Registers of Liquor Licensing

The early registers of certificates issued, whether by Justices of the Peace (JPs) or by burgh magistrates, are usually brief, single-line entries with annual lists of names, addresses (or at least a place, or in a burgh a street name), and occupation (normally ‘spirit dealer’, ‘publican’ or ‘change-keeper’). These registers may include transfers of certificates between licensees, or there may be separate records of these. They may be in the form of registers of applications granted, or simply of applications, with a note of whether or not they were granted or refused. Only a small minority were refused, almost always without reason given (or at least recorded). In nineteenth-century burghs the magistrates would take reports from the police or the watchmen as to the reputations of licensees, and these reports may also survive. The early registers may be for the sale of ale or spirits or both. Those under the later Licensing Acts specify the type of licence, distinguishing for example between those for inns and hotels, for public houses and for dealers in spirits, groceries and provisions. In the case of public houses and hotels, licenses were granted to the individual, rather than the establishment.

The limitations of these records are obvious: apart from police reports, they give little indication of the contribution of these premises to social life. It is almost unknown for them to give the names of public houses. Early registers just give the name of the licensee, later ones do at least give the address even if the ‘sign’ that the hostelry is known under is not detailed. Where minute books of magistrates’ committees survive, and especially where there are actual transcripts of proceedings before licensing magistrates, however, they can give a wealth of information about changing social attitudes towards drink, temperance, conviviality and respectability.

For liquor licensing registers of a burgh the most likely place these will survive will be among burgh records, normally with the appropriate local authority archives service, or the National Records of Scotland. Registers compiled by JPs may either be with local authority archives or with the National Records of Scotland, depending on the county concerned.