Public Houses
Alehouses were the original public houses and date from before the Norman Conquest. In 965 King Edgar decreed that there should be no more than one alehouse per village. Alehouses/beerhouses increased in number especially on pilgrimage routes where they offered accomodation and food, becoming inns and hostelries. The Hostellers of London were granted guild status in 1446 and in 1514 the guild became the Worshipful Company of Innholders.
Alehouses would each brew their own distinctive ale and could be fined for providing bad beer. Independent breweries began to appear in the late 17th century. By the end of the century almost all beer was brewed by commercial breweries. See Beer/Brewing .
The 18th century saw a huge growth in the number of drinking establishments, primarily due to the introduction of gin. Gin was brought to England by the Dutch after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. By 1740 the production of gin had increased to six times that of beer. It was much cheaper than beer and it became popular with the poor, leading to the so-called Gin Craze. The Gin Act (1736) imposed high taxes on retailers but led to riots in the streets. The prohibitive duty was gradually reduced and finally abolished in 1742. The 1751 Gin Act however was more successful. It forced distillers to sell only to licensed retailers and brought gin-shops under the jurisdiction of local magistrates.
Beer Houses and the 1830 Beer Act see Beer Houses .
Licensing laws see Licensing (Alehouses) .
From the middle of the 19th century restrictions were placed on the opening hours of licensed premises in the UK. However licensing was gradually liberalised after the 1960s, until contested licensing applications became very rare, and the remaining administrative function was transferred to Local Authorities in 2005.
The Wine and Beerhouse Act 1869 reintroduced the stricter controls of the previous century. The sale of beers, wines or spirits required a licence for the premises from the local magistrates. Further provisions regulated gaming, drunkenness, prostitution and undesirable conduct on licensed premises, enforceable by prosecution or more effectively by the landlord under threat of forfeiting his licence. Licences were only granted, transferred or renewed at special Licensing Sessions courts, and were limited to respectable individuals. Often these were ex-servicemen or ex-policemen; retiring to run a pub was popular amongst military officers at the end of their service.
Licence conditions varied widely, according to local practice. They would specify permitted hours, which might require Sunday closing, or conversely permit all-night opening near a market. Typically they might require opening throughout the permitted hours, and the provision of food or lavatories. Once obtained, licences were jealously protected by the licensees (always individuals expected to be generally present, not a remote owner or company), and even "Occasional Licences" to serve drinks at temporary premises such as fêtes would usually be granted only to existing licensees. Objections might be made by the police, rival landlords or anyone else on the grounds of infractions such as serving drunks, disorderly or dirty premises, or ignoring permitted hours.
Detailed records were kept on licensing, giving the Public House, its address, owner, licensee and misdemeanours of the licensees for periods often going back for hundreds of years. See Licensing (Alehouses) .
Changes to Licensing and opening times were made in the Defence of the Realm Act of August 1914. This Act, along with the introduction of rationing and the censorship of the press for wartime purposes, also restricted the opening hours of public houses to 12noon–2.30pm and 6.30pm–9.30pm. Opening for the full licensed hours was compulsory, and closing time was equally firmly enforced by the police; a landlord might lose his licence for infractions. See LICENSED VICTUALLER'S DEFENCE LEAGUE OF ENGLAND AND WALES YORKSHIRE DIVISION NO.2. DISTRICT 1914 - 1921 (ref:C1291). There was a special case established under the State Management Scheme where the brewery and licensed premises were bought and run by the state until 1973, most notably in the Carlisle District.
During the 20th century elsewhere, both the licensing laws and enforcement were progressively relaxed. Opening times varied from district to district, closing between 3.00 pm and 5.30/6.00pm was common and some pubs closed on Sundays or days during the week. Many cities and market towns had by-laws to allow some pubs to extend opening hours to midnight or 1am, whilst nightclubs had long been granted late licences to serve alcohol into the morning. Pubs in the immediate vicinity of London's Smithfield market, Billingsgate fish market and Covent Garden fruit and flower market were permitted to stay open 24 hours a day since Victorian era times to provide a service to the shift working employees of the markets.
The Licensing Act 2003, which came into force on November 24, 2005, aimed to consolidate the many laws into a single act. This now allows pubs in England and Wales to apply to the local authority for opening hours of their choice.