Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site

Still not finished with tied houses. How could I resist Barclay-Perkins-related info?

By nailing togetehr information from a few different sources I've been able to put together a table. I'm not sure what it tells us, really. Other than that they accumulated lots of pubs in the periods not covered by the figures.

I'd known that the big Porter brewers had tied estates. But didn't have many details as to the size of those estates. Barclay Perkins appear to have owned quite a modest number of pubs in the early 19th century, generally fewer than 50. But by the early 20th century that had shot up to almost 300.

There was a good reason for that. In the 1880's and 1890's, with new licences almost impossible to obtain, brewers began buying pubs like crazy. With the free trade rapidly disappearing, any brewers who didn't follow suit was likely to find themselves with nowhere to sell their beer. The prices paid for pubs in grotty parts of East London were phenomenal: £15,000 or £20,000 at a time when Mild Ale was 2d per pint.

Barclay Perkins were still actively acquiring pubs until WW I. After the war, the number fell again due to closures or sales. A few pubs were sold on to other brewers. A couple of licences simply surrendered. Others surrendered with compensation. Though they were also still picking up a few new pubs in the 1920's.

I'm not sure where the big jump in pubs between 1924 and 1949 comes from. OK, they bought Style & Winch in the which must brought in some new pubs. But nothing like 700. I'm confused.

Just for a laugh, I thought I'd look at the average sales per pub. Which were rising steadily during the middle part of the 19th century. Only to fall again in the 20th. Not sure that tells us all that much.

I know from the Beer Trades document (Document 2305/1/517 held at the London Metropolitan Archives) that the amounnt of beer sold per pub in a year varied enormously, from as little as 36 barrels to as much as 2,000 barrels. One of the pubs doing the biggest trade was the Anchor, their brewery tap, which sold 1,833 barrels in 1924. That's an impressive 5 barrels of beer each day.


Barclay Perkins tied and free trade 1830 - 1949
Year Owned % Loan % Free % Total Barrels brewed Barrels per pub
1830 51 5.8 476 54 355 40.2 882 262,306 297.4
1835 44 5 462 53 354 41.2 860 382,063 444.26
1840 33 4.2 462 59.3 284 36.5 779 400,838 514.55
1845 40 5 457 57.6 297 37.4 794 396,784 499.73
1850 38 4.7 449 55.8 318 39.5 805 397,360 493.61
1855 36 4.4 442 54 340 41.6 818 357,836 437.45
1860 36 4.5 420 52.1 350 43.4 806 421,286 522.69
1865 34 4.7 390 53.4 306 41.9 730 415,142 568.69
1870 35 5.1 392 57.3 257 37.6 684 410,710 600.45
1875 29 4.4 396 59.9 236 35.7 661
1901 272 573,302
1905 292 549,634
1910 308 500,205
1914 310 582,263
1920 303 464,033
1925 290 329,464
1949 1,005 367,691 321.96
Sources:
"The British Brewing Industry 1830 - 1980" by T.R. Gourvish and R.G. Wilson, 1994, page 436.
"The British Brewing Industry 1830 - 1980" by T.R. Gourvish and R.G. Wilson, 1994, page 131.
Document 2305/1/517 held at the London Metropolitan Archives.
Whitbread brewing log, document LMA/4453/D/09/023
"The British Brewing Industry, 1830-1980" T. R. Gourvish & R.G. Wilson, pages 610-611
Document ACC/2305/1/711/1 in the London Metropolitan Archives



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