Premises selling alcohol have been common since medieval times.

They have been called many names such as alehouse, inn, tavern and more recently public houses but you are likely to have an ancestor who owned or worked in one of these places.

Some premises were large buildings with bedrooms for hire and stables for horses whilst others were the front room of a house with beer brewed in the garden shed.

The authorities were quick to realise both the potential danger and taxation income from alehouses and kept good records which helps family historians today.

What records can you find?

All such premises had to be registered with Quarter Sessions and anyone who ran an illegal drinking house was liable to be arrested and appear before the same Quarter Sessions.

Quarter Session records will show applicants for licences or renewals and people accused of running unlicensed premises.

Some Quarter session records may be online but the majority are held in local records offices.

Owners of these premises had more money than the average person and often made a will disposing of the property.

See the section on wills and probate on this site.

From the 1800's trade directories usually listed licensed premises

See the section on trade directories on this site.

If you have access to local newspaper records they may well report on changes of landlord or prosecutions for unlicensed selling.