The state-run pub revolution
Social experiment changed the British boozer for good
IT was a nationalised industry that made a profit and it changed the way the country went for a drink.
A century ago this month the government took over all the pubs in Carlisle.
And to mark the anniversary of this unique social experiment a series of events have been taking place in the Cumbrian city including, fittingly, a beer festival.
The State Management Scheme – which continued to control the city’s pubs until 1973 – was the result of fears over the excessive drinking of thousands of migrant munitions workers and the impact that might have on Britain’s Great War effort.
Thirsty workers with money in their pockets flooded across the border from Gretna where a vast new factory had been built, fuelling an explosive rise in drunken and disorderly behaviour in the city.
There were also fears about workers dealing with highly volatile explosives while nursing hangovers created in Carlisle’s “dens of iniquity”.
A worried Lloyd George had declared: “Drink is doing more damage in the war than all the German submarines put together.”
So in July 1916, in an attempt to curb the drunken behaviour and to keep the workers sober, Carlisle’s pubs and breweries were taken over by the state.
Civil ser vants were put in charge.
Some of the large number of pubs in the area were closed down and those that remained were strictly regulated under State Management.
Weaker beer was brewed and the tough rules included a “no treating” policy which meant you weren’t allowed to buy a round of drinks for your friends.
The nationalised scheme produced profits for the government every year and its much-admired Carlisle- brewed beers were even enjoyed by MPs in the bars of the House of Commons.
It also changed the character of the British pub – turning it into a social meeting place and a hub of community life.
Acclaimed architect Harr y Redfern was drafted in to design new pubs, to make them more attractive and friendly and to discourage binge drinking.
Food and games like darts, dominoes and bowls were introduced to give punters something else to do other than drink.
Pub- owning private breweries across the country then followed the Carlisle lead.
As part of the centenary celebrations, a special beer trail has been created in Carlisle and an exhibition has opened its doors at the city’s Tullie House Museum. It features many of the original glasses, bottles and beer crates issued by State Management and shares memories of those who ran the pubs and drank in them.
Explaining the thinking behind the government scheme, which lasted for almost 60 years, curator Anne-Marie Knowles said: “It was a social project.
“They were trying to change people’s behaviour and get them to go out on an evening and have a nice time socialising instead of
binge drinking. A lot of people in Carlisle won’t realise just how important a part the city played in developing the drinking culture in the pubs we have here today.”
Viv Dodd, secretary of Carlisle City Centre Business Group, helped to create the exhibition.
He said: “It really did have a major impact on social life around the country.”
Those who remember State Management speak with sorrow about then- Prime Minister Ted Heath’s decision to close it and privatise the pubs and still mourn the beer it brewed – and its price.
Peter Pearson, 81, came to live in Carlisle in the 1950s from Lincolnshire after time in the Army. The retired lorry driver said: “State Management beer was simply marvellous, it was brewed to perfection and a pint of bitter cost you a few pence. I can’t remember ever having a bad pint.”
The exhibition is being showcased at Tullie House Museum until September 4.