The Changing Face of the Pub: 1960–2020

As pubs finally re-open their doors, we’ll be taking a look at the evolution of their form and significance over the years. Here, Geoff Brandwood explores changes he’s witnessed since his student days behind the bar – from the decline of hierarchical plans to the arrival of pump clips – and their myriad causes.

The Prince Alfred, Maida Vale, London: a rare surviving example of a Victorian pub divided up by screenwork. © Geoff Brandwood.

I started my under-age drinking in Birmingham in the early 1960s, and then graduated to work in a couple of pubs to earn cash as a university student. I just loved the beer they served, and relished the whole atmosphere of the traditional pub. But, looking back, pubs then were in various respects different from today’s. Although they have been constantly evolving over the centuries, changes have greatly accelerated since my early drinking days. Join me to explore some of the major ones.

To start with, there are far fewer pubs now. In 1960, there were over 75,000 of them in the UK. The number has crashed to something like 47,000 today, with a particularly rapid drop in the period 2005 to 2015. The causes are many. Social-drinking patterns have changed, and smoke-filled boozers in industrial towns frequented by working men after a hard day’s labour are virtually a thing of the past. Drink-drive legislation has squeezed out many a country pub. Then there’s the smoking ban too.

Technology has played its part, from the rise of TV in the early post-war period, to the ability today to get a myriad of programmes via the internet in the comfort of one's living room. When streaming the latest blockbuster, we can now enjoy cheap alcohol from the supermarket to enhance the experience – and young people (who drink far less than my generation had done) may well prefer to communicate for free via social media rather than over a £4 pint.

A pub no more: The Parkfield, Eastbourne, built in the 1950s.

With these developments come changes to the streetscape. In towns and cities, property and land values for pubs are lower than for alternative uses, so large numbers have been demolished to make way for flats, retail outlets or car parks. Others have been converted into flats and appear as emasculated versions of the vibrant pubs they once were. In the country, pubs that have failed to provide successfully for an increasing demand to provide good-quality food have been converted to residential use. Without their inn sign and other insignia, they are no longer differentiated from other properties – coupled with the loss of local shops over the past half century, there must now be thousands of villages that are now filled soullessly with just residential buildings.

The past 60 years have seen fundamental change inside the pub itself. Until the early post-war period, virtually all pubs still had a number of rooms on a hierarchical pattern that had become established by Victorian times: the public bar was the basic drinking space, and then there were other rooms where, paying a copper or two extra for your drink, you could expect a bit more plushness, such as upholstered seats or a carpet. All these areas were often housed in just one large room, sub-divided by timber screens.

The Railway Hotel, Faversham, Kent, plan of 1898. A typical late Victorian or early 20th-century plan, with a public bar on the corner, two private bars and a lounge, all clustered around a central servery. Railway Hotel Collection.

All this changed from the 1960s. Stiff social hierarchies were breaking down, and pub owners were able to increase trading areas by removing walls and partitions, encouraged by the licensing authorities to enhance supervision and discourage undesirable behaviour. The consequent loss of traditional and often very fine interiors was a cause of major concern to the Campaign for Real Ale, which began a project at the end of the 1980s to identify the best of what was left, expecting to find that perhaps 500 of the remaining 65,000 pubs in operation were little altered since the Second World War, and might thus be deemed of ‘national importance’. By the time the first ‘National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors’ was published in 1997, it could enumerate just 179 examples! Ongoing research and the addition of pubs with early post-war interiors or individual rooms and features of key importance has pushed the figure up to 270, but this still gives some indication of how so much has changed.

What of other things? Back in 1960, most pubs were tied houses, owned by a brewery, with house styles for insignia (inn signs, pub lettering, etc.). That has largely gone, and you normally have no clue as to ownership and what beers to find inside. This is because in 1989 legislation forced brewers to sell off any pubs they owned in excess of 2,000 in the interests of competition. In a stupendous example of the law of unintended consequences, brewers responded by either creating entirely separate pub companies, or selling pubs to investment companies. The result is that pubs are now traded like horses on market day – at the time of writing, a deal is being put together that would give the largest operator, Stonegate, control of nearly 5,000 pubs – far more than any brewer ever had!

Etched door glass at the Red Lion, St James’s, London, probably 1890s. The private bar was smaller and thus slightly more exclusive than the public bar. © Geoff Brandwood.

Since the 1960s, we have seen the disappearance of ‘off-sales’ from pubs as supermarkets and corner shops have taken over such take-home sales. The once-common compartment dedicated to off-sales has often been incorporated in an adjacent space. Also, the appearance of huge numbers of pubs that utilise both inside and out has been transformed by the loss of traditional etched glass which formed a veil over the world of the pub.

The landscape of the serving area has undergone much change – in 1960, there were far fewer drinks and the counter was a much less cluttered affair. Since then, there has been an explosion in superstructures on or above the counter to accommodate the vastly increased number of glasses for a vastly increased range of drinks. The latter, in terms of beers, has led to the rise of prominent arrays of pump clips advertising the products on offer. Back in 1960, there was less choice, hence no need for pump clips.

Superstructures on and above bar counters for glasses have proliferated since the 1960s. This aggressive example is at the Ship Inn, West Itchenor, West Sussex. © Michael Schouten.

The coronavirus epidemic will unquestionably impact upon our pubs and it is widely expected that there will be losses. None the less, there is little doubt that such a vibrant part of British life will survive, but quite likely with changes we can’t predict right now – but survive it will, so let’s say ‘cheers’ to that.

Geoff Brandwood is a member of the SAHGB and former chair of the Victorian Society. He is part of the Campaign for Real Ale’s Heritage Pub Group and the author of the invaluable UK-wide guide Britain’s Best Real Heritage Pubs: Pub Interiors of Outstanding Historic Interest. His guide to a range of historic pub interiors throughout South East England, Real Heritage Pubs of the South East, has just been published.