{"id":1293,"date":"2020-05-03T18:05:07","date_gmt":"2020-05-03T18:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=1293"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:26:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:26:40","slug":"beer-prices-in-1959","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/03\/beer-prices-in-1959\/","title":{"rendered":"Beer prices in 1959"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Beer prices in 1959 may seem a random date, but it\u2019s one I happen to have a record for.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Because a battered notebook, handed down to me, records the income and outgoings of a family pub\/farm.<\/p>\n<p>It gives an idea of beer prices in 1959 to 1961 inclusive \u2013 and also what the \u2018locals\u2019 enjoyed drinking when they called in for a pint and packet of crisps.<\/p>\n<p>And there are a few comparative prices of interest, too. Because while &#8216;beer prices in 1959&#8217; is likely to be more popular search on Google than &#8216;sheep prices in 1959,&#8217; this blog is primarily focused on &#8216;stuff that I think is interesting&#8217;, not internet rankings.<\/p>\n<h2>Glass of white wine for the lady?<\/h2>\n<p>Not in 1959, that\u2019s for sure. From the regular purchases in the book (and assuming it wasn\u2019t the tipple of choice for farmers and labourers), it seems women opted for Babycham.<\/p>\n<p>And if you have no idea what that is, there\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/magazine-25302633\">BBC story here<\/a>, from its 60th \u2018birthday\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>I suspect the sherry and gin were for \u2018the ladies\u2019 as well.<\/p>\n<p>It looks like two breweries supplied the alcohol: Penrith brewery Glassons, and another called Duttons.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s one month\u2019s purchases from Glassons for our pub, in a Cumbrian village.<\/p>\n<h2>Beer prices in 1959: June<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>3 barrels ale \u00a33 12 shillings<\/li>\n<li>4 barrels bitter \u00a33 10s<\/li>\n<li>10 dozen light ale \u00a32<\/li>\n<li>10 dozen Guinness \u00a32<\/li>\n<li>4 dozen Worthington \u00a316<\/li>\n<li>12 dozen Mackesons \u00a32 8s<\/li>\n<li>12 dozen brown ale \u00a32 8s<\/li>\n<li>10 dozen Bass \u00a32<\/li>\n<li>6 dozen lager \u00a31 4s<\/li>\n<li>4 dozen Babychams 16 shillings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Other months include:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>6 bottles whisky \u00a32<\/li>\n<li>4 bottles gin \u00a31 10s<\/li>\n<li>6 bottles sherry \u00a31 4s<\/li>\n<li>4 Whitbreads 16 shillings<\/li>\n<li>4 bottles rum \u00a31<\/li>\n<li>1 dozen cider 6 shillings<\/li>\n<li>10 dozen Skol \u00a31 10 shillings<\/li>\n<li>2 brandy 10 shillings<\/li>\n<li>2 port \u00a32.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Along with: \u2018nut brown\u2019; crown ale; DPA; OBJ; forest brown; Fowlers: blue label; green label; and; \u2018special\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The 1960 lists include cherry brandy and \u2018pink lady\u2019. Which these days is a variety of apple. I have no idea what it was then. An internet search pulls up a cocktail recipe \u2013 I don\u2019t think our Cumbrian pub is likely to have sold cocktails sixty years ago, somehow!<\/p>\n<h2>Sundries<\/h2>\n<p>The pub also sold two types of cigarettes: Wills and Players. Along with crisps, and \u2018pop\u2019 (I assume fizzy lemonade).<\/p>\n<h2>Petrol<\/h2>\n<p>\u2018Shell maps\u2019 appear a regular purchase, preumably bought by passing travellers in need of directions. And the petrol pump outside would have been greatly in demand.<\/p>\n<p>In 1961, they bought in 400 gallons of petrol a month to sell. A monthly outlay of \u00a384 3 shillings and 4 pence, for a monthly profit of \u00a38 6 shillings when it was sold.<\/p>\n<h2>Farm prices<\/h2>\n<p>The pub was one side of the family business. The book also records farm expenses. Which may be of less interest to most readers than the beer!<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Sheep<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>1959 September.<\/p>\n<p>Bought: 9 ewes, 1 tup \u00a371 17 shillings 6 pence<\/p>\n<p>(Black lambs, number unspecified, \u00a3440).<\/p>\n<p>Over the year, they sold 144 lambs, for a clear profit of \u00a3128 7 shillings and 3d.<\/p>\n<p>And they sold \u00a334 14 shillings and 8 pence worth of wool.<\/p>\n<h4>Cattle<\/h4>\n<p>Cows sold by the farm across 1959 brought in between \u00a341 and \u00a394 per animal. a heifer sold for \u00a349 10 shillings, and bullocks sold for between \u00a343 and \u00a350 10 shillings.<\/p>\n<h4>Farm expenses<\/h4>\n<p>The vet\u2019s bill in July 1959 was \u00a313. Which makes a recent one I paid seem not so bad, if you work out that \u00a313 could have bought 39 bottles of whisky at the time!<\/p>\n<p>The family paid contractors \u00a35 15 shillings for threshing, and \u00a316 15 shillings for \u2018ploughing etc\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Cattle feed cost \u00a337 5 shillings (quantity unknown).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Footnote<\/h3>\n<p>In 1961, it was deemed time to retire. The livestock and farm equipement were sold, along with spare furniture. The \u2018handover\u2019 of the pub also brought in a few hundred pounds.<\/p>\n<p>Selling the horse (for \u00a340) was likely a sad goodbye.<\/p>\n<p>The home they retired to was a 1930s semi in Carlisle. On a street where something similar today would cost you \u00a3158,000.<\/p>\n<p>In 1961, it cost \u00a32,600.<\/p>\n<p>A new hoover (vacuum cleaner) cost \u00a329. That\u2019s the equivalent then of 87 bottles of whisky!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Picture: no longer a pub, but part of the premises is still commercial.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beer prices in 1959 may seem a random date, but it\u2019s one I happen to have a record for.\u00a0 Because a battered notebook, handed down to me, records the income and outgoings of a family pub\/farm. It gives an idea of beer prices in 1959 to 1961 inclusive \u2013 and also what the \u2018locals\u2019 enjoyed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[255,35,3],"tags":[287,285,286,284,283],"class_list":["post-1293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-20th-century-life","category-cumbria-history","category-social-history","tag-babycham","tag-fat-stock-prices","tag-glassons-brewery","tag-petrol","tag-whisky"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Beer prices in 1959 - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Beer prices in 1959 at a Cumbrian pub show what people were drinking as well as the cost. 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