Publican brewers

In a recent post about Scottish Twopenny, I mentioned that publican brewers had disappeared much earlier in Scotland than in England. I knew there must be figures somewhere. Today I found them.

Brewers, Vuctuallers, etc 10th October 1848 to 10th October 1849 totals collected
	number of persons				Number of persons who brew their own beer
			licensed to sell beer			licensed to sell beer
Collections	Brewers	Victuallers	To be drunk on the premises	Not to be drunk on the premises	Victuallers	To be drunk on the premises	Not to be drunk on the premises	Bushels of malt consumed by the whole
England	2,257	59,335	34,800	3,270	25,985	12,201	972	27,676,714
Scotland	154	15,081			181			871,586
Ireland	96	14,080						1,204,875
total	2,507	88,496	34,800	3,270	26,166	12,201	972	29,753,175
Source:
"Statistics of British commerce" by Braithwaite Poole, 1852, page 5.

Column 6 gives publican brewers. 25,985 in England and Wales, 181 in Scotland, none in Ireland. Pretty conclusive evidence. But it gets even better than that. Because the figures are broken down even further. The picture they paint is even more captivating.

Brewers, Vuctuallers, etc 10th October 1848 to 10th October 1849, England
	number of persons				Number of persons who brew their own beer
			licensed to sell beer			licensed to sell beer
Collections	Brewers	Victuallers	To be drunk on the premises	Not to be drunk on the premises	Victuallers	To be drunk on the premises	Not to be drunk on the premises	Bushels of malt consumed by the whole
Barnstaple	9	595	236	24	547	182	8	158,281
Bath	43	722	451	139	415	151	29	679,127
Bedford	54	1101	778	78	153	54	10	399,513
Bristol	25	666	872	77	453	207	10	461,372
Cambridge	86	1264	978	132	151	105	33	624,064
Canterbury	53	882	345	55	11	22	5	310,169
Chester	43	1037	358	14	592	187	1	221,332
Cornwall	11	747	277	21	505	128	3	154,368
Coventry	23	1497	519	65	1334	398	31	542,648
Cumberland	24	1352	235	29	128	27	25	195,148
Derby	20	1166	516	31	1139	454	12	564,541
Dorset	53	511	477	125	213	76	35	259,871
Durham	91	2068	304	38	404	34		247,514
Essex	50	738	459	147	158	108	63	286,576
Exeter	25	737	203	23	529	63	3	240,101
Gloucester	28	774	701	82	555	420	34	345,719
Grantham	55	1104	656	57	603	186	16	385,106
Halifax	57	1334	1258	42	914	872	37	488,975
Hants	63	725	700	126	98	168	41	433,576
Hereford	4	756	294	11	701	265	6	113,781
Hartford	47	1020	840	53	40	32	16	554,992
Hull	74	1114	227	36	154	10	1	208,463
Isle of Wight	61	769	637	96	103	157	37	463,658
Lancaster	29	1109	865	21	760	286	1	507,852
Leeds	25	1015	848	52	900	570	39	615,724
Lichfield	11	1030	1008	35	1001	849	16	305,345
Lincoln	49	915	367	60	604	110	13	306,665
Liverpool	77	1551	1205	22	19	14	1	763,123
London	79	4223	2054	65	1	50	8	6,289,908
Lynn	70	1156	866	80	102	70	15	640,092
Manchester	96	1706	3102	157	971	1074	54	979,907
Newcastle	84	1949	280	29	145	5	3	404,183
Northampton	24	1038	381	122	761	175	37	325,441
Northwich	30	1197	706	16	668	149	1	392,040
Norwich	49	1441	329	76	87	33	22	372,053
Oxford	29	891	393	99	421	121	33	337,695
Plymouth	40	948	476	56	431	42	6	345,250
Reading	41	888	760	115	51	54	21	496,466
Rochester	77	1191	849	74	14	20	6	443,088
Salisbury	28	577	264	101	351	117	44	297,956
Salop	3	600	376	15	569	331	4	266,350
Sheffield	32	1428	584	84	726	152	10	492,019
Stafford	30	772	782	6	733	592	1	638,268
Stourbridge	7	1383	1460	62	1328	1385	34	799,499
Suffolk	52	728	409	111	259	170	66	328,776
Surrey	83	1108	977	91	7	48	21	846,841
Sussex	71	829	693	90	66	80	29	465,762
Wales, East	40	1781	1523	19	1537	882	1	375,006
Wales, Middle	1	724	104	1	657	94		91,150
Wales, North	30	1139	162	7	627	23		151,606
Wales, South	8	1293	45	4	1296	26		112,835
Worcester	5	531	366	53	501	309	23	205,813
York	58	1515	245	46	492	64	7	241,106
total	2,257	59,335	34,800	3,270	25,985	12,201	972	27,176,714
total (given in source)	2,257	59,335	34,800	3,270	25,985	12,201	972	27,676,714
Source:
"Statistics of British commerce" by Braithwaite Poole, 1852, page 4.

Look at the column for brewing victuallers. The areas with large numbers - over 900 - are all in the Midlands, the North and Wales: Coventry, Derby, Halifax, Lichfield, Manchester, Stourbridge, Leeds, Wales East, Wales South. The Areaes with the fewest - fewer than 100 - are all, except for Liverpool, in the Southeast: Canterbury, Hants, Hartford, Liverpool, Norwich, Reading, Surrey, London, Rochester, Sussex.

Most significant is the area with by far the fewest publican brewers: London with just 1. Brewing was already completely in the hands of commercial brewers and pub brewing as good as extinct.

The pattern is much more complex, with enormous regional variations, than I would have imagined. But I can state this with some confidence: in some regions of Britain pub breweries disappeared in the first half of the 19th century.