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19th-century brewery installations

The Beerhouse Act 1830 (1830 11 Geo 4. and 1 Will 4. c. 64) was a United Kingdom law which liberalized regulations on the brewing and sale of beer by individuals in the United Kingdom. It was repealed in 1993.

History

The precursor to the Beerhouse Act was the Licencing Act 1828, which established a "General Annual Licencing Meeting," to be held in every city, town, division, county and riding, for the purposes of granting licenses to inns, alehouses and victualling houses to sell exciseable liquors to be drunk on the premises. ^[1] Unfortunately, the Act proved inadequate to rectify the heavy taxation then prevalent on small pubs and taverns, thus making it hard for them to operate. ^[2]

Enacted two years later, the Beerhouse Act enabled anyone to brew and sell beer, ale or cider, whether from a public house or their own homes, upon obtaining a moderately priced license of just under ₤2 for beer and ale and ₤1 for cider ^[3], without recourse to obtaining them from justices of the peace, as was previously required.^[4] The result was the opening of hundreds of new pubs throughout England, and the reduction of the influence of the large breweries. ^[5] According to the Act, Parliament felt that 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.^[1]

It was believed that the passage of the Act during the reign of William IV led to many taverns and pubs being named in honor of that king.^[2] Backed by the Duke of Wellington's ministry, purportedly to wean the public from gin consumption, the Act proved controversial, having both removed the monopoly of local justices to lucratively regulate local trade in spirits and failing to apply to publicans running existing public houses, and was denounced as promoting drunkenness. ^[2]

The results of the free trade bill were dramatic; in the six months following its enaction, nearly 25,000 excise licenses were taken out. ^[3] One factor in the Act was the dismantling provisions for detailed recording of licenses, which were restored by subsequent regulatory legislation: the Wine and Beerhouse Act 1869 and the Wine and Beerhouse Act Amendment Act 1870.^[1] The bill itself was often amended, most notably in 1834 and 1840. ^[6]

The final remaining provisions of the Act were repealed by Parliament on November 11, 1993, by 1993 c. 50, s. 1(1), Sch. 1 Pt. XIII GroupI. ^[7]

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Crispe Whiteley, George (1874), The Licensing Acts 1872-74, Knight & Company  
• Putnam, Roger (2004), The Beer and Breweries of Britain, Shire Books, ISBN 0747806063