Such was the growth in pubs/beerhouses that in November 1878 the St Mary's Church of England Temperance Society published a pamphlet entitled ‘The Reason Why’. They wanted drinking establishments to close as the Society believed that Southampton was one of the most intemperate towns in the country. The President of the Society was Basil Wilberforce the Rector of St Mary's in Southampton; a man who abstained from drinking alcohol.
To show how bad the situation was, he published a ‘drink map of Southampton’ showing the number of fully licensed premises, beer houses, breweries and other retail outlets. Each fully licensed premises were shown by a red dot, each beer house by a red star, each brewery by a rectangle, and all other licenses with a triangle.
The Temperance movement was strong in Southampton. The movement's members successfully opposed numerous licences for pubs and beerhouses because there were, in their view, far too many drinking establishments in town.
The Official Return of the Brewers Trade for Southampton reported on 9th June 1875 for the year to 31.12.1874 disclosed that there were licenses granted to 65 Common Brewers (63 in 1873), 1,119 Victuallers, 657 Indoor, and 44 outdoor beer house keepers. Of those, 52 Victuallers and 43 Beerhouse keepers brewed their own beer.
The official return for 1877 showed 61 brewers, 1121 victuallers, 643 indoor beerhouse keepers, and 61 outdoor. Of those, 44 victuallers, 32 indoor and 7 outdoor beerhouse keepers brewed their own beer.
According to Tony Gallagher in his book 'Southampton's Inns and Taverns' there were 522 licensed premises in the town in 1878, which had a population of less than 80,000, meaning that there was one pub for every 153 residents.
However, this strategy backfired as the map effectively became the very first 'Good Pub Guide' as sailors bought a copy for 2 old pence to seek out as many local hostelries as they could. The pubs were not named but in his book Tony Gallaher states he has been able to “positively identify over 200“ of them.
I have made an attempt at identifying the breweries (marked with a rectangle on the 1878 map) and this is shown below, with the missing top section to follow when I get round to it.
Newspapers of 30th August 1884 report that Andrew Barlow (of the Victoria brewery) had arranged for the establishment of 'Brewers Unions' in 1883. There were 19 such Unions the previous year, and 32 in 1884. They were set up to "oppose the teetotallers”. This was because of allegations that the police in Poole enticed beer sellers and others to break the law then lay complaints against them.
In August 1892, at the annual licensing sessions, there was discussion of the Resolution passed the previous year, on behalf of the Temperance movement, following a letter from Basil Wilberforce. This Resolution was to the effect that the number of licensed houses in Southampton was greatly in excess of the numbers actually needed to supply the wants of the respective neighbourhoods. Andrew Barlow wrote on behalf of local brewers, saying that the inhabitants had significantly increased for the last few years, so relatively the number of houses has decreased.
The Mayor was however concerned that there was 'not a single licence less this year which means the Resolution has been ignored by the brewers.' The Resolution had been passed by 22 magistrates, and he did not think the brewers had treated the Bench with the respect they deserved. Mr Perkins (in what capacity, I do not know) thought this was hard on the brewers who were not responsible for all the houses in the town. There were 10 or 12 breweries out of the town, and he did not see why Southampton brewers should suffer because of others. It was decided that each house would be ‘called over’ (considered individually?)
The uncertainty caused by the Resolution led to newspapers of September 1892 reporting that it had been stated publically in an auction sale the previous day that investors were ‘very chary’ in putting their money in public houses breweries and the like because of the great uncertainty existing as to the action of the licensing justices. Granting a licence added greatly to the market value, and a brewery with 38 tied houses attached was offered for sale, but buyers held off.
There are a few examples of 'inconsistencies' in the position of tee totallers within the pages of this site, but none compare to a curious incident reported on 27th January 1894. Mr Jabas Spencer Balfour had been arrested in Buenos Aires, having just purchased a brewery. ”At home he is the pillar of the Temperance party. Abroad he is a brewer. The Licensed Victuallers will regard with grim satisfaction the spectacle of this Local Optionist (home rule supporter) going in to the liquor trade with the money which he has largely wheedled out of disciples of Dr Dawson Burns”. This information came out during bankruptcy proceedings, and revealed he had a large wine cellar stocked with costly brands of champagne and port. He was previously mayor of Croydon. (another report refers to buying a share in the business of a brewery).
