Licensing and records

The Wine and Beerhouse Act 1869 reintroduced the stricter controls of the previous century. The sale of beers, wines or spirits required a license for the premises from the local magistrates . Further provisions regulated gaming, drunkenness, prostitution and undesirable conduct on licensed premises, enforceable by prosecution or more effectively by the landlord under threat of forfeiting his license. Licences were only granted, transferred or renewed at special Licensing Sessions courts, and were limited to respectable individuals (initially often ex-servicemen or ex-police). Licence conditions varied widely, according to local practice. They would specify permitted hours, which might require Sunday closing, or conversely permit all-night opening near a market. Typically they might require opening throughout the permitted hours, and the provision of food or lavatories. Once obtained, licences were jealously protected by the licensees (always individuals expected to be generally present, not a remote owner or company), and even "Occasional Licences " to serve drinks at temporary premises such as fêtes would usually be granted only to existing licensees. Objections might be made by the police, rival landlords or anyone else on the grounds of infractions such as serving drunks, disorderly or dirty premises, or ignoring permitted hours. However licensing was gradually liberalised after the 1960s , until contested licensing applications became very rare, and the remaining administrative function was transferred to Local Authorities in 2005.

Detailed records were kept on licensing, giving the Public House, its address, owner, licensee and misdemeanours of the licensees for periods often going back for hundreds of years. Many of these records survive and can be viewed, for example, at the London Metropolitan Archives centre.

By the end of the 18th century a new room in the pub was established: the saloon. Beer establishments had always provided entertainment of some sort - singing, gaming or a sport. Balls Pond Road in Islington was named after an establishment run by a Mr. Ball that had a pond at the rear filled with ducks , where drinkers could, for a certain fee, go out and take a potshot at shooting the fowl . More common, however, was a card room or a billiards room. The saloon was a room where for an admission fee or a higher price of drinks, singing, dancing, drama or comedy was performed and drinks would be served at your table. From this came the popular music hall form of entertainment-a show consisting of a variety of acts. A most famous London saloon was the Grecian Saloon in The Eagle , City Road , which is still famous these days because of an English nursery rhyme : "Up and down the City Road / In and out The Eagle / That's the way the money goes / Pop goes the weasel .". The implication being that, having frequented the Eagle public house, the customer spent all his money, and thus needed to 'pawn' his 'weasel' to get some more. The exact definition of the 'weasel' is unclear but the two most likely definitions are: that a weasel is a flat iron used for finishing clothing; or that 'weasel' is cockney rhyming slang for a coat ( weasel and stoat ).

A few pubs have stage performances, such as serious drama, stand-up comedians, a musical band or striptease ; however juke boxes and other forms pre-recorded music have otherwise replaced the musical tradition of a piano and singing.

By the 20th century , the saloon, or lounge bar, had settled into a middle-class room - carpets on the floor, cushions on the seats, and a penny or two on the prices, while the public bar, or tap room, remained working class with bare boards, sometimes with sawdust to absorb the spitting and spillages, hard bench seats, and cheap beer.

Later, the public bars gradually improved until sometimes almost the only difference was in the prices, so that customers could choose between economy and exclusivity (or youth and age, or a jukebox or dartboard ). During the blurring of the class divisions in the 1960s and 1970s , the distinction between the saloon and the public bar was often seen as archaic , and was frequently abolished, usually by the removal of the dividing wall or partition itself. While the names of saloon and public bar may still be seen on the doors of pubs, the prices (and often the standard of furnishings and decoration) are the same throughout the premises, and many pubs now comprises one large room. However, the issues of eating encourage some pubs to maintain distinct rooms or areas, especially where the building requires it, and in a few pubs there still remain rooms or seats that, by local custom, "belong" to particular customers.

In July 2007, a law was introduced to forbid smoking in all enclosed public places in England and Wales . The most striking result of this legislation has been the end of the smokey atmosphere that has characterised the public house