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Alehouse Act 1828
- Laid down a uniform code of procedure for the holding of annual licensing meetings and transfer sessions.
- Premises licensed under the act were able to sell not only ‘Ale’ but all intoxicating liquor.
- The expression ‘alehouse’, although obsolete, means a house with full on-license as opposed to a simple ‘beerhouse’
Beerhouse Act 1830
Enacted to reduce the excessive consumption of spirits, mainly home-produced gin, by increasing the number of outlets for the drinking of beer.
- Excise licenses could be taken out without the necessity of obtaining a justices’ license.
This resulted in a growth in the number of beerhouses.
Refreshment Houses Act 1860
Put the sale of wine on more or less the same footing as beer by enabling the keeper of a refreshment house to take out an excise license for the sale of wine without a justices’ licence.
Wine and Beerhouse Act 1869
Reversed the policy of the acts of 1830 and 1860. No new licences could be obtained without application to the licensing justices.
Existing beer and wine licences taken out under the 1830 and 1860 acts were protected by a provision that their renewal could not be refused except on one or more specific grounds.
- Failure by the applicant to produce satisfactory evidence of good character
- The premises, or adjacent premises owned or occupied by the applicant, are of disorderly character, or frequented by thieves, prostitutes or persons of bad character
- A licence previously held by the applicant has been forfeited for his misconduct, or that he has been disqualified by misconduct for receiving such a licence
The grounds for refusal all related to the applicant or conduct of the premises and not the suitability of the premises. The proliferation of beerhouses following the 1830 act was stemmed but there remained a large number of premises which had never been scrutinised by the justices to determine their suitability.
Licensing Act 1872
Established a procedure under which the grant of a new licence did not become valid until it had been confirmed by a second hearing before the confirming authority.
Replaced by a right of appeal to quarter sessions in the Licensing Act 1961.
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