The Tory government is now about to embark on a piece of uncompromising antisocialist legislation by selling off the pubs of Carlisle to private bidders. This will end a fifty year experiment in state control of the Demon Drink. It was introduced as an emergency measure in the First World War and outlived the Second, surviving like the Martello towers on the coast, which were erected to foil the invasion plans of the Corsican Ogre. It was an interesting survival from the great days of the Liberal Party.
I had my first contact with the Carlisle experiment about thirty years ago when I stopped at Carlisle between trains on my way south from Scotland. It has the look of a provincial capital, which it is, but on a small scale. The ruined castle and the cathedral close to the railway station are pleasant enough and old enough, but unimpressive in size. It is the kind of town in which you never forget the surrounding countryside, which is to say it has the feel of a village.
Comments