From the late 18th century, capitalist brewers bought up inns, installing tenants tied to them for the sale of beers. "Public houses" attracted custom because of their warmth and conviviality. But by vilifying public drinking, thus driving out the respectable classes and most women, temperance reformers turned pubs into a world of working-class male drinkers.

Surviving threats of prohibition, the pub regained respectability and a wider clientele between the wars, when brewers launched the improved public house — spending over £100m on improvements, with thousands of new premises built. But it was the pub's role of promoting solidarity and providing sanctuary during the wars that made it central to British life.

As a new breed of brewery executives replaced the traditional brewing families, and the tied-house system collapsed, the social conscience of interwar brewers vanished. Breweries now focus on sales to a youth culture, in environments that are anathema to the middle-aged. Without this older generation to enforce social norms, pub culture has lost its diverse demographics. Strong alcoholic beverages targeted at neophyte drinkers have clearly contributed to rising consumption. The middle classes, particularly young, single women, are drinking significantly more wine than earlier generations. Thus the younger generation is growing up in a culture of overindulgence in alcohol.

David W Gutzke is professor of modern British history at Southwest Missouri State University, and author of Alcohol in the British Isles from Roman Times to 1996