Public House and Beverage Management

Michael Flynn, Caroline Ritchie, Andrew Roberts

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780750646789
• eBook ISBN: 9781136370847
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

'Public House & Beverage Management' provides students with a practical guide to the management aspects of the licensed trade industry. 'Public House & Beverage Management' introduces students to: * Key players
* Variations in service offer
* Types of management arrangement (managed, leased, tenanted, franchise, freehouse)
* Customers and segments
* Labour markets and employees
* Key elements in the business units
* Retailing skills.The combined experiences of the authors are reflected in the text, as between them they have a vast range of experience as: publican, hotelier, chef and sommelier. Enhanced by this is their teaching and research covering food service, cellar management, marketing and wines and spirit education.

A history of the
licensed trade
industry

In the beginning

For ten thousand years, ever since human beings settled down to the cultivation of cereals and vines, alcohol has played a fundamental role in society. It has served as an object of religious ritual, a focus of secular ceremonies and a lubricant of social intercourse; it has been employed as an aid to the digestion of food, a means of slaking thirst without risk of contracting disease and a source of nutrition in its own right; it has been used in the treatment of wounds and disease and as both a stimulant and a sedative – as well as being valued for its taste. (Barr, 1995: 1)

There are many biblical references to social drinking as well as it being a fundamental element in many Christian sacraments, with a preference for stimulating drinks rather than water. But the very earliest brewers were elsewhere, in Egypt.

The ancient brewers

The earliest records of the brewing of ale can been seen on the frescos in the Egyptian temples.

In Egypt, five thousand years ago, the ancient City of Pelusium was as noted for its Breweries as for its University. A thousand years later the Egyptian reformer was demanding the reduction of the number of Alehouses then existing in the land. The outcry could have had little practical effect, as yet another thousand years later the students of the University of Pelusium were found neglecting their studies for the seduction of the beer houses. (Hackwood, 1994: 30)

Primitive man, being nomadic, would have doubtless contented himself with the fermentation of drinks made from wild honey or wild fruits. When primitive man settled, the art of brewing using corn was developed. The UK, like the Nile valley, is ill suited to the cultivation of the vine and, therefore, the national beverage of both countries became beer. It has been suggested that inns made their appearance in the UK from the earliest dawn of civilization. ‘Herodotus ascribes the first discovery of the art of brewing “Barley Wine” to Isis, the wife of Osiris; and a beverage of this nature, perhaps made from wheat, barley and honey, is mentioned by Xenophon, 401 BC’ (Hackwood, 1994: 30).

Some non-alcoholics

Barr writes:

Followers of the prophet Mohammed are forbidden to drink alcohol. According to legend, the prohibition was imposed following an incident that occurred while the prophet's disciples were drinking together after a dinner in Medina. One of his Meccan followers began to recite an uncomplimentary poem about the tribe of Medina, whereupon one of his Medinite followers picked up a bone from the table and hit the Meccan on the head. Although the wound was not serious, the incident caused Mohammed such concern that he asked Allah how he could prevent it from happening again. Allah replied, ‘Believers, wine and games of chance, idols of divining arrows, are abominations devised by Satan. Avoid them so that you may prosper. Satan seeks to stir up enmity and hatred among you by means of wine and gambling, and to keep you from remembrance of Allah and from your prayers’. (Barr, 1995: 1)

Several hundred years later, an alternative to alcohol was found in the form of coffee, and coffee houses were used as an alternative to taverns. They were not popular with religious zealots who felt that the Koran did not explicitly permit the innovation. In the Ottoman Empire the coffee shops were closed down after it was found that Sultan Osman II was murdered by mutinous members of the imperial guard who were inclined to frequent and scheme in coffee shops. The coffee houses were reestablished until Mehmed Koprulu closed them in 1665 when many critics of the war with Venice were meeting in coffee houses. Koprulu imposed extremely stringent punishments upon those who disobeyed his order: for a first violation, the offender was to be cudgelled; for a second, he was to be sewn into a leather bag and thrown into the Bosporos; there would consequently be no likelihood of a third violation (Barr, 1995: 4)

Westernized drinking habits

The Romans

As the Egyptian empire declined, the Greeks and the Romans became more powerful, the wine of the grape became the beverage of civilization and, as the Romans constructed roads throughout their empire, there was a need to build what were called mutationes - places where post-horses could be taken to be watered, fed or exchanged. Also at points along the roads, wherever the volume of traffic warranted it, were hostelries for man and horse known as Tabernae diversoriae which were the prototype for the road-side taverns or old English wayside hostelry. Alcohol would have been available but was not an important part of their role. Roman inns were places for social gathering where chess was regularly played and the doors were often painted in chequered patterns. Chequers is still an inn sign used today.

The Anglo-Saxons

As the Roman empire declined, the influence of the Northern European invaders led to a major shift to malt liquor. Ale was considered the beverage of the gods, and drunkenness was regarded as rather honourable - the man who could withstand the strongest drink was fervently admired and well respected. The Danes were thought to have been responsible for large-scale excessive drinking and the word ‘ale’ came into the English language from the Danish ‘ol’. The English started to drink ale as a daily beverage at this time.

The Anglo-Saxons had three types of establishments open to the public:

• the alehouse (eala-hus)

• the wine-house (win-hus)

• the inn (cumen-hus).

Accommodation was very hard to find on a long journey and travellers would often depend on the goodwill of local residents. Religious houses were used to entertain travellers who would be allowed to stay up to three days upon request.

As long ago as AD 616 the laws of Ethelbert were the predecessors of our modern licensing laws. Since then there have always been restrictions on the sale and the consumption of strong drink. Ina, King of Wessex set up laws to regulate the numerous alehouses in AD 728.

Early brewing

Little is known about the Celts and brewing, although there are records of drunkenness. St Gildas wrote a poem about the ‘Battle of Cattraeth’ in Lothian, in which he accuses the British chieftains of going into battle drunk.

The Olde English monasteries were the centres of excellence for the art of brewing. Sir Walter Scott in his novel Ivanhoe mentions the reputation of the Burton upon Trent monastery for quality ale. There are records of this conventional beer in 1295 when it was sometimes known as ‘Cicero’, and Mary Queen of Scots was known to have been supplied with beer when imprisoned in Tutbury Castle in 1584. It should be noted that medieval England did not know about tea, coffee or spirits such as brandy, gin and rum. Wine was considered a wealthy man's beverage.

Hackworth writes:

It appears that the great carrying business, so widely known as Pickfords, was established in 1640, when road traffic had to be performed mainly by the use of pack-horses, and has only grown to its present enormous dimensions by the overcoming of trade rivalry from time to time. In 1723 there was a small carrier near Burton. His name was Bass. Upon his round he sold a homebrewed beer prepared in his spare time. The demand for the beverage grew to such an extent that he sold his carrying business to Pickfords and devoted himself exclusively to brewing. Such was the commencement of the great Burton house of Bass. (Hackwood, 1994: 42)

Ale and beer at this time were differentiated by their quality. Beer would be sold at twice the price of ale as it was the brew from the first mashing of the malt and considered superior. It is probable that there is an association between the word ‘beer’ and barley. The term ‘beer’ was infrequently heard until it was used to distinguish ale from hopped ale. Nowadays ale is considered superior to beer, with beer embracing all malt liquors, whereas ale does not apply to stout or porter. The marking of barrels with ‘X’, ‘XX’ or ‘XXX’ was first used as a trademark guarantee signifying the monks had sworn on the cross that the beer was of sound quality. The three categories were Pale, Mild or Strong ales.

Medieval times

Accommodation was in limited supply and travel was increasing. The monasteries expanded their role in accommodating travellers and wayfarers. Many of these guesthouses were attached to a chapel and the guests would use it to seek the protection of the saints for the remainder of their journey. They would make offerings to the religious foundations that produced a lucrative income. Without the blessing of any truly authentic records it is difficult to be completely accurate about just how these establishments were run, but the monastic lodging houses, such as the ‘Pilgrims’ inn at Glastonbury, the ‘Bell’ at Tewkesbury and the ‘New Inn’ at Gloucester, were the forerunners of the inn.

The ‘New Inn’ still stands to this day in Gloucester, much to the delight of many modern-day tourists, and was described as follows in the Gloucester Chronicle:

The assassination of Edward II, at Berkeley Castle, his burial at Gloucester, and the excitement consequent thereon in religious bodies, combined to attract large numbers of pilgrims to the shrine in the Cathedral. To accommodate these, large hostelries were built on the site of the ‘Old’ Inn. Rudge says that in the time of Abbot Seabrook, who presided over the monastery from 1400 to 1457, the New Inn, in Northgate Street, was built by John Twyning, a monk, who caused an underground passage to be made from it to the Abbey. The New Inn was spacious, and was constructed of ponderous materials. The buildings surrounded two square courts, and, so far as can be seen, were provided with stairs leading to two tier galleries. These led to numerous large and small rooms. It was commonly said to be built of chestnut-large beams, the spaces filled with brick nogging and plaster. (Cited in Hackwood, 1994: 228)

The term ‘inn’ is of Saxon origin signifying a chamber and was later used as a general term for a mansion. The Concise English Dictionary (1992) definition of ‘inn’ is ‘n. A public house of lodging and entertainment for travellers; *Lodging, abode; *a place of residence or hostel for students. *v.i. To stay at the inn. *v.t. To lodge and entertain’.

The inn of these times was primarily a lodging house with little importance placed on the sale of alcohol. There are many examples of inns, which were previously the mansions of the nobility. Lincoln's Inn was originally the residence of the Earl of Lincoln and Gray's Inn the town house of the Lords Gray. The term ‘inn’ was originally used for the guesthouses, which housed the scholars seeking lodgings in Oxford and Cambridge before they became the halls of residence. Similarly the Inns of Court were lodgings for law students.

It is useful to look at the Concise English Dictionary (1992) definition of ‘Hotel’ and ‘hostel’ to clarify their role: ‘Hostel n. An Inn; a house or extra-collegiate hall for the residence of students, etc.; a place of residence not run commercially’ and ‘Hotel A superior Inn for the entertainment of strangers and travellers; in France, a town residence or mansion’.

The mansions, which were transformed into inns, would hang their heraldic signs at the front of the buildings, a custom, which is still used to this day outside many public houses.

The customers of the inns would generally be the middle classes, the merchants, packmen and landowners. The rich would prefer the hospitality of the monasteries, as they were the founders and patrons of such establishments, and the monks, out of charity, would accommodate the very poor who could not afford the inns.

The medieval inn would have been very basic with all the beds in one large room, and the victuals would have been meat, bread and a little beer. In order to stop the innkeepers from exploiting the guests, Parliament prepared a statute to compel innkeepers to sell food at a reasonable tariff.

Travellers would also have had the opportunity of stopping at alehouses, which were lesser establishments, found more frequently, mainly at road crossings. They were instantly recognized by the ‘ale stake’, which was a long pole with a thick brush at the top. Their reputation was notoriously bad, with many travellers not wishing to be seen entering them.

Restrictive legislation was necessary in the Edwardian period to control the alehouses and wine taverns, which were being used merely as drinking shops. The innkeeper needed to be seen as having primarily a lodging house, and for this not to degenerate to a drinking shop. There was a clear distinction between these two categories of public house: alehouses had to be licensed. ‘If any ale-house keeper or innkeeper refused to lodge a traveller, a justice of the peace might compel him to it; or the constable might present it as an offence at the next sessions; or the party refused might have an action on the case’ (Hackwood, 1994: 67).

As the alehouses increased in numbers, so their reputation continued to suffer. Stow, who wrote about London between 1560 and 1590, depicted a house of ill repute as follows:

One Wotton, a gentleman born, and sometimes a Merchant of good credit, but failing by time into decay . . . kept an ale house at Smart's – very near Billingsgate. . . . And in the same house he procured all the cutpurses about the city to repair to his house. There was a school-house set up, to learn young boys to cut purses: two devices were hung up, the one was a pocket, the other was a purse. The pocket had in it certain counters, and it was hung about the Hawks bells, and over the top did hang a little sacring bell. The purse had silver in it. And he that could take out a counter without any noise was allowed to be a public foyster. And he that could take out a piece of silver out of the purse without noise of any of the bells was adjudged a judicial Nypper, according to thei...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures and tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgement
• 1 A history of the licensed trade industry
• 2 The modern industry
• 3 The licensed enterprise and the law
• 4 The marketing function
• 5 Management of the products and services
• 6 Managing the human resources
• 7 Controlling your profits
• 8 Ethics and dilemmas: the challenges of the licensed trade industry
• 9 Careers and contacts
• Index