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“Which brands would have been available in an ordinary English pub of the 1950s or 1960s, including spirits and wines?” – paraphrased from correspondence

To answer this, let’s pick a year; and let’s make that year 1965 because we’ve got a good reference to hand: James H. Coombs’ Bar Service: careers behind the bar – volume one.
We’ve written about this little volume before. First, there was a post about its advice on beer. Then there was a companion piece with some nuggets on pub life.
The bit we’re going to look at today, though, is arguably the most boring section in which Mr Coombs provides a long list of the types and variety of booze a good pub ought to carry.
Here’s the raw information from those, oof, twelve chapters. We’ve only included items where a brand name was mentioned, plus a couple of example of beers where ‘brewery’s own’ would be the brand.
Bottled beers Brand
Pale ale (light ale) Brewery’s own
Brown ale Brewery’s own
Double Diamond Ind Coope
John Courage (JC) Courage
Red Barrel Watney Mann
Ben Truman (Ben) Truman
Barley Wine Brewery’s own
IPA Worthington
Colne Spring Ale Benskins (Ind Coope)
White Shield (natural beer’) Worthington
Bass (Red Shield – ‘natural beer’) Bass
Green Shield (pasteurised) Worthington
Bass (Blue Triangle – pasteurised) Bass
Lager Carlsberg
Lager Tuborg
Lager Holston
Lager Löwenbräu
Lager Oranjeboom
Lager Heineken
SKOL Ind Coope
Black Label Carling
Guinness Harp
Mackeson (milk stout) Mackeson (Whitbread)
Guinness Extra Stout Guinness
Russian Stout Barclay’s (Courage)
Draught beers (cask) Brand
Mild ale (XX) Brewery’s own
Bitter Brewery’s own
Bass Bass
E Worthington
Draught beers (keg) Brand
Red Barrel Watney Mann
Red Hand Ind Coope
Toby Charrington
Flowers Flowers (Whitbread)
Tankard Whitbread
Tavern Courage
Bass Bass
E Worthington
Cider Brand
Apple Vintage Wine Merrydown
Babycham (sweet) Showerings
Babycham (dry) Showerings
Baby Bubbly Goldwell
Pink Lady Goldwell
Soft drinks and mixers Brand
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola
Pepsi-Cola Pepsi
7-Up 7-Up
Perrier Water Perrier
Vichy Water Various
Apollinaris (water) Apollinaris
Hunyadi-Janos (water) n/a
Contrexeville (water) Perrier
Evian (water) Evian
Malvern (water) Schweppes
Buxton (water) Buxton Mineral Water Co.
Springwell (water) n/a
Wines Brand
Tio Pepe (sherry) González Byass
Dry Fly (sherry) Imported by Findlater Mackie Todd
Double Century (sherry) Pedro Domecq
Celebration Cream (sherry) Pedro Domecq
Bristol Cream (sherry) Harvey’s
Bristol Milk (sherry) Harvey’s
Bristol Dry (sherry) Harvey’s
Various sherries Wiliams and Humbert
Carlito (sherry) Wiliams and Humbert
Dry Sack (sherry) Wiliams and Humbert
Canasta Cream (sherry) Wiliams and Humbert
Walnut Brown (sherry) Wiliams and Humbert
Various sherries Varela
Port Croft, Dow, Fonseca, Cockburn, Sandeman, Warre, Rebello Valente, Taylor, etc.
Porto Branco Sandeman’s
Champagne Ayala, Bollinger, Clicquot, Goulet, Heidsieck, Pol Roger, Moet, etc.
Ginger Wine Stone’s
Vermouth Martini
Vermouth Noilly Prat
Vermouth Cinzano
Spirits Brand
“Straw-tinted” gin Booth’s
Gin (Geneva) Holland’s
Gin Plymouth
London Dry Gin Squires
London Dry Gin Cornhill
Fruit cup Pimm’s
Caroni Rum Tate & Lyle
Lemon Hart Rum United Rum Merchants
Lamb’s Navy Rum United Rum Merchants
Daiquiri Rum United Rum Merchants
Ron Bacardi Bacardi
Various brandies Martell, Hennessy, Otard, Courvoisier, Remy Martin, etc.
Bitters and aperitifs Brand
Bitters Angostura
Bitters Underberg
Fernet-Branca Fratelli Branca
Dubonnet Dubonnet
Pernod 45 Pernod
Amer Picon
Now, clearly, you wouldn’t find all of these in every pub but, per the original query, if you included these brands as dressing for a film set in 1965, they’d probably look appropriate.
So, that’s the boring list. What about other, sexier sources? Advertising from the period, for example…
SOURCE: Brewery Manual 1966. SOURCE: Brewery Manual 1966. SOURCE: Brewery Manual 1966. …or beer mats…
Some beer mats from our collection from the 1960s and 70s. … or old photos.
The Crown Hotel, Hadleigh, 1965. SOURCE: Hadleigh and Thundersleigh Community Archive. In the above pic, also from 1965, we can’t make out many brands but we’ve definitely got Watney’s Red Barrel, Double Diamond and something not on Mr Coombs’s list, Tia Maria.
FAQ: Which brands would have been on sale in a 1960s pub? originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog


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