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Remember the table in my last post? Obviously not. No-one remembers anything nowadays. Especially me.

I wouldn't be able to remember what I had for breakfast. If I didn't have the same thing every day. Cheese toastie. Today with Emmenthaler. Usually old Gouda. I'm rambling. On with business.

Here's the table I'm going to refer back to. It'll make things easier for us all.

UK Excise and customs revenue from alcoholic drink (£ millions)
Beer Wine Spirits
Year UK Imports total UK Imports total UK Imports total Duty Receipts in Total
1937 57.3 5.4 62.7 0.5 5.1 5.6 31.4 4.8 36.2 104.5
1938 61.2 4.5 65.7 0.5 5.0 5.5 31.1 4.8 35.9 107.1
1939 62.4 3.2 65.6 0.5 4.8 5.3 30.9 4.7 35.6 106.5
1940 75.2 3.6 78.8 0.9 5.7 6.6 34.5 6.2 40.7 126.1
1941 133.5 5.6 139.1 1.6 7.8 9.4 33.9 11.6 45.5 194.0
1942 157.3 7.3 164.6 1.1 3.8 4.9 31.0 15.7 46.7 216.2
1943 209.6 8.0 217.6 1.7 2.4 4.1 49.4 18.2 67.6 289.3
1944 263.2 6.4 269.6 2.1 2.3 4.4 59.6 17.2 76.8 350.8
1945 278.9 8.9 287.8 2.0 2.5 4.5 50.1 13.5 63.6 355.9
1946 295.3 10.8 306.1 2.2 5.0 7.2 51.2 16.9 68.1 381.4
1947 250.4 9.4 259.8 2.2 10.8 13.0 51.6 24.9 76.5 349.3
1948 264.1 9.9 274.0 3.4 15.6 19.0 40.7 42.7 83.4 376.4
1949 294.7 12.6 307.3 3.8 15.7 19.5 46.7 44.1 90.8 417.6
1950 263.1 13.7 276.8 2.8 16.1 18.9 58.7 39.6 98.3 394.0
1951 249.1 13.0 262.1 3.2 18.1 21.3 75.8 38.7 114.5 397.9
1952 248.2 12.7 260.9 3.3 17.5 20.8 67.1 29.9 97.0 378.7
Source:
"Drink in Great Britain 1900-1979" by GP Williams and GT Brake, 1980, Edsdall London, page 380.


Though, if you look at the next table, you’ll see that, while the tax revenue on wine trebled between 1939 and 1948, the quantity consumed had fallen considerably, by more than a third. Beer consumption over the same period was up by a quarter. It must be borne in mind that that beer in 1948 was on average about 10 degrees in gravity weaker than in 1939.


UK Consumption of beer and wine 1937-52 (1,000 gallons)
Imported Wines
Year Beer Heavy Light Sparkling British Wines Total Wines % wine
1937 864,000 11,709 3,950 679 5,690 22,028 2.49%
1938 900,000 31,516 3,623 628 6,144 21,910 2.33%
1939 900,000 11,602 3,062 561 6,418 21,645 2.35%
1940 936,000 11,353 2,572 388 6,916 21,228 2.22%
1941 972,000 10,392 1,730 232 6,408 18,763 1.89%
1942 1,080,000 4,623 752 75 3,957 9,407 0.86%
1943 1,080,000 1,705 264 29 3,100 5,098 0.47%
1944 1,116,000 1,166 508 13 2,898 4,585 0.41%
1945 1,152,000 1,400 227 11 2,735 4,373 0.38%
1946 1,224,000 2,723 464 92 2,921 6,200 0.50%
1947 1,080,000 5,282 1,837 329 2,998 10,445 0.96%
1948 1,116,000 7,098 2,145 383 3,899 13,525 1.20%
1949 1,008,000 5,718 1,282 497 2,961 10,458 1.03%
1950 972,000 5,939 1,667 476 3,662 11,754 1.19%
1951 936,000 6,439 2,684 560 4,450 14,133 1.49%
1952 936,000 6,078 3,234 519 4,672 14,503 1.53%
Source:
"Drink in Great Britain 1900-1979" by GP Williams and GT Brake, 1980, Edsdall London, page 381.

Strange how the imports of sparkling wine collapse between 1942 and 1947. It’s almost as if there was a reason why they couldn’t get hold of champagne.

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