The 1880 Free Mash Tun compelled everyone who brewed to buy a licence, whether they sold their beer or not. Those not selling their beer didn't have to pay beer duty, but they did need a licence.
Brewers not for sale included ones operating on very different scales. Ranging from workmen brewing in their cottages to local gentry with dedicated brewhouses making beer for all their estate staff. Home brewers continued to need to buy a licence up until the 1960s, when that calss of licence was abolished.
At the start of the 20th century, over 12,000 not for sale licences were issued. The vast majority were in England, with just a handful in Scotland. To put the numbers into context, the population of England was around ten times that of Scotland. While the licences in Scotland were less than 1% of those in England.
The numbers declined dramatically in the years leading up to WW I, falling to under 5,000. There was a small rise towards the end of the war, before a total collapse in 1918. By that point only a handful of licences were still being issued in Scotland.
| Brewers not for sale 1900 - 1918 | |||
| Year | Eng. | Scot. | G.B. |
| 1900 | 12,607 | 127 | 12,734 |
| 1901 | 12,296 | 114 | 12,410 |
| 1902 | 11,772 | 100 | 11,872 |
| 1903 | 11,665 | 87 | 11,752 |
| 1904 | 11,275 | 84 | 11,359 |
| 1905 | 9,863 | 67 | 9,930 |
| 1906 | 9,266 | 56 | 9,322 |
| 1907 | 8,840 | 49 | 8,889 |
| 1908 | 8,438 | 43 | 8,481 |
| 1909 | 7,530 | 38 | 7,568 |
| 1910 | 6,980 | 26 | 7,006 |
| 1911 | 6,833 | 22 | 6,855 |
| 1912 | 5,953 | 20 | 5,973 |
| 1913 | 4,992 | 17 | 5,009 |
| 1914 | 4,522 | 15 | 4,537 |
| 1915 | 4,728 | 13 | 4,741 |
| 1916 | 5,982 | 9 | 5,991 |
| 1917 | 5,207 | 10 | 5,217 |
| 1918 | 1,598 | 4 | 1,602 |
| Source: | |||
| "Drink in Great Britain 1900 - 1979", by Gwylmor Prys Williams and George Thompson Brake, 1980, page 367. | |||
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