Pubs that defeat their own purpose are explored by our abstinence hostelry correspondent Angus Young.
Back in late Victorian era Hull there were no shortage of places to go for a booze-free night out. The Hull Peoples’ Public House Company operated no fewer than 20 hotels and two cafes where no alcohol was served. Ironically, one of the cafes – the De La Pole in Silver Street – is now occupied by a supermarket with an off-licence for selling booze.
The company was formed at the height of the Temperance movement and advertised its venues as alternatives to traditional pubs and the liquid dangers that lurked within them. Instead, the company promised “Viands of the Best Quality at Moderate Prices”. Printed adverts for the company show it sold tea, coffee and cocoa for one penny a cup as well as ‘aerated waters’ for one penny a bottle. As well as its venues, it also made its own brand of aerated water in two factories in Leicester Street and Marlborough Terrace which also produced crockery for the business. Some of the company’s premises offered overnight accommodation costing between sixpence and one shilling.
The production of fizzy or carbonated water was big business in Hull at the time. Companies such as Hindle’s in Chapel Lane and Hawkshaw’s in Spencer Street, made and distributed a variety of drinks, including lemonade, soda, ginger beer and orangeade as well as aerated water. Another firm, Julius Peters, made ‘Kola Champagne’ from its premises in High Street while Murden’s has outlasted them all and still trades today as a family-owned wholesale soft drinks and confectionery business based in Spyvee Street.
The abstinence movement was heavily influenced by the Methodist Church and first gained traction in Hull in the late 1830s with the formation of the Hull Temperance Society. The first edition the society’s newspaper, The Hull Temperance Pioneer, carried the following declaration on its front page: “I do hereby declare that I shall abstain from all intoxicating drinks; such as Rum, Brandy, Gin, Whiskey, Ale, Porter, Wine, Cider and Spirit Cordials, except for Medical and Sacramental purposes, and discountenance the causes and practices of drinking them.”
In a letter published in the same edition, a correspondent noted: “On reading a history of the French retreat from Moscow, I find that during the inclemencies of the Russian winter, and the horrors of the climate, all those who took brandy perished almost without exception, whilst all those who refused it and drank coffee alone survived, were never frost-bitten and reached Paris in safety.”
As well as the Public House company, two other organisations were also prominent in Hull’s attempts to bin the booze. Formed in 1874, the Band of Hope was spearheaded by the Methodist Church and aimed to educate children about the evils of alcohol. Members could join from the age of six and at its peak there were an estimated 10,000 members who took part in regular musical concerts and marches.
The Good Templars were formed in the same year, taking their name from the medieval religious order of knights who guarded holy sites in Jerusalem, The Hull version sought to lead their own crusade against the corruption of alcohol.
One of the group’s founders was Guy Hayler, who ran his own temperance hotel in Albion Street. A lifelong temperance campaigner, Hayler seems to have been a charismatic figure. On one Sunday he was said to have delivered a record-breaking 127 separate sermons and Sunday School addresses across Hull on the perils of drinking alcohol. He also founded an annual May day event celebrating teetotalism. In 1882 he gathered a petition of more than 500,000 signatures calling for a parliamentary bill to close all alehouses in Yorkshire on Sundays and also played a leading role in lobbying magistrates to refuse applications to sell beer and spirits at Hull Fair.
Individual churches and chapels also formed their own temperance groups, supported by a number of prominent public figures such as Thomas Ferens and Frederick Needler, both staunch Methodists.
The UK temperance movement started to run out of steam after the First World War, partly because of increased licensing regulation over the sale of alcohol as well as advances in health and education and a decline in church membership. Together, they combined to change the way society viewed the issue. As a result, the Hull pub chain with no booze closed its doors for good.
Angus Young