Monday 1 June 2015

The hard years of the 1940’s

It’s hard to imagine now, but life actually got worse in Britain after the end of WW II.

Rationing continued and there were shortages of many basic goods. Plus the country was broke, having to go cap in hand to the Americans and Canadians for loans to keep things going. It wasn’t the happiest or times.

It must have been particularly annoying to watch the strength of beer continue to fall after victory. While at the same time getting dearer through tax increases.

Beer.—The basic Excise duty on beer before April, 1948, was £7 19s. 9d. per barrel plus 5s. 11d. per degree. The Budget raised the duty to £8 18s. 10d. per barrel up to a gravity of 1027 degrees, plus a surtax of 6s. 7.5d. per degree above that strength. Corresponding changes were made in the Customs duties on imported beer. The increase in duty was approximately equivalent to 1d. per pint on beer of average strength.”
"Brewing Trade Review, 1950", pages 52 - 53.

Before WW I, the duty on beer was charged per standard barrel, a nominal 36 imperial gallons with an OG of 1055º. So a beer of 1100º would pay double the tax, one of 1027.5º half the tax and one of 1011º just 20% of the tax. But that was changed after the war and for beer, no matter how strong, the minimum tax was that for an OG of 1027º. For every degree above that, more tax was charged. It’s a good example of how legislation can change the type of beer brewed, because after that you never see a beer with a gravity lower than 1027º.

A penny a pint is quite a large percentage increase when an average-strength beer only cost around a shilling (12d).

There were also still restrictions on the supply of raw materials to brewers. Who were, of course, competing with food manufacturers for some items, such as sugar;

“The shortage of cereals and other brewing materials made it necessary to continue during 1947-48 the control imposed by the Ministry of Food on 1st May, 1946. Up to 31st December, 1947, the permitted rate of output of each brewer was equivalent in terms of standard barrels to 85% of production in the year ended 31st March, 1946. In order to save sugar the permitted rate of output was further reduced to 82% on 1st January, 1948. Owing to an uneven demand for beer during the summer months a redistribution of production was necessary and this was achieved by reducing from 1st January, 1949, the permitted level of production of each brewery to 78% of its standard barellage in the corresponding period of 1945-46 and arranging centrally for the balance of 4% to be allocated to brewers who could not meet their demand within 78%.”
"Brewing Trade Review, 1950", page 53.

Note that it’s 85%, 82% and 78% of a brewery’s output in 1946. Which itself had been a percentage of the amount brewed in peacetime.

The government was forcing down beer production deliberately, but it had little option. There just weren’t enough raw materials to satisfy demand for beer and food.

This is one of the tables included in the article:

Home-made Beer :  Quantities charged with duty, Average Gravities and Net Receipts
Year (ended 31st March) Quantities charged with duty- Average Gravity Net quantities duty-paid Net Receipts £
Bulk Barrels Standard Barrels Bulk Barrels Standard Barrels
1939 24,674,992 18,364,156 1,040.93 24,187,883 17,935,568 62,370,034
1940 25,366,782 18,738,619 1,040.62 25,092,090 18,495,567 75,157,022
1941 26,203,803 18,351,113 1,038.51 25,773,766 18,121,618 133,450,205
1942 29,860,796 19,294,605 1,035.53 29,351,341 19,018,940 157,254,430
1943 29,296,672 18,293,919 1,034.34 28,971,014 18,044,678 209,584,343
1944 30,478,289 19,193,773 1,034.63 30,129,031 18,945,565 263,170,703
1945 31,332,852 19,678,449 1,034.54 31,031,814 19,475,061 278,876,870
1946 32,650,200 20,612,225 1,034.72 32,698,011 20,580,907 295,305,369
1947 29,261,398 17,343,690 1,032.59 29,226,070 17,427,961 250,350,829
1948 30,408,634 18,061,390 1,032.66 30,007,139 17,744,616 264,112,043
1949 26,990,144 16,409,937 1,033.43 27,048,281 16,319,126 294,678,035


You can see that in 1949 average gravity was just starting to creep up a little.

“As a result of all these factors the quantity of home-produced beer retained for consumption in the United Kingdom in 1948-49 amounted to 27.05 million bulk barrels compared with 30.01 million barrels in 1947-48, the average strength being about the same as in the previous year. The quantity and strength of imported beer changed very little between the two years ; imports from Continental countries continued during 1948-49 and substantial supplies continued to come from Eire.”
"Brewing Trade Review, 1950", page 53.

They could just as easily have said Guinness as Eire. Because pretty much all of the imports, both from Ireland and the total amount, were Guinness Extra Stout.

Here are the remaining two tables, for imports and exports:

Imported Beer
Year (ended 31st March) Quantities retained for Consumption Net Receipts
Bulk Barrels Standard Barrels £
1939 838,269 793,516 3,210,822
1940 822,678 780,129 3,593,330
1941 789,787 726,614 5,603,976
1942 1,047,374 877,840 7,307,597
1943 837,788 670,521 8,017,919
1944 572,389 436,179 6,430,268
1945 765,602 615,361 8,854,345
1946 929,028 749,795 10,797,531
1947 860,161 650,365 9,369,294
1948 863,855 651,275 9,943,145
1949 875,548 690,090 12,639,747


Home-made Beer : Exports*
Year (ended 31st March) Quantities
Bulk Barrels Standard Barrels average OG
1939 276,757 266,634 1052.99
1940 303,488 290,093 1052.57
1941 244,436 215,045 1048.39
1942 205,009 172,860 1046.38
1943 71,220 59,608 1046.03
1944 109,564 87,947 1044.15
1945 77,862 62,769 1044.34
1946 158,500 124,190 1043.09
1947 168,121 133,800 1043.77
1948 126,580 103,365 1044.91
1949 222,047 195,580 1048.44

* Excludes beer deposited or consigned under military control for H.M. Forces overseas.

Unsurprisingly, exports fell to almost nothing during the war. It’s a bigger shock that there were any at all. Especially as beer for the military is excluded from the figures.

The average OG column I’ve added. It was easy to calculate, given that both bulk and standard barrels are listed. You’ll note that export beer was quite a bit stronger than that sold domestically.

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