Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site

Numbers again today. Lots of them And not a huge number of words as I have to start cooking Sunday dinner in a minute.

This set is interesting because it breaks down the number of breweries by the UK's constituent countries. Which reveals that the vast majority of breweries were in England and Wales. Every year covered by the table approximately 97% were in England and Wales. While fewer than 90% of the population lived there.

While Scotland contained a disproportionate number of the distilleries. No real surprise there.

The numbers for brewers not for sale - i.e. homebrewers - are a bit weird. In that, unlike those for common brewers, they weren't in constant decline. They were falling slowly until WW I, when they initially rose and then collapsed. Presumably because brewing materials were unavailable. After the war, the numbers shot up again, getting back to almost their 1900 level by 1928. Quite surprising that.


Excise Licences to Makers of Alcoholic Liquors 1900 - 1936
Year ending March 31 Common Brewers Distillers and Rectifiers Brewers not for Sale
Eng. Scot. Ire. U.K. Eng. Scot. Ire. U.K. Eng. Scot. G.B.
1900 6270 136 41 6447 268 200 59 527 12607 127 12734
1901 5936 132 41 6110 286 200 57 543 12296 114 12410
1902 5736 126 36 5898 272 196 56 524 11772 100 11872
1903 5533 122 37 5692 252 193 56 501 11665 87 11752
1904 5340 117 38 5495 256 195 54 505 11275 84 11359
1905 5164 111 36 5211 264 191 51 506 9863 67 9930
1906 5001 108 33 5142 254 187 52 493 9266 56 9322
1907 4846 108 31 4985 257 195 50 502 8840 49 8889
1908 4674 104 30 4808 261 188 48 497 8438 43 8481
1909 4539 98 30 4667 256 188 48 492 7530 38 7568
1910 4390 92 30 4512 241 185 46 472 6980 26 7006
1911 4212 88 29 4329 212 184 42 438 6833 22 6855
1912 4074 81 29 4184 212 177 41 430 5953 20 5973
1913 3833 79 29 3941 224 180 41 445 4992 17 5009
1914 3643 75 28 3746 213 179 41 433 4522 15 4537
1915 3458 71 27 3556 220 175 41 436 4728 13 4741
1916 3273 70 27 3370 222 173 41 436 5982 9 5991
1917 3141 67 26 3234 222 171 39 432 5207 10 5217
1918 3060 66 25 3151 219 169 39 427 1598 4 1602
1919 2968 64 25 3057 226 161 38 425 1876 3 1879
1920 2826 63 25 2914 270 161 38 469 2998 1 2999
1921 2587 60 23 2670 277 162 37 476 6174 6174
1922 2403 59 22 2484 260 160 37 457 7069 7069
1923 2238 58 2 2298 247 156 *12 415 8028 40 8068
1924 2089 57 2 2148 254 151 12 417 9423 409 9832
1925 1938 56 2 1996 252 159 12 423 8991 476 9467
1926 1789 54 1 1844 252 153 12 417 10869 618 11487
1927 1670 51 1 1722 246 150 11 407 11427 751 12178
1928 1550 49 1 1599 245 145 11 401 12257 842 13099
1929 1453 49 1502 237 145 11 393 11878 1044 12922
1930 1372 46 1418 241 136 11 388 11437 1076 12513
1931 1295 45 1340 231 134 10 375 11462 1088 12550
1932 1241 45 1286 235 129 10 374 10033 1106 11139
1933 1196 43 1239 221 126 10 357 10141 1135 11276
1934 1153 44 1197 215 123 8 346 9549 1197 10746
1935 1102 42 1144 217 124 10 341 8906 1264 10170
1936 1060 43 1103 204 121 9 334 8502 1265 9767
* From 1923 figures are for Northern Ireland only.
Source:
"Drink in Great Britain 1900 - 1979", by Gwylmor Prys Williams and George Thompson Brake, 1980, page 367.







More...