Licensing in the 1800's - In 1808 licensing certificates were introduced. Penalties were enforced for selling without a certificate and for breaches of any condition laid out on existing certificates. These penalties included fines, imprisonment and forfeiture of certificates.

As the century unfolded, the reputation of pubs as dens of iniquity and places of moral degeneration added weight to an increasingly persuasive temperance movement that continued to exert its influence over government for nearly a century.

Victorian pubs were required to remain closed on Sundays, but the Scots were not so easily kept from their beer! In defiance of the Forbes Mackenzie Act, and despite the fact that generally such places served only a whisky more akin to petrol than malt, many patronised the many unlicensed drinking houses known as 'Shebeens'.

Off-sales were first permitted in 1853 with the introduction of a 'grocer's certificate'. And The Public House Amendment Act of 1862 empowered police to enter into any public house for the detection of illicit sales.

The Inland Revenue Act of 1879 tried to give Scottish innkeepers the benefits of the six-day licenses already enjoyed by their English counterparts. While in 1887, the Hours of Closing Act permitted closing time to be fixed at 10 p.m. except in towns with over 50,000 inhabitants.

It was common for fathers to send their children to buy beer and there is no doubt the young ones might have been tempted to have a sly swig or two on the way home! The Child Messenger Act of 1901 prohibited the sale of alcohol to children under 14 except in quantities less than a pint!