PDA

View Full Version : Shut up about Barclay Perkins -



Blog Tracker
03-04-2018, 08:25
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-1890s-were-good-years-for-british.html)


https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zqj2u6E0-Kk/WsH46BLQdxI/AAAAAAAAeWI/kIjrckMZb2k2-8UGzUiFx7P-MmvjGpRLgCLcBGAs/s400/Combe_Imperial_Stout.jpg (https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zqj2u6E0-Kk/WsH46BLQdxI/AAAAAAAAeWI/kIjrckMZb2k2-8UGzUiFx7P-MmvjGpRLgCLcBGAs/s1600/Combe_Imperial_Stout.jpg)
The 1890's were good years for British brewing. Output was up and profits were good. Business was doing so well that many decided to convert into limited companies. Which provided them with bucketloads of cash to buy pubs.

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.
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




https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kbexh5cTONc/WsH0xzb6tPI/AAAAAAAAeV8/ue5ctmlF0pMyAztQfJ5EXlueyjoxCjNQwCLcBGAs/s640/Common_Brewers_1881_1892.jpg (https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kbexh5cTONc/WsH0xzb6tPI/AAAAAAAAeV8/ue5ctmlF0pMyAztQfJ5EXlueyjoxCjNQwCLcBGAs/s1600/Common_Brewers_1881_1892.jpg)
The Brewers' Guardian 1893, page 89.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 situation is now completely reversed. From what I hear the Excise can't cope and most of the smaller breweries are never checked out.

More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-1890s-were-good-years-for-british.html)