Or if I'm feeling generous (or abusive, depending on your point of view) I'll show them to family and friends. "Ooh, isn't that fascinating." Is what they never say. Usually it's "Dad, I'm trying to watch Pointless." "I'm not interested in that crap, Ronald." Though often it's more negative than that.
I'm particularly proud of this table, documenting as it does Scottish on and off licences for the whole postwar period. Well, at least as far as 2009. Taking it any further could be a problem.as the Scottish Executive has stopped publishing the statistics in 2007. Bastards. Don't they realise what an inconvenience to me that is? They did the same once in the past. The figures for 1981 to 1990 are the British Beer and Pub Association's guess.
You may notice something slightly surprising in the numbers:
Licensed premises in Scotland 1945 - 2009 | |||||||||
Year | Public houses | Hotels | Pubs & hotels | Restricted Hotels | Restaurants | Restricted Hotels & Restaurants | Registered clubs | Off licences | Total |
1945 | 4,080 | 1,506 | 5,586 | 681 | 2,188 | 8,455 | |||
1946 | 4,084 | 1,565 | 5,649 | 740 | 2,204 | 8,593 | |||
1947 | 4,103 | 1,646 | 5,749 | 773 | 2,257 | 8,779 | |||
1948 | 4,111 | 1,690 | 5,801 | 834 | 2,313 | 8,948 | |||
1949 | 4,115 | 1,709 | 5,824 | 884 | 2,342 | 9,050 | |||
1950 | 4,118 | 1,740 | 5,858 | 912 | 2,366 | 9,136 | |||
1951 | 4,123 | 1,768 | 5,891 | 944 | 2,380 | 9,215 | |||
1952 | 4,111 | 1,770 | 5,881 | 966 | 2,387 | 9,234 | |||
1953 | 4,134 | 1,800 | 5,934 | 990 | 2,409 | 9,333 | |||
1954 | 4,156 | 1,826 | 5,982 | 1,021 | 2,424 | 9,427 | |||
1955 | 4,162 | 1,821 | 5,983 | 1,056 | 2,426 | 9,465 | |||
1956 | 4,176 | 1,846 | 6,022 | 1,132 | 2,434 | 9,588 | |||
1957 | 4,201 | 1,872 | 6,073 | 1,169 | 2,444 | 9,686 | |||
1958 | 4,181 | 1,893 | 6,074 | 1,219 | 2,482 | 9,775 | |||
1959 | 4,177 | 1,942 | 6,119 | 1,245 | 2,499 | 9,863 | |||
1960 | 4,186 | 1,987 | 6,173 | 1,297 | 2,580 | 10,050 | |||
1961 | 4,206 | 2,056 | 6,262 | 1,326 | 2,782 | 10,370 | |||
1962 | 4,218 | 2,096 | 6,314 | 60 | 44 | 104 | 1,379 | 2,961 | 10,758 |
1963 | 4,212 | 2,138 | 6,350 | 111 | 106 | 217 | 1,421 | 3,131 | 11,119 |
1964 | 4,222 | 2,196 | 6,418 | 142 | 148 | 290 | 1,497 | 3,242 | 11,447 |
1965 | 4,213 | 2,265 | 6,478 | 149 | 175 | 324 | 1,554 | 3,385 | 11,741 |
1966 | 4,222 | 2,319 | 6,541 | 170 | 201 | 371 | 1,607 | 3,384 | 11,903 |
1967 | 4,230 | 2,404 | 6,634 | 184 | 221 | 405 | 1,686 | 3,555 | 12,280 |
1968 | 4,198 | 2,449 | 6,647 | 212 | 274 | 486 | 1,793 | 3,630 | 12,556 |
1969 | 4,111 | 2,509 | 6,620 | 226 | 307 | 533 | 1,890 | 3,644 | 12,687 |
1970 | 4,190 | 2,565 | 6,755 | 227 | 358 | 585 | 1,938 | 3,766 | 13,044 |
1971 | 4,176 | 2,609 | 6,785 | 250 | 406 | 656 | 2,073 | 3,819 | 13,333 |
1972 | 4,064 | 2,646 | 6,710 | 270 | 431 | 701 | 2,148 | 3,872 | 13,431 |
1973 | 4,086 | 2,769 | 6,855 | 304 | 501 | 805 | 2,214 | 4,021 | 13,895 |
1974 | 3,923 | 2,745 | 6,668 | 319 | 540 | 859 | 2,306 | 4,019 | 13,852 |
1975 | 4,002 | 2,755 | 6,757 | 317 | 587 | 904 | 2,404 | 4,182 | 14,247 |
1976 | 4,132 | 2,871 | 7,003 | 345 | 670 | 1,015 | 2,398 | 4,365 | 14,781 |
1977 | 4,192 | 2,865 | 7,057 | 365 | 713 | 1,078 | 2,600 | 4,446 | 15,181 |
1978 | 4,309 | 2,990 | 7,299 | 393 | 775 | 1,168 | 2,671 | 4,625 | 15,763 |
1979 | 4,363 | 2,928 | 7,291 | 419 | 853 | 1,272 | 2,594 | 4,712 | 15,869 |
1980 | 4,472 | 2,959 | 7,431 | 438 | 921 | 1,359 | 2,723 | 4,899 | 16,412 |
1981 | 7,450 | 1,400 | 2,750 | 5,000 | 16,600 | ||||
1982 | 7,450 | 1,450 | 2,800 | 5,100 | 16,800 | ||||
1983 | 7,450 | 1,500 | 2,850 | 5,200 | 17,000 | ||||
1984 | 7,450 | 1,550 | 2,850 | 5,300 | 17,150 | ||||
1985 | 7,450 | 1,600 | 2,825 | 5,400 | 17,275 | ||||
1986 | 7,450 | 1,650 | 2,825 | 5,550 | 17,475 | ||||
1987 | 7,450 | 1,700 | 2,800 | 5,600 | 17,550 | ||||
1988 | 4,472 | 2,959 | 7,450 | 1,750 | 2,775 | 5,650 | 17,625 | ||
1989 | 7,500 | 1,800 | 2,750 | 5,700 | 17,750 | ||||
1990 | 7,550 | 1,850 | 2,700 | 5,800 | 17,900 | ||||
1991 | 4,828 | 2,731 | 7,559 | 570 | 1,314 | 1,884 | 2,668 | 5,912 | 18,023 |
1992 | 4,831 | 2,712 | 7,543 | 573 | 1,333 | 1,906 | 2,631 | 5,933 | 18,013 |
1993 | 4,847 | 2,665 | 7,512 | 564 | 1,383 | 1,947 | 2,594 | 5,994 | 18,047 |
1994 | 4,880 | 2,649 | 7,529 | 563 | 1,399 | 1,962 | 2,558 | 6,112 | 18,161 |
1995 | 4,978 | 2,622 | 7,600 | 549 | 1,446 | 1,995 | 2,521 | 6,268 | 18,384 |
1996 | 5,070 | 2,616 | 7,686 | 581 | 1,488 | 2,069 | 2,484 | 6,365 | 18,604 |
1997 | 5,267 | 2,612 | 7,879 | 542 | 1,507 | 2,049 | 2,448 | 6,386 | 18,762 |
1998 | 5,152 | 2,562 | 7,714 | 521 | 1,500 | 2,021 | 2,492 | 6,337 | 18,564 |
1999 | 5,094 | 2,524 | 7,618 | 532 | 1,490 | 2,022 | 2,501 | 6,397 | 18,538 |
2000 | 5,080 | 2,491 | 7,571 | 506 | 1,476 | 1,982 | 2,556 | 6,368 | 18,477 |
2001 | 5,084 | 2,455 | 7,539 | 475 | 1,473 | 1,948 | 2,513 | 6,336 | 18,336 |
2002 | 5,082 | 2,424 | 7,506 | 484 | 1,453 | 1,937 | 2,526 | 6,249 | 18,218 |
2003 | 5,122 | 2,384 | 7,506 | 470 | 1,474 | 1,944 | 2,349 | 6,104 | 17,903 |
2004 | 5,184 | 2,338 | 7,522 | 453 | 1,489 | 1,942 | 2,347 | 6,341 | 18,152 |
2005 | 5,150 | 2,261 | 7,411 | 422 | 1,506 | 1,928 | 2,338 | 6,378 | 18,055 |
2006 | 5,177 | 2,249 | 7,426 | 399 | 1,529 | 1,928 | 2,285 | 6,332 | 17,971 |
2007 | 5,186 | 2,174 | 7,360 | 356 | 1,514 | 1,870 | 2,242 | 6,232 | 17,704 |
2009 | 16,639 | ||||||||
Sources: | |||||||||
1945 - 1959: Statistical Handbook of the BBPA 1988, page 52. | |||||||||
1960 - 1979: Statistical Handbook of the BBPA 2011, page 75. |
See what I mean? Apart from a blip in 1974 and 1975 (pretty tough years in the UK - one of the reasons I went to university) the number of pubs and hotels rose slowly but steadily from 1945 to 1980. Since then, the number has been very stable at around 7,500. The increase between 1945 and 1980 was 33%. Which way outstrips any population growth. In 1945 4,640,000 people lived in Scotland. In 1969, 5,180,000.
Why surprising? Because the talk is always about how much pub numbers have declined. Which isn't at all what these numbers show.
Obviously the growth in pub numbers in Scotland postwar is insignificant compared to the surge in off-licence numbers, which nearly trebled in the period covered by the table. That, and the new categories of restricted hotels and restaurants helped to double the total number of licences.
Not all what I would have guessed.
5 comments:
but a drop of over a thousand between 2007 and 2009? Ie, right at the time of financial slowdown. I guess some categories may have been omitted from that total though.
We need to bear in mind that 1945 is not necessarily a good starting point. Prohibitionists like to use 1945 as a basis to “prove” how drinking has rocketed, probably because it was a 20th century low point in alcohol consumption. We need to go further back for a true picture.
Barm, I'm aware of that and will have another post covering 1900 to 1945. The only reason that I started with the later period is that I already had all the numbers. I'm still trying to pull together the pre-WW II figures.
It's a classic way to manipulate figures, picking the start and end dates carefully. That's why I like to have very large sets of data covering long periods of time. So the figures are represented fairly.
Steve, the problem is that the real figures haven't been published for the last few years. Making it pretty well impossible to really see what's going on.
The rise looks to be down to the Licensing Act 1961, which made it easier for supermarkets to get licences, and in particular the ending of resale price maintenance for drink in 1966, which encouraged even more supermarkets to get licences and enter the "off-sales" market.
Post a Comment