![The Gothenburg pub, Fallin, Scotland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/The_Gothenburg_pub%2C_Fallin%2C_Scotland.jpg)
The Gothenburg or Trust Public House system originated in the 1860s in
Gothenburg,
Sweden,
in an attempt to control the consumption of spirits. Earlier in the century, 34 litres annual per capita consumption of spirits was recorded in Sweden. In 1855 the country proscribed domestic
distillation
Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...
. The city of Gothenburg awarded its sole retail licence for spirits to a trust, with the aim of controlling consumption.
The shareholders of the trust were to receive a maximum return of 5% annually and all other profits were to be used to benefit the local community. The town treasury was to control the income generated and use it to provide libraries, museums, parks and other community facilities. The success of the system led to its spread throughout Sweden and further afield.
In Scotland
![The Dean Tavern - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/The_Dean_Tavern_-_geograph.org.uk_-_72546.jpg)
In Scotland, pubs run under the Gothenburg system are often colloquially known as "Goths".
[
Although controversial within the movement, some Scottish temperance campaigners advocated the system. The passing of the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1893 allowed its adoption,]
and it took hold, particularly in coal mining communities, where mining companies had previously opposed the granting of pub licences.[ There were several 'Goths' in the Lothians, one each in ]Stirlingshire
Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, gd, Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a historic county and registration countyRegisters of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling.
It borders Perth ...
and Ayrshire and, until 1914, more than twenty in Fife, where the system took its strongest hold;[ strong links between Fife and Sweden had been established in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century due to the supply of coal to Swedish Railways by the ]Fife Coal Company
The Fife Coal Company was formed in 1872 to acquire the small Beath and Blairadam Colliery with its pits in Kelty. Its head office was in Leven. In addition to coal, the company worked some ironstone. For the whole of its operating life, the co ...
. The local coal companies were often a source of funds to establish these pubs and were usually a dominant force on the boards of the trusts, with the miners themselves usually holding representation and sometimes contributing in part to the capital.
A premise of these pubs was that they were not to be attractive or welcoming, to discourage drinking, and the sale of spirits was not to be encouraged. No credit
Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...
was given and betting and gambling were banned, as were any form of game or amusement (even dominoes).
Examples of facilities and beneficiaries funded by the system included libraries
A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...
, museums, parks, bowling
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...
and cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
grounds and pavilions, cinemas, community centres or 'Gothenburg halls' and grants to galas, charities, clubs and societies and for the funding of district nurse
District Nurses work manage care within the community and lead teams of community nurses and support workers. The role requires registered nurses to take a NMC approved specialist practitioner course. Duties generally include visiting house-bound ...
s and ambulances.
Today, some of these establishments remain as pubs but only the Dean Tavern in Newtongrange
Newtongrange () is a former mining village in Midlothian, Scotland. Known in local dialect as ''Nitten'', or ''Nitten by the Bing'' (),
it became Scotland's largest mining village in the 1890s, with the sinking of the Lady Victoria Colliery an ...
, the Goth in Armadale, the Prestoungrange Gothenburg in Prestonpans
Prestonpans ( gd, Baile an t-Sagairt, Scots language, Scots: ''The Pans'') is a small mining town, situated approximately eight miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the Council area of East Lothian. The population as of is. It is near the si ...
, and The Gothenburg in Fallin, Stirling
Fallin () is a village in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It lies on the A905 road 3 miles east of Stirling on a bend in the River Forth. The United Kingdom Census 2001 recorded the population as 2,710.
It was formerly a pit villag ...
, are still run under the Gothenburg system.
The Goth in Armadale was built in 1901 and extensively remodeled in 1924; it serves as a landmark on the Main Street of the town and consists of a stone frontage with an Art Nouveau public clock tower.
In England
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the C ...
took an interest in the Gothenburg system and proposed a version of it to a Parliamentary Select Committee on Intemperance in 1877. This did not gain momentum but the issue was raised again in the 1890s by the Bishop of Chester, Francis Jayne
Francis John Jayne (1 January 1845 – 23 August 1921) was a British bishop and academic.
Born in Pant-y-beiliau, Gilwern, Llanelli, Jayne was the eldest son of John Jayne, a colliery owner and his second wife, Elisabeth Haines. He was edu ...
, who wrote letters to ''The Times'' and published articles on the subject. He also founded the People's Refreshment House Association Limited. His ideas were not approved of by the Church of England Temperance Society
The temperance movement in the United Kingdom was a social movement that campaigned against the recreational use and sale of alcohol, and promoted total abstinence (teetotalism). In the 19th century, high levels of alcohol consumption and drunke ...
who were hostile to the idea of "working men" having improved pubs and encouraged them to make home and family the focus of their leisure time.[ As well as Jayne's association, which had 130 establishments, there was a similar "Gothenburg-inspired"][ group called the Central Public House Trust Association, which owned about 250 "trust houses" in England and Wales by 1914.][
]
Cultural references
The Number One Goth in Cardenden
Cardenden () is a Scottish town located on the south bank of the River Ore in the parish of Auchterderran, Fife. It is approximately north-west of Kirkcaldy. Cardenden was named in 1848 by the Edinburgh and Northern Railway for its new railway ...
was referenced by Ian Rankin
Sir Ian James Rankin (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.
Early life
Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a sch ...
as the first pub in which his character John Rebus
Detective Inspector John Rebus is the protagonist in the Inspector Rebus series of detective novels by the Scottish writer Sir Ian Rankin, ten of which have so far been televised as ''Rebus''. The novels are mostly set in and around Edinburgh. ...
bought a round of drinks. Parts of Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...
's novella '' Kingdom of Fife'' are set in the New Goth in Cowdenbeath
Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...
. The pub in the fictional village of Newton of Wemyss in ''A Darker Domain
''A Darker Domain'' is a 2008 psychological thriller novel by Scottish crime writer Val McDermid. Reviewers often noted the fast paced style of the novel as it flashes back and forth between two plot lines, a contemporary crime in 2007 and the ...
'' by Val McDermid
Valarie "Val" McDermid, (born 4 June 1955) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill in a grim sub-genre that McDermid and others have identified as Tartan Noir.
Biography
...
was formerly a Goth.
See also
* Alcohol monopoly
An alcohol monopoly is a government monopoly on manufacturing and/or retailing of some or all alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine and spirits. It can be used as an alternative for total prohibition of alcohol. They exist in all Nordic countr ...
* List of public house topics
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
* Systembolaget
References
External links
Transcript of ''British 'Gothenburg' Experiments and Public-House Trusts''
by Joseph Rowntree and Arthur Sherwell
Arthur James Sherwell (11 April 1863 – 13 January 1942) was a British Liberal Party politician and temperance campaigner.
Background
He was born in London on 11 April 1863, the son of John Viney Sherwell, of Modbury, Devon. He was educated pri ...
(1903)
A Short History of the Armadale Public House Society Limited
Web site of The Dean Tavern
Facebook page of Fallin Gothenburg
Web site of Prestoungrange Gothenburg
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205101529/http://www.thegoth.uk/ , date=5 December 2017
Related images
at the Scran
Scran is a Scottish online resource for educational use by the public, schools, further education and higher education. It presents nearly 490,000 (still and moving) images and sounds contributed by museums, galleries, archives and the media. ...
educational resource
Goth pubs: Community landmarks in Fife mining villages slowly disappearing
Pubs in Scotland
Temperance movement
History of Gothenburg
Mining in Scotland
Alcohol in Scotland
Alcohol in Sweden
Drinking establishments in Sweden
1860s in Sweden
Sweden–United Kingdom relations
19th century in Gothenburg