1577 Pub Licencees

In 1577 the harbour at the important port of Dover was in urgent need of repair – the problem was how to pay for it. The decision was made to raise a tax on the licensees of premises selling alchohol.

Such premises were, at that time, classifed into one of three catogories:

• Inns premises identified as catering for travellers serving food and offering accomodation as well as alcoholic dringks (beer, cider, spirits). Trevellers able to afford to pay for accomodation tended to be middle or upper class, so inns tended to be the better class of establishment. One perks of catering for travellers was Sunday service – establishments were barred from serving locals on the Sabbath, but travellers could be served.
• Taverns these were the only premises permitted to serve wine. In 1553 the Wine Act defined which towns, outside of London, were permitted to have two taverns (London was to be allowed forty). Newbury was not to have two so would be restricted to one. The measure was soon ignored; by 1577 Newbury had three taverns with another in Speenhamland. Some taverns were known for good food, and many were seen as gambling houses where the well to do would play cards and other games of chance.
• Common Alehouses or Tippling Houses were the common man’s drinking establishment. They were what the trade now refers to as ‘wet led’ in that beer or gin would be their mainstay, but many served food and/or had overnight accomodation. When licensing was fully established under the control of local magistrates the basic license to sell beer and spirits was known as the Common Alehouse Licence and every establishment serviing alcohol had to have one.

The list from 1577 entitled The Certificate of Inns, Taverns and Alehouses lists all licensees for any of the three types of establishment. These lists survive for a number of Counties. The list for Berkshire is given below in a searchable and sortable table. Sadly it does not mention the names or signs of any of them. 

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