On the other hand, licensing restrictions made it virtually impossible to get a new pub licence. And in many areas licensing magistrates were actively reducing the number of pubs, driving up their cost. Some breweries that came late to the game - Allsopps, for example - over-extended themselves, leading them into sever financial difficulties when trade got worse in the new century.
As you can see from the figures below, brewing contributed a considerable sum to the nation's finances. Which was good in a way, as it meant the government was unlikely to take too radical actions against brewing becvause of the financial consequences.
There's also a mention of the man with the best name in brewing, Cosmo Bonsor. Though it doesn't mention it, he was at the time a director of Combe. After that firm's merge with Watney and Reid he ewas a director of the new amalgamated company.
"The Brewing Trade in 1892.What the article says about the decline all being in the smallest categories is true. All the categories greater than 10,000 barrels were either stable or increased. The authorities were quite happy to see many of the very small breweries to close because they were more difficult for the Excise to chek up on.It was much easier to check up on a smaller number of larger breweries.
The Annual Parliamentary return recently issued at the instigation of Mr. Cosmo Bonsor, M.P., furnishes much information I of very considerable interest to the brewing a trade, and at the present time, when the public are eing moved with indignation at the confiscatory proposals of the present Government, this return becomes of very much more than trade interest. From previous articles in these columns on the production and consumption of beer, our readers already know that the quantity of beer manufactured in the United Kingdom during last year was much above that of the previous year, and now we find from these returns that a larger amount of duty was paid during the twelve months ended September 30, 1892, than in any year since 1881; we cannot go further back than this, because prior to 1881 the duty was levied on the malt, and not on the beer as at present, and any comparison between the two systems would be valueless.
The following figures give the total amounts of beer and licence duty charged to brewers for sale during the last twelve years, and the result last year compares very favourably with that of any previous period :—
1881 £8,498,044 1887 £8,845,919 1882 8,668,405 1888 8,782,725 1883 8,449,721 1889 9,323,171 1884 8,746,529 1890 9,864,556 1885 8,664,319 1891 10,039,217 1886 8,539,329 1892 10,079,678
It will thus be seen that the total amount paid last year (i.e., for twelve months ended Sept. 30, and unless otherwise stated this period is meant in all cases) was £10,079,678, which represents an increase of £40,461 in excess of the preceding year, and £215,122 more than in 1890. This state of affairs, while eminently satisfactory to the brewing trade, must be particularly annoying to the parties championed by Mr. Caine, Sir W. Lawson, and their allies, and the more so because, going hand in hand with the increased consumption of our national beverage, is the great diminution of drunkeness, crime, poverty, and ignorance; this is a bitter potion to swallow for those who would wantonly destroy a legitimate trade without any redress.
It is now a fact, established beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the number of brewers continues year by year to grow less, and this has been the case ever since the repeal of the malt tax, the principal decrease being among the smallest members of the trade. During last year the falling off amounted to 578 as compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, and the total decrease from 1880 to 1892 inclusive was 10,558. We have compiled the following table to show how rapidly this diminution in the number of brewers has been continuing since 1880, when there were no less than 21,223 who took out licences :—
Number of Common Brewers Paying for Licences in Year Ended September 30. 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1891 1,000 14,948 14,499 13,864 13,199 12,608 12,155 11,716 11,586 10,705 9,986 9,283 8,766 10,000 1,677 1,619 1,592 1,560 1,537 1,529 1,533 1,518 1,479 1,447 1,370 1,303 20,000 275 275 274 289 270 260 271 264 273 274 284 276 30,000 88 84 79 85 83 85 94 89 108 130 126 136 50,000 63 66 58 64 66 68 68 74 69 72 74 78 100,000 32 36 40 39 38 39 42 38 48 53 54 55 150,000 7 11 11 10 10 9 11 9 13 16 20 20 200,000 7 6 6 9 9 7 6 6 5 5 5 4 250,000 2 2 2 2 1 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 300,000 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 3 2 350,000 — 1 1 1 1 1 1 — 1 2 3 3 400,000 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 3 3 2 1 1 450,000 3 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 500,000 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 550,000 — — — 1 1 1 1 1 — — 1 600,000 — — — — — - — 1 1 2 2 1 1,000,000 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 — — — — over 1000000 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 Total 17,110 16,609 15,937 15,268 14,633 14,166 13,755 13,598 12,756 12,000 11,233 10,855 deacrease compared with preceding yrs. 4,113 501 672 669 635 467 411 157 842 756 767 578
The Brewers' Guardian 1893, page 89.
The situation is now completely reversed. From what I hear the Excise can't cope and most of the smaller breweries are never checked out.
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