The precursor to the Beerhouse Act was the Alehouse Act 1828, which established a General Annual Licensing Meeting to be held in every city, town, division, county and riding, for the purposes of granting licences to inns, alehouses and victualling houses to sell exciseable liquors to be drunk on the premises.
Enacted two years later, the Beerhouse Act enabled anyone to brew and sell beer on payment of a licence costing two guineas (£2.10 in decimal currency, not adjusted for inflation). The intention was to increase competition between brewers, and it resulted in the opening of hundreds of new beerhouses, public houses and breweries throughout the country, particularly in the rapidly expanding industrial centres of the north of England. According to the Act itself, the Parliament considered it was "expedient for the better supplying the public with Beer in England, to give greater facilities for the sale thereof, than was then afforded by licences to keepers of Inns, Alehouses, and Victualling Houses."
The Act's supporters hoped that by increasing competition in the brewing and sale of beer, and thus lowering its price, the population might be weaned off more alcoholic drinks such as gin but it proved to be controversial, removing as it did the monopoly of local magistrates to lucratively regulate local trade in alcohol, and not applying retrospectively to those who already ran public houses. It was also denounced as promoting drunkenness.
By 1841 licences under the new law had been issued to 45,500 commercial brewers.One factor in the Act was the dismantling provisions for detailed recording of licences, which were restored by subsequent regulatory legislation: the Wine and Beerhouse Act 1869 and the Wine and Beerhouse Act Amendment Act 1870. The Bill itself was often amended, notably in 1834 and 1840.
The final remaining provisions of the Act were repealed by Parliament on 11 November 1993, by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1993 (1993 c. 50), s. 1(1), Sch. 1 Pt. XIII Group. The passage of the Act during the reign of King William IV led to many taverns and public houses being named in his honour; he remains "the most popular monarch among pub names".
(Courtesy of Wikipedia)
The Licensing Act of 1904 was a significant piece of legislation as this resulted in thousands of pubs and beerhouses around Britain being "referred for compensation" i.e. renewal of the license was refused under the guidelines of the Act and compensation granted for the closure of the business. This was something heavily influenced by the temperance movement of the time.
...as with most legislation the small print is immense and often confusing but for anyone wishing to look into the matter further please follow the link below: -
The selling and consumption of alcohol was largely unregulated until the Alehouse Act 1552 when alehouses came under the control of local Justices of the Peace. They issued licenses and controlled the numbers of licensed premises. The 1830 Beer Act was pushed through parliament by the Duke of Wellington who was said to be concerned about the excess gin consumption so the effect of the Act was to allow anyone to brew and sell, beer and cider (not wines and spirits) merely on payment of the excise license and without reference to the Justices. This lead to a proliferation of 'beerhouses'. The other purpose of the Act was to bolster the flagging agricultural industry by increasing the demand for barley, which it did.
By the end of the century the government was concerned about the alcohol consumption of the populace and set up the Peel Commission (1899). Peel decided that a reduction in the number of beerhouses was required and this lead to the 1904 Licensing Act. Under the Act beerhouses that closed would be compensated, the funds being provided by a levy on the owners of the premises (usually the brewers). So we see a decline in the number of pubs in Barton and throughout England from 1904 onwards.
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