The history of pubs

The origin of pubs can be traced back to the Roman colonisation of Britain, when inns and ‘tabernae’ were first established along Roman roads.

Pubs have now become a British institution and every village, no matter how small or fictional, has a ‘local’, to which the huge volume of pubs for sale on BusinessesForSale.com is a testament.

Some of the earliest inns were established by monasteries in centres of pilgrimage, and were purpose-built to accommodate travellers. In Medieval Britain, alehouses, as they were called, would be dwellings where the householder served home-brewed beer and ale, whereas taverns sold wine.

Like the church, pubs were central to the community. As time progressed the responsibility of inn-keeping passed to local lords of the manor, which explains why many pub signs to this day have aristocratic names or heraldic symbols. ‘The Red Lion’ remains the most common name and many of these existing pubs date back to the 16th century.

By the mid-18th century larger alehouses were common and drinking establishments gradually became ‘public houses’, where the term ‘pub’ derives from. The number of public houses soared in the 18th century, mainly due to the introduction of gin. Imported by the Dutch, gin was cheap and became very popular with Britain’s working class.

During the 1700s beer was seen to be harmless and some even considered it healthy; even the evangelical church viewed beer as a regular accompaniment to food

In the 1700s, gin shops sprang up overnight and by 1740 the production of gin had increased to six times that of beer and because of its cheapness it became popular with the poor. This meant, despite attempts to increase the number of public houses by the end of the century over half of the 15,000 drinking establishments in London were gin shops. Meanwhile, taverns were being converted into coffee houses and acted as social centres for the upper class.

The lawlessness created by the Gin Craze stoked fear of the working class and seemed to herald their society’s ruin as well as their own. In 1751, an act was passed that forced distillers to sell only to licensed retailers, which brought gin-shops under the jurisdiction of local magistrates.

At the time beer was seen to be harmless and some even considered it healthy; even the evangelical church viewed beer as a regular accompaniment to food. Given the lack of clean drinking water it was no wonder that beer’s image was so benign. Freely available beer was used to wean drinkers off the ‘evils of gin’.

In 1830, the abolition of beer tax meant any ratepayer could sell beer without a licence, which led to an explosion of public houses. Beer was usually dispensed from tapped wooden barrels and because the local water was often deemed unsafe to drink, young children were often given a low alcohol small beer. As householder’s profits grew rapidly, many would buy their neighbour’s house and use one purely as a bar and lounge for their punters.

By the late 18th century, saloons and lounge bars were set up and became a middle-class hangout, while public bars and tap rooms, serving cheap beer, remained a working class haunt. Saloons would often charge an administration fee and provide entertainment for customers, such as singing, gaming or sport.

Card and billiard rooms where also common and saloon bars would feature dancing, drama or comedy plays. This led to the popular music hall form of entertainment, or a variety show in modern parlance.

Public houses also started to host musicians, stand-up comedians or stripteases. However, jukeboxes and other forms of pre-recorded music replaced traditional piano-playing and live singing in the 1950s.

During the 19th century licensing laws were gradually tightened and the sale of alcohol was restricted only to premises licensed by the local authority, meaning all pub owners had to hold a personal warrant.

There were also restrictions on opening hours and a new 9:30pm curfew was introduced during World War One. It was common for a ‘tapster’ to call ‘last orders’ 15 minutes before closing – a tradition still followed today. Another tradition introduced, that of bar counter-service, also endures today, unlike on the continent where people still enjoy table service.

The ‘snug’, also known as the smoke room, was a small private room popular with the wealthy (and the prices were higher), women, police officers and priests. It was also a place where lovers would rendezvous.

By the 20th century public houses gradually improved their image and became less distinct from saloons, the only difference being the price of beer. During the 1960s the segregation caused by saloons and public houses was seen as archaic, and by the early 70s there was a tendency to have one large drinking room in which all social classes could mingle.

In 2009 it was reported that as many as 52 pubs were going out of business every week, due to the economic downturn, and the government introducing tax increases and red tape burdens. To this day there are roughly 54,000 pubs in the UK and 80% are small businesses run by tenants and owners.

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