It is a pity that we only have this picture of the Travellers Rest.
It stood at the bottom of Beech Road and was open for business from 1832.
Strictly speaking it was a beer shop and not a pub and the distinction is an important one. Beer shops or beer houses sprang up after the 1830 Beer Act which allowed anyone to brew and sell their own beer for the cost of a beer license.
It was a deliberate ploy by the government to undermine cheap gin and the “gin palaces” and it was very successful.
Gin had been a real problem and was commented upon by many social observers of the period. In Manchester while the population had doubled “the consumption of gin and whiskey has quadrupled.......... Drunkenness has infused itself into the bosom of society. Habit has conquered shame, and that which formerly drew a blush from the men, is now regarded as a daily habit by women and children. ” *
Strictly speaking it was a beer shop and not a pub and the distinction is an important one. Beer shops or beer houses sprang up after the 1830 Beer Act which allowed anyone to brew and sell their own beer for the cost of a beer license.
It was a deliberate ploy by the government to undermine cheap gin and the “gin palaces” and it was very successful.
Gin had been a real problem and was commented upon by many social observers of the period. In Manchester while the population had doubled “the consumption of gin and whiskey has quadrupled.......... Drunkenness has infused itself into the bosom of society. Habit has conquered shame, and that which formerly drew a blush from the men, is now regarded as a daily habit by women and children. ” *
The1830 Beer Act which allowed anyone who was a rate payer and could afford the yearly license of two guineas [£2.10p], to brew and sell beer from their own homes. The beer they sold was stronger
The result across the country was an explosion in the number of beer shops. In Manchester just ten years after the Beer Act there were 812 beer shops compared to 502 pubs which rose to 920 in 1843 as against 624 pubs and 31 inns and hotels. Ten years later there were 1572 beer shops compared to 484 pubs.
And so to the Travellers Rest. It is one of the places I have a real affinity for. This is partly because it served the community for over 70 years and also because for much of the 19th century it was run by the Nixon family who also ran the pub over the river.
Samuel and Sarah Nixon were selling beer from the Travellers Rest from the 1840s and were both buried in the parish church yard where their grave stone can still be seen today. Their son ran the post office and his son the newsagents which today are occupied by the Etchells family.
Their beer shop was small, just 11 feet wide and six feet long and the building is still there. Today it is Franny and Filer Gift Shop at no 70 Beech Road. Stand in the front part of the place and you get a very clear sense of just how little space the Nixon’s had in their beer shop.
** http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton
Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker, circa 1900
The result across the country was an explosion in the number of beer shops. In Manchester just ten years after the Beer Act there were 812 beer shops compared to 502 pubs which rose to 920 in 1843 as against 624 pubs and 31 inns and hotels. Ten years later there were 1572 beer shops compared to 484 pubs.
Samuel and Sarah Nixon were selling beer from the Travellers Rest from the 1840s and were both buried in the parish church yard where their grave stone can still be seen today. Their son ran the post office and his son the newsagents which today are occupied by the Etchells family.
Their beer shop was small, just 11 feet wide and six feet long and the building is still there. Today it is Franny and Filer Gift Shop at no 70 Beech Road. Stand in the front part of the place and you get a very clear sense of just how little space the Nixon’s had in their beer shop.
* Faucher, Leon, Manchester 1844, Its Present Conditions and Future Prospects, 1844 l Heywood, 1844, Frank Cass, 1969, pages 48-49
** http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton
Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker, circa 1900
Thanks for this info Andrew. My great great grandfather had a beer selling shop at 231 Mill Street. He lost his licence from memory for allowing gambling in the shop. He'd been selling beer as a sideline to his carpenter business.
ReplyDeleteGosh I lived behind Mill Street!
ReplyDeleteI never tire of reading about Nixon's beer shop!
ReplyDeleteNever tire of reading about Nixon's beer shop.
ReplyDeleteHogarth's famous painting 'Beer Street and Gin Lane' comes to mind.....
ReplyDelete