Evidence of historical consumption of alcohol in the United Kingdom stretches back to possibly 12,000 years ago of alcohol fermentation jugs being found. By the 8th century the consumption of alcoholic beverages had become a "staple part of the British diet among manual workers".
18th to 19th century Health and societal perceptions During the eighteenth century, alcohol was regarded as a safe substance; its regular consumption was believed to confer health benefits and was considered vital in the country's social milieu. According to Tim Murphy, although alcohol consumption in the nineteenth century did not increase, its consumption increasingly began to emerge as a societal problem and be perceived as an antecedent to social chaos and moral corruption. The onset of the Industrial Revolution is believed to have played a role in the transmutation of societal perception due to the threat drinking posed on the new economic structure reliant on the masses working in factories. Furthermore, excessive drinking was classified as a disease and became subject to medical research and treatments, whereas previously it had only elicited religious condemnation.
Attempts at prohibition Although the sale or consumption of commercial alcohol has never been prohibited by law in the United Kingdom, historically, various groups in the UK have campaigned for the prohibition of alcohol; including the
Society of Friends (Quakers),
The Methodist Church and other
non-conformists, as well as temperance movements such as
Band of Hope,
temperance Chartist movements of the nineteenth century and the
United Kingdom Alliance who advocated for a legal ban of alcohol. An attempt was also made during the First World War which was due to consumption of alcohol by the army. Legislation passed which had a prohibitionist agenda was the
Sale of Beer Act 1854 which restricted Sunday opening hours however this was repealed following widespread rioting in conjunction, another attempt was made in 1859 with a prototype prohibition bill but this was overwhelmingly defeated in the House of Commons.
20th to 21st century In the 1930s, the book
The Pub and the People was produced by a group of observers who went to observe life in a normal British pub and to come back and report on the culture and activities in working class life. which was around double than in 1954. == Consumption rates ==