Social Order and Disorder in Nineteenth Century Drinking Place: An Evaluation of Manchester and Salford

Abstract

Much is written about on the negative aspects of drinking establishments in nineteenth-century society, often focusing on new industrial centres and regional capitals such as Manchester, and on issues such as drunkenness, crime, and prostitution. These issues convey the impression of a society riddled with drink and social disorder problems. A detailed examination of historical evidence on the usage of Manchester’s drinking establishments reveals that there were positive as well as negative aspects of the role of the drinking place. This article investigates in more detail the social and leisure function of the public house and its customers in Manchester, comparing the sometimes lurid contemporary depictions of pub ‘low life’ with the more mundane and often positive realities revealed by statistical evidence and descriptive material on the ‘everyday life’ of licensed premises.