a soldier or sailor with the intent to make him drunk. From 31st August the Intoxicating Liquor (Temporary Restrictions ) Act gave magistrates the power to restrict opening hours . On 19 October a 10 p.m. latest closing time was universally imposed. On 18 November 1914 beer duty per standard barrel was increased from 7s. 9d. to 23s (in 1916 it went to 24s. and to 50s. in 1918 (and never subsequently declined). The strength of beer was steadily reduced during WW1 by government "encouragement". In May 1915 a Central Control Board was established under Lord D'Aberon with wide powers until abolition in 1921. By the end of the war convictions for drunkenness had declined to 16% of their 1914 level. In April 1916 the Output of Beer (Restrictions ) Act saw a fall of 10 million barrels of production (The information in this paragraph is summarised from Peter Haydon's The English Pub: a history chapter 21).

On 29 March 1915 Lloyd-George declared "Drink is doing more damage in the war than all the German submarines put together".

A decline in the profitability of alehouses would have had a greater economic impact on Wateringbury because of the ownership of alehouses in neighbouring villages through the two Wateringbury brewers.