As Soon As This Pub Closes: Beer & the left

Keith Flett has a look at the history of beer drinking and the left

The left and beer- indeed drink in general- have a long history. There are many stories, none of which I plan to recount here.

The attractions of drink for many ordinary workers as a release from long hours of hard labour were considerable. In some occupations- steel for example- drinking beer was more or less essential to replace water sweated out while working.

This provoked considerable labour movement support for temperance. It is perhaps not so much of an issue in most recent times but I can well remember when the thing that characterised many labour movement gatherings above all was the amount drunk.

And of course in any case the Tories were the party of the brewers- the beerage.

The left however had a rather different perspective. Faced with a Licensing Bill in the Commons in the early years of the twentieth century the revolutionary socialist MP for Colne Valley Victor Grayson- who liked a drink himself-moved the adjournment on the grounds that the unemployed were starving in the streets while MPs were ‘trifling’ with the Bill.

By the 1960s the picture had begun to change.

The left still has an air of asceticism about it in some cases but that has become balanced by Nye Bevan’s perspective that ‘nothing is too good for the workers’.

So it was that Raymond Postgate, a socialist, became the first Editor of the Good Food Guide. A little later Roger Protz- formerly the Editor of Socialist Worker- became associated with the Campaign for Real Ale’s Good Beer Guide, and he still is.

I’ve been a member of CAMRA since the mid 1970s. It has around 140,000 members, the biggest consumer organisation in Europe, and one that has been in part successful.

We’re not used to success on the left but CAMRA is not specifically of the left. In fact it straddles the idea of drinking British beers, which can be seen as patriotic and appeals to the right- and campaigning about the role of big business in destroying decent beer and pubs. This of course appeals to the left.

Pubs and beer have been seen as an old man’s drink and CAMRA has long been associated with beards.

This is changing. Not only has CAMRA actively sought to broaden the base of its activities to attract- very successfully- more women supporters it also has an active LGBT section.

Pubs and beer are changing.

The image of brewers and indeed landlords and landladies is changing too.

The new microbrewers- nearly 40 in London in the last couple of years- tend towards an understanding that many of their customers will not be right-wing Tories.

There is a new layer of women active in brewing and pubs that will, quite rightly, not put up with sexist attitudes and sexist pump clips. One pub I know-regularly featuring in the best cask beer pubs in the UK- will eject customers who make homophobic comments.

Of course you can still find plenty of examples of depressing and reactionary attitudes in the brewing trade as well.

So what to drink you may ask?

Again the world is changing fast. The idea of sinking pint after pint of 4% beer while far from dead is changing. Now there is a range of stronger india pale ales,porters and imperial stouts that need to be sipped by the half or third pint not gulped.

And brewers? I could hardly not mention the excellent Redemption in Tottenham. You might try Brodies, Beavertown Brewdog, Buxton, Dark Star, Otley, TinyRebel. I could go on, and on. The chances are that there is now a brewery near where to you live. Search out the beer and give it a try.

After all as the Alex Glasgow song noted, as soon as this pub closes, the revolution starts

Keith Flett blogs about beer, beards and socialism kmflett.wordpress.com