There always seemed to be a very large number of inns and taverns even in the smallest market towns in Victorian times.
Perhaps it is not surprising that the very poor living conditions and hard work faced by most working men in those years meant that many of them took to drinking fairly heavily.

Most local inns did their own brewing of beer in Victorian times and earlier, and most would have been particularly busy on market days when people came into town from miles around - and usually visited the taverns !
The "Retailers of beer" were also known as beer shops, and most were very simple premises just like a private house, but licensed to sell alcohol.
The job of the Cooper was to make wooden barrels - a very skilled job for a craftsman. Wooden barrels were used until recent times to transport and store beer and many other liquids.

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