Gin and the Gin Craze [ Food & Drink / Eating & Drinking / Social interaction ]
… that its deleterious effects on the health of the labouring classes could precipitate a national decline. It gained a reputation as a solitary not a sociable drink as gin shops were the antithesis of new-style coffee shops and old-style … of eight ‘Gin Acts’ designed to curb consumption (while protecting government revenue). The British have always had a reputation as heavy drinkers so why was gin different? And how is it related to sociability? Beer Street and Gin Lane , … set up by Sheffield MP James Silk Buckingham, heard testimony to this effect in the summer of 1834. And yet, despite its reputation as a drink for the solitary (whether a discrete nip of cordial sipped by a lady at her toilette, or the poison …
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