Good, homely, troublesome or improving? Historical geographies of drinking places, c. 1850–1950

Abstract

This paper surveys historical geographies of drinking places designed for the consumption of alcohol between about 1850 and 1950, covering work published in English on sites in Europe, Russia, the Americas, and parts of Britain's empire. Five key aspects of drinking places are identified. The paper first considers them as significant social spaces associated with positive conceptions of both the public sphere and public space before exploring the ways in which drink became a spatial problem for contemporary observers, both in terms of their internal design and layout, and in their arrangements and concentrations in space. Histories and historical geographies of workers and patrons in these sites then suggest that the spatial problems associated with drink might also be classed, gendered, racialized, and sexualized. The last two sections of the paper review work on aspects of drinking places shared across many different social and geographical contexts: licensing and the provision of highly regulated 'improved' sites for the consumption of alcohol. Similarities across many different contexts may reflect common social patterns or the development of shared strategies for reform. The conclusion suggests a few areas that might be developed. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Beyond moralising, disciplining and normalising discourses: Re-thinking geographies of alcohol, drinking, drunkenness

“…For example, geographers now draw on diverse critical social constructivist thinking in order to explore: historical and moral geographies of policy, policing, regulation and licensing (Beckingham, 2008(Beckingham, , 2019Kneale, 2012;Kneale and French, 2008;Nicholls and Kneale, 2015); structural and ideological dimensions of the 'alcohol industry' (Herrick, 2011(Herrick, , 2012(Herrick, , 2014(Herrick, , 2016; home, domestic, and relational geographies of public/private lives (Beckingham, 2021;Holloway et al, 2008Holloway et al, , 2009Jayne et al, 2021;Kneale, 2021;Liu and Jayne, 2022); identities and subjectivities including masculinity, femininity, ethnicity, and religion (Fileborn, 2016;Gillen, 2015;Holloway et al, 2009;Waitt et al, 2011;Wilkinson and Wilkinson, 2020). Other important topics include alcohol and tourism (Bell, 2008;Jayne et al, 2012); childhood, family life, and intergenerational relations (Jayne and Valentine, 2016c;Valentine et al, 2010aValentine et al, , 2010bValentine et al, , 2012Valentine et al, , 2013; young people, urban, and rural life (Leyshon, 2005(Leyshon, , 2008Maye et al, 2005;Valentine et al, 2009;Wilkinson, 2018;Wilkinson and Wilkinson, 2020); and 'alcohol-related' violence 'at home' and in public spaces (Brickell, 2008;Sandberg and Tollefsen, 2010;Trell et al, 2014).…”