The Hotel Keeper's Woes

Observer, Volume XV, Issue 895, 22 February 1896, Page 2

The Hotel Keeper's Woes

The heart of the hotel- keeper is heavy within him. His woes are manifold, and verily he is becoming a creature of light pocket and much misery The hand of the Prohibitionist rests heavily upon him ; the law is a scourge and a terror to himself and his household ; and now his landlord, the brewer, has fallen upon him also like a thousand of bricks. For it has been decreed by the brewer that any publican selling liquor on Sundays shall be mulcted by his fellows in a penalty of £100, and the hotelkeepers have met together in obedient conclave and tied themselves down to the due observance of this strict interpretation of the law.

This recent compact is responsible for the difficulty that thirsty souls have experienced of late in getting their Sunday parched throats moistened. For to the credit of the trade be it said that, with one or two notable exceptions, they have conscientiously observed the compact. Customers one and all have been treated alike. 'No beer to-day ' has been the motto at every hotel — with one or two notable exceptions. And it is these notable exceptions that have precipitated a present trouble. It is hard for a hotel-keeper to refuse an old customer when he knows full well that the man he turns away will be served at the next bouse, and will take his custom there for the future. Of course, there is the £100 penalty, but the difficulty is to prove the charge to the satisfaction of the man who has to pay the £100. He will never be convinced of the justice of the fine, and until he is convinced, he will stand upon his dignity and refuse to pay the money.

Truly, the woes of the hotel-keeper are many. But now a new light has broken in upon him. It suits the policy of the brewer to have the hotels closed on Sundays, because then the license which really belongs to the brewer is not endangered, and that objectionable individual the Prohibitionist is no longer stirred up to engage in his bloodthirsty war of extermination. And the advantages of this law-abiding policy being with the brewer, why shouldn't the brewer in some way make good the loss of revenue as against the publican ? This is what the hotelkeepers are arguing with themselves just now ? They are, like the obstreperous Irishman, demanding a Fair Rent Bill, and there doesn't seem to be a prospect of happiness in the trade

until they get it. Possibly, if the truth ware known, it is this very difficulty of paying their rent and making both ends meet that drives the hotel-keeper to the risky extremity of doing trade on Sundays, notwithstanding the, danger he runs of incurring penalties and even of losing his license.

Take it whichever way yon like, the hotel-keeper's life jnst now is not a very happy one. Big profits are no longer made in the trade, and the experience of most men who have tried the business of late years is that whoever reaps the harvest, very little of it comes to them. And on top of all this they are harassed with persistent Prohibition agitations, and all kinds of vexatious repressive legislation. Several stormy meetings of the trade have already been held, and another takes place to-day, but the present feeling of the publicans is that if they must continue to refuse money on Sundays their rent must come down. Lesß trade means reduced, revenue, and when the income falls the rent becomes a big consideration.