Publicans' profits again

Thanks to Edd Mather for sending me a fascinating document showing wholesale beer prices for May 1919.

It shows the prices agreed by regional brewers' associations for the various price-controlled classes, which at the time were 4d., 5d., 6d., 7d., and 8d. It's fascinating because there's considerable variation in the prices.

The problem with the system of price controls was that it only concerned retail prices, not wholesale ones. Brewers could, in theory, charge anything they liked. Though, obviously, they wouldn't want to bankrupt all their tenants.  Despite that, a publican's profit margin was wafer thin.

Some of the prices - the Birmingham non-discounted ones, for example, don't seem to leave anything for the publican. The wholesale price of 4d. beer varied between 68/- in Sussex and 95/- in Birmingham.

PRICES. MAY 31. 1919.
	Locality.	4d.	5d.	6d.	7d.	8d.
1	Berkshire	72/-	80/-	105/-	120/-
2	Bedfordshire	72/-	90/-	106/-
3	Burton (for Tied Trade)	77/5	97/3	115/3	126/-	144/-
4	Bucks,	72/-	90/-	102/100	126/-	144/-
5	Birmingham	95/-	-	135/-	155/-	175/-
	do.      Discount 20%	76/-		108/-	124/-	140/-
	do. 25%	71/3		101/3	116/3	131/3
6	Bristol mininum	69/-	87/-	104/-	120/-
7	Blackburn	70/-	-	116/-
8	Bolton	69/-	83/-	98/-	112/-
9	Bradford	72/-	90/-	108/-	126/-	144/-
10	Cambs.	74/-	86/-	108/-
10a.	Control Board Carlisle.	71/-	85/-
11	Gloster and Wilts	69/-	87/-	104/-	120/-	136/-
18	Halifax	72/-	90/-	108/-	126/-	144/-
15	Hants	74/-	92/-	112/-	130/-
14	Herts	72/-	90/-	108/-	126/-	144/-
10	Kent	72/-	88/-	106/-	124/-	150/-
16	Leicester (minimum gravities)		80/-	96/-	112/-
17	Liverpool	70/-	84/-	100/-	115/-
18	London	69/6	85/7	110/6	121/9
19	Lancs.	69/-	83/-	98/-	112/-
20	Manchester	69/-	83/-	98/-	112/-
21	Norfolk   (prices not unlfonr)	70/-	84/-		120/-	135/-
22	Northants.	72/-	84/-	96/-	108/-
23	Northumberland and Durham	72/-	84/-
24	Notts Maximum Discount 20%	72/-	84/-	104/-
25	Norwich	70/74	86/-	108/-
26	Newcastle	72/-	84/-	108/-	-
27	Oxford	72/-		108/-
28	Potteries	72/-	86/-	104/-	120/-	136/-
29	Preston.	70/-	84/-	99/-	117/-	132/-
30	South Wales minimum.	66/-	78/-	95/-	120/-	130/-
31	Shrewsbury	72/-	84/-	105/-	120/-
32	Surrey	72/-	90/-	108/-	130/-
33	Sussex,   also a 3d. at 56/-	68/-	82/-	102/-	118/-
34	Sheffield.	72/-	84/-	96/-	108/-
35	Wiltshire (Minimum)	69/-	87/-	104/-	120/-	136/-
36	Yorkshire do.	72/-	90/-	108/-	126/-	144/-
37	Younger W.	70/-	86/-	102/-	112/-
Average Price about		71/10	86/2	105/4	120/9	141/7

This table should make the marginws easier to see. I includes the cheapest and most expensive wholesale prices for each category:

retail price per pint	wholesale price per barrel	wholesale price per pint	mark up	% mark up
4d	68/-	2.83	1.17	29.17%
	95/-	3.96	0.04	1.04%
5d	78/-	3.25	1.75	35.00%
	92/-	3.83	1.17	23.33%
6d	96/-	4.00	2.00	33.33%
	112/-	4.67	1.33	22.22%
7d	108/-	4.50	2.50	35.71%
	155/-	6.46	0.54	7.74%
8d	130/-	5.42	2.58	32.29%
	175/-	7.29	0.71	8.85%

I can't see how a publican could survive if forced to pay the highest prices.

In case you weere wondering, these are the gravity bands for each price category:

Price control categories February to July 1919
price per pint	gravity range
3d	below 1022
4d	1023-1028
5d	1029-1034
6d	1035-1041
7d	1042-1049
8d	above 1050
Source:
“The British Brewing Industry 1830-1980” by T.R. Gourvish and R.G Wilson, 1994, Cambridge University Press, page 323.