Barclay Perkins get off lightly

When searching for brewery names in newspaper archives, most of the articles you find fall into a couple of categories: horrible industrial accidents and fires.

Occasionally, you'll s description of a visit to the brewery. Though they often read like infomercials.

I suppose the following sort of falls into the industrial accident category. Well, it was an accident. And on premises owned by the brewery.

 "Trap" at Streatham
£l70 for Lady Who Fell
A lady customer who M 1 down some steps into a cellar at the Horse and Groom public-house, High-road, Streatham, was awarded £l70 agreed damages at Wandsworth County Court, on Thursday. She was Mrs. Alice Elizabeth Mills, Wavertree-road, Streatham, and she sued Barclay Perkins and Co. Ltd., Park street, Southwark, in respect of the accident, which was alleged to have been caused through negligence on the part of defendants in not sufficiently indicating to customers in the bar the door leading into the cloak room.

Mrs. Mills was precipitated into a coal cellar, and her right shoulder was dislocated. A doctor said there was likely to be a permanent disability in the arm.

Judge Haydon. K.C., said he visited the Horse and Groom in circumstances as favourable to defendants as could be. It was evidently a place that did a good trade. He had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that there was a breach of implied warranty that the premises were in as safe a condition as they could reasonably be made.

"I considered it a trap." he added, "and can perfectly well understand this old lady falling into it without any negligence on her part."

Counsel then announced that the parties had come to terms.

The Judge: I think that Messrs. Barclay Perkins have got off lightly.
Norwood News - Friday 28 June 1940, page 2.

£l70 wasn't so bad. In 1940 that would have bought you almost 6,000 pints of Best Mild. Enough to keep you going for several months. Assuming your arm wasn't so knacked that you couldn't lift a pint glass. That would be annoying. Drinking Mild through a straw just wouldn't be the same.

The Horse and Groom is still trading:

Horse & Groom
60 Streatham High Rd,
Streatham,
London SW16 1DA,
United Kingdom.
Menu: greeneking-pubs.co.uk