Hi Sarah, Liquor licensing legislation in this country is extremely complex. The Beer House Act 1830 enabled any householder of reputable character to obtain a beer house licence for a tenement or dwelling of rateable value, by merely paying the small sum of two guineas to the Excise. This meant that more or less anybody could obtain a licence to sell beer without the necessity of having to apply to magistrates, in contrast to a licensed victualler who could sell all types of drink. This Act opened the floodgates to a spectacular proliferation of decidedly downmarket drinking-dens, most of them in the front rooms of terraced houses. The Act was repealed by the 1869 Wine and Beerhouse Act (32 and 33 Vic. c.27) which re-introduced the stricter controls of the previous century. It was now necessary for retailers selling beer and wine to obtain their licenses from justices, and in addition, it was also necessary to obtain similar licenses to sell alcohol off the premises. Stan