Drink Maps in Victorian Britain - by Kris Butler (Hardcover)

About the Book

"What is a 'drink map'? It may sound like a pub guide, yet it refers to a type of late nineteenth-century British map designed to shock and shame people into drinking less. This book explores how drink maps were published in cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, London, and Norwich to fight increasingly rampant alcohol consumption. Featuring red symbols to indicate where alcohol was sold, these street maps were posted in public places, submitted as evidence, sent to Members of Parliament, and published in newspapers to show just how inebriated a neighborhood could be. They promoted the message that having fewer places to buy alcohol was the answer to reducing widespread crime, poverty, and sickness. And they worked -- at first. After consulting a drink map in one town, judges decided to close half the licensed shops because even then no one had to walk more than two minutes to buy a beer. Illustrated with original maps, advertisements, and temperance propaganda, their brief history is told amidst a tangle of licensing laws, rogue magistrates, irate brewers, ardent temperance organizers, and accounts of the complex role alcohol played across all levels of Victorian society."--

Book Synopsis

A fascinating exploration of the history of alcohol in Victorian Britain via the "drink maps" that were made to promote sobriety.

What is a "drink map"? It may sound like a pub guide, yet it refers to a type of late nineteenth-century British map designed to shock and shame people into drinking less.

This book explores how drink maps were published in cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, London, and Norwich to fight increasingly rampant alcohol consumption. Featuring red symbols to indicate where alcohol was sold, these street maps were posted in public places, submitted as evidence, sent to Members of Parliament, and published in newspapers to show just how inebriated a neighborhood could be. They promoted the message that having fewer places to buy alcohol was the answer to reducing widespread crime, poverty, and sickness. And they worked--at first. After consulting a drink map in one town, judges decided to close half the licensed shops because even then no one had to walk more than two minutes to buy a beer.

Illustrated with original maps, advertisements, and temperance propaganda, their brief history is told amidst a tangle of licensing laws, rogue magistrates, irate brewers, ardent temperance organizers, and accounts of the complex role alcohol played across all levels of Victorian society.

Review Quotes

"The drink maps assiduously assembled by Kris Butler are those published by British temperance societies with the specific aim of reducing drinking outlets and/or overall consumption. From the opening acknowledgements, which credit the Bodleian Library's map curator Nick Millea for introducing the author to the 1883 Drink Map of Oxford, to the appendix, which lists nearly seven pages of drink maps, it is clear this has been a passion project. The result is a distinctive contribution to the history of cartography and a lively introduction to the
drink problem in Victorian Britain."-- "The Portolan"

Winner of the 2024 Wine, Beer, Spirits award.-- "The Readable Feast"

"Anyone tempted to buy this book as a ribald stocking-filler for a boozy uncle, may, on first inspection, find reason to pause. Kris Butler's text is not po-faced and the book includes, alongside reproductions of the said maps, some wonderfully bright and intentionally attractive period examples of tipple-related advertising."-- "Country Life"

"Butler seeks to tell the story of these unusual Victorian documents and come to some sort of conclusion about whether they ultimately proved to be thought-provoking or thirst-provoking. It's a well-designed publication on high quality paper that does full justice to the many maps and diagrams displayed across its 192 pages that help to tell the tale that begins with Temperance Movement seeking to use visual documents in the form of maps to highlight the high density of places selling alcohol in UK cities and towns. . . .The potential dryness of the topic of Drink Maps is overcome by the accessibility of Butler's writing style and anybody interested in beer and its social impact will find plenty of interest in this publication."-- "Beer Insider"

"The author steers us through a historical tangle of licensing acts, legal disputes and furious brewers. At least initially, temperance mapping proved surprisingly effective. The story is illuminated with illustrations that bring much-needed bursts of color and character to the somewhat technical drink maps themselves. . . .To anyone with an interest in the sheer variety of cartography, Butler's passion project will be a refreshing addition to the shelf of the bookcase dedicated to that subject. Works such as this preserve areas of map history that have been--and might well otherwise always have been--overlooked, and leave one thirsty for more. To that, we should raise a glass."-- "Literary Review"

"A brilliant, intoxicating book about the alliance of maps and the temperance movement in Victorian England. Butler has produced a powerful and beautifully illustrated account of the power of maps and the scale of addiction in nineteenth-century England, and in the process has identified a whole new cartographic genre."--Jerry Brotton author of "Fifty Maps and the Stories they Tell"