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07-06-2014, 08:45
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Yet another post I've managed to squeeze out of that single document. And I'm still not finished wringing. Not even had to use the mangle yet.

You should all be well aware of Snowden's 1931 emergency Budget. I keep going on about it enough. It was one of the most cataclysmic events in recent British brewing history. And about the only one which didn't take place in wartime. Its effect on British beer - a further lowering of gravities - was permanent.

Document B/THB/C/256c has some figures which highlight wonderfully the Budget's effect. There was an immediate drop in beer production. By 1933, the number of bulk barrels produced was down by more than 25% compared to 1929. But the impact in the number standard barrels* produced was even greater - a reduction by a third. Bad news for the government because the tax was charged on standard barrels.

Why the discrepancy between standard and bulk barrels? Because brewers lowered gravities to reduce their tax bills. This pushed average OG down below 1040. The net result was that even though the tax rate had increased by 42.5% (from 80 to 134 shillings) the amount of revenue collected fell.

By the time the increase was removed the damage was done. And the revenue collected fell even further, hitting its nadir in 1925 at 75% of its 1929 level.

Here's all that information in an tabley numbery form:



UK output and tax paid


year
standard barrels -6%
%
bulk barrels -6%
%
duty payable
%
average gravity


1929
19,252,986
100
24,350,155
100
£70,846,978
100
1043.21


1930
19,550,867
101.5
24,984,168
101.3
£71,254,674
100.5
1043.05


1931
18,488,400
96
23,780,784
96.9
£69,269,299
97.7
1042.69


1932
15,514,209
80.6
20,675,383
84.3
£68,710,020
97
1041.19


1933
12,898,594
67
17,843,579
72.7
£67,097,581
94.7
1039.69


1934
15,043,120
78.1
20,182,308
82.2
£53,884,405
76
1040.99


1935
15,577,830
80.9
20,804,814
85
£53,582,335
75.6
1041.06


1936
16,356,985
85.1
21,969,763
89.6
£55,451,926
78.3
1041.02


1937
16,983,231
88.2
22,724,450
92.6
£57,318,585
80.9
1041.1


1938
18,055,539
93.8
24,205,631
98.6
£61,241,404
86.4
1041.02


1939
18,364,156
95.4
24,674,942
100.6
£62,370,034
88
1040.93


Source:


Document B/THB/C/256c held at the London Metropolitan Archives



Why are they giving the numbers minus 6%? Because brewers were allowed a wastage of 6%. Tax was payable on the amount of wort that went into the fermenters, minus 6%. That's where larger brewers had an advantage as their loss was less than 5%, meaning they paid no tax on some of the beer they sold.

These are the equivalent numbers for Truman. You can see that things panned out slightly differently for them:



Truman (including Russells) output and tax paid


year
standard barrels -6%
%
bulk barrels -6%
%
duty payable
%
average gravity


1929
424,671
100
523,828
100
£1,600,838
100
1044.59


1930
449,373
105.8
558,898
106.7
£1,687,954
105.4
1044.22


1931
429,788
101.2
536,544
102.4
£1,673,738
104.5
1044.06


1932
346,549
81.6
460,534
87.9
£1,575,574
98.4
1041.39


1933
278,252
65.5
398,852
76.1
£1,465,428
91.5
1038.37


1934
333,364
78.5
454,587
86.8
£1,182,116
73.8
1040.33


1935
343,842
81
471,946
90.1
£1,183,347
73.9
1040.07


1936
359,492
84.6
493,712
94.2
£1,236,822
77.2
1040.04


1937
369,115
86.92
507,091
96.81
£1,269,215
79.3
1040.03


1938
373,459
87.9
518,762
99
£1,276,433
79.7
1039.59


1939
371,728
87.3
519,831
99.2
£1,264,241
78.9
1039.33


1940
370,528
87.3
522,691
99.8
£1,534,821
95.9
1038.99


Source:


Document B/THB/C/256c held at the London Metropolitan Archives



1930 to 1932 they did slightly better than the industry as a whole, even increasing output in 1931. After 1936, bulk numbers were almost back to their 1929 level, though standard barrel numbers lagged behind and were lower than average. This is explained by the other difference with the national picture: Truman's average gravity was lower.

It had taken the industry the remainder of the 1930's to get back to where it had been in 1929. And what happened just when everything was getting sorted out? WW II. Which completely buggered things up again.

In the first half of the 20th century the brewing industry was perpetually in turmoil, all of it caused by external factors. There was the 1911 Budget, WW I, the 1931 Budget then WW II. No wonder so many family-owned breweries were happy to sell up in the 1950's.





* A standard barrel is 36 Imperial gallons with an OG of 1055.

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