Victory in Europe - The Trade View from 1945

The Brewing Trade Review was the official journal of the Brewers’ Society. It was published monthly from 1886 and our Library holds a set from 1900 up to 1972 when the title changed to the Brewing Review. To mark the 80th anniversary of VE day, here are some thoughts published under ‘General Notes’ in the edition for June 1945:

The stirring events of the past few weeks remain fresh in mind. The trials of the war years are beginning to fade. We can at last look back on that as a closed chapter with profound thankfulness. In our own industry, many breweries have suffered the direct assault of the enemy, more than two thousand licensed houses have been destroyed. The offices of the Brewers’ Society escaped reduction to a heap of rubble by a high explosive bomb by a matter of a dozen yards one dark winter’s morning.

But the trade has carried on its service to the public to the best of its opportunities, and has consistently pursued the line which it felt to be in the national interest. There has been no room for doubt that in the view of the Government and of the people a reasonable supply of beer was necessary throughout the war if public contentment was to be preserved and the maximum war effort was to be maintained. Such a reasonable supply has been maintained, in spite of the many difficulties which had to be overcome – shortage of labour, limited supplies of materials, the dearth of casks and cases, bottles and stoppers, inadequate transport and the hundred and one other problems which faced the breweries and their licensees. There has from time to time been complaint of the shortage of beer supplies, of licensed houses being closed for want of beer to sell.

In the main the best has been made by breweries and licensees of the problem of distribution and compared with most other commodities the distribution of beer has been carried out fairly and without fuss and bother.

The position now to be faced is a complicated one. The problems of reconstruction are urgently demanding full attention and it is hard to foresee in what directions a steady return to normal is possible and in what a full measure of wartime restrictions must continue for a while. This is particularly so in regard to the organised supply of beer for the troops overseas, which is now concentrated upon finding the maximum quantity for the men serving in the Far East. For this long journey the only beer which will survive is beer which in the normal course would be produced for export. The capacity to produce it is small and all available supplies at present go to the troops.

The more general work of reconstruction is dependent for the speed with which it can be got under way mainly upon the restoration of man power to the industry, and to the many industries who supply it plant, materials and services. The key of the position lies in labour for the maltings, labour to produce all the malt which will be necessary to raise the production and quality of beer to the level of public demand, although the labour shortage in the brewery itself is little less urgent. The solution rests upon the length of time which elapses before a substantial flow of men from the forces into industry can be realised.

The Brewers' Society was formed in 1904 as a result of the amalgamation of the Country Brewers' Society, the London Brewers' Society and the Burton Brewers' Society. Its aim was to promote the interests of the brewing trade. In 1994 the Brewers' Society changed its name and expanded its remit to become the Brewers' and Licensed Retailers' Association - an organisation that represented owners of pubs and other beer retailers, as well as brewers. In 2001 the BLRA was renamed the British Beer and Pub Association.