Excise Licences to Makers of Alcoholic Liquors 1900 - 1936

Numbers again today. Lots of them And not a huge number of words as I have to start cooking Sunday dinner in a minute.

This set is interesting because it breaks down the number of breweries by the UK's constituent countries. Which reveals that the vast majority of breweries were in England and Wales. Every year covered by the table approximately 97% were in England and Wales. While fewer than 90% of the population lived there.

While Scotland contained a disproportionate number of the distilleries. No real surprise there.

The numbers for brewers not for sale - i.e. homebrewers - are a bit weird. In that, unlike those for common brewers, they weren't in constant decline. They were falling slowly until WW I, when they initially rose and then collapsed. Presumably because brewing materials were unavailable. After the war, the numbers shot up again, getting back to almost their 1900 level by 1928. Quite surprising that.

Excise Licences to Makers of Alcoholic Liquors 1900 - 1936
Year ending March 31	Common Brewers				Distillers and Rectifiers				Brewers not for Sale
	Eng.	Scot.	Ire.	U.K.	Eng.	Scot.	Ire.	U.K.	Eng.	Scot.	G.B.
1900	6270	136	41	6447	268	200	59	527	12607	127	12734
1901	5936	132	41	6110	286	200	57	543	12296	114	12410
1902	5736	126	36	5898	272	196	56	524	11772	100	11872
1903	5533	122	37	5692	252	193	56	501	11665	87	11752
1904	5340	117	38	5495	256	195	54	505	11275	84	11359
1905	5164	111	36	5211	264	191	51	506	9863	67	9930
1906	5001	108	33	5142	254	187	52	493	9266	56	9322
1907	4846	108	31	4985	257	195	50	502	8840	49	8889
1908	4674	104	30	4808	261	188	48	497	8438	43	8481
1909	4539	98	30	4667	256	188	48	492	7530	38	7568
1910	4390	92	30	4512	241	185	46	472	6980	26	7006
1911	4212	88	29	4329	212	184	42	438	6833	22	6855
1912	4074	81	29	4184	212	177	41	430	5953	20	5973
1913	3833	79	29	3941	224	180	41	445	4992	17	5009
1914	3643	75	28	3746	213	179	41	433	4522	15	4537
1915	3458	71	27	3556	220	175	41	436	4728	13	4741
1916	3273	70	27	3370	222	173	41	436	5982	9	5991
1917	3141	67	26	3234	222	171	39	432	5207	10	5217
1918	3060	66	25	3151	219	169	39	427	1598	4	1602
1919	2968	64	25	3057	226	161	38	425	1876	3	1879
1920	2826	63	25	2914	270	161	38	469	2998	1	2999
1921	2587	60	23	2670	277	162	37	476	6174		6174
1922	2403	59	22	2484	260	160	37	457	7069		7069
1923	2238	58	2	2298	247	156	*12	415	8028	40	8068
1924	2089	57	2	2148	254	151	12	417	9423	409	9832
1925	1938	56	2	1996	252	159	12	423	8991	476	9467
1926	1789	54	1	1844	252	153	12	417	10869	618	11487
1927	1670	51	1	1722	246	150	11	407	11427	751	12178
1928	1550	49	1	1599	245	145	11	401	12257	842	13099
1929	1453	49		1502	237	145	11	393	11878	1044	12922
1930	1372	46		1418	241	136	11	388	11437	1076	12513
1931	1295	45		1340	231	134	10	375	11462	1088	12550
1932	1241	45		1286	235	129	10	374	10033	1106	11139
1933	1196	43		1239	221	126	10	357	10141	1135	11276
1934	1153	44		1197	215	123	8	346	9549	1197	10746
1935	1102	42		1144	217	124	10	341	8906	1264	10170
1936	1060	43		1103	204	121	9	334	8502	1265	9767
* From 1923 figures are for Northern Ireland only.
Source:
"Drink in Great Britain 1900 - 1979", by Gwylmor Prys Williams and George Thompson Brake, 1980, page 367.