BRITISH GOVERNMENT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 72, Issue 6198, 25 February 1946, Page 7

BRITISH GOVERNMENT

OWNS 163 HOTELS LARGE PROFITS MADE Of the 163 Government-owned hotels 56 are in the city of Carlisle, the remaining 107 are spread over the northern half of Cumberland, an area of 320 square miles stretching to the borders of Scotland. All are supplied with beer, spirits, wines, and mineral waters from a central brewery, which has an average output of 1000 barrels of Statebrewed beer a week. A bonded spirit store is staffed by experts who blend and bottle the State whisky which, although strictly controlled, appears to be in abundant supply. For teetotallers a mineral wqter factory turns out thousands of bottles of lemonade and other fruit drinks. The licensee for this 29-years-old concern, which made a profit of £244,000 for the State last year, is none other than the Home Secretary. How did this nationalisation of that oldest of English institutions—the inn —come about ? It began in 1916 during the first World War. Carlisle was fast becoming notorious as having the largest ratio of drunks per head of population of any city in England. The city’s 116 public houses produced 1200 cases of drunkenness in one year, of which few were Carliols, as the citizens of Carlisle are called. Thousands of Irish labourers, brought from Ireland to work in the local munition factories, got out of hand, and Carlisle became a dangerous place for a female to walk alone after dark. That dear old lady DORA (Defence of the Realm Act), now long since dead, was invoked, and the State took over all the taverns. Powers were also given to acquire any other licensed premises and breweries within a specified area of Cumberland. That was in 1916. Twenty-nine years of planning and re-building have left their mark. Old inns have been closed and modern ones erected in their place. Where there was a unultiplicity of small taverns in sparsely-populated areas all have been closed and a modern one erected. Reorganisation has now reached a stage where of the 321 licensed houses taken over in the whole area, only 163 regain, and they appear to be ample for the needs of the population. The hotels are of every conceivable design, built to blend with local buildings and countryside. Reputable architects have been employed in their planning; eminent artists, including an R.A., painted the inn signs. A firm of landscape gardeners contracted to keep the garden of each hotel a place of flowering delight during spring and summer. The thing that strikes one most is the complete absence of advertisements on the walls, both inside and out. No poster says that somebody’s beer is best. Instead, the walls are beautifully pannelled in British oak with prints of water colours tastefully hung. Not that you cannot buy the proprietary brands of bottled beer or spirits, for the beers of three popular brands are on sale, bottled by the State brewery. The absence of long bar counters is also notable in all but a few of the older inns. But the aim of the designers has been to convert the public to the idea of taking drinks sitting down. To rrtake the hotels more attractive deep, roomy, leather-covered chairs are provided; there are carpets on the floors of the lounges and tastefulydesigned composition floors for the popular bars. Discreetly hidden behind grilled oak panels is the business side of the bar. Surrounding the lounges and smokerooms are numerous bell pushes to summon the barman to serve your drink at the table. Full-size bowling greens maintained by a staff of green-keepers are attached to many of the inns. For a penny you can hire a set of woods, for another penny a pair of rubbersoled shoes. Wives and friends watch the play while sipping their drinks on the balcony. A bowls league competes annually for a shield. Oak-pannelled billiard rooms are another feature. For eightpence four people can spend half an hour at a well-kept table. Two shillings and threepence will buy two fluid ounces (known as the “ Lloyd George measure ”) of whisky, one-sixth larger than the double of the South of England. Proprietary or State-blended, the price is the same. Crisps or pies, tea or coffee—you won’t shock the barman if you ask for any of these. Nearly all the employees belong to their appropriate trade unions, the hotel managers to the licensed managers’ branch of the Civil Service Union. Administration and control are directed by staff drawn from the Civil Service and the licensed trade. The scheme is by no means the monopoly it may seem. There are two privately-owned and one licensed restaurant competing against tha State in Carlisle. State and private enterprise compete in many other towns and villages elsewhere in Cumberland. Neither is it a dictatorship, for a local advisory committee headed by the Mayor meets frequently to gest ways and means of obtaining better hotels and better beer. The committee has 14 members, two of whom are women, drawn from all walks of public life in North Cumberland.