Barrels rolling free: Modal shift in the brewing industry, 1897-1914

This chapter discusses the factors combined to influence motor adoption, even if in a heterogeneous industry with breweries of varied size and operation, these factors would have played out differently in different places. In 1913 George Watson, the Commercial Motor Users Association’s inspecting engineer, stated that “From the earliest days of the motor industry the brewery and allied trades realised the possibilities of mechanical transport”. A joined-up approach to how transport is impacted by and impacts the nature and development of supply chains and the demands of the different users – shaped by various broader factors for instance government and competition –is required. The result was, Watson argued, a “feeling of unrest in the haulage and transport departments” and suggested the use of an increasingly viable alternative for distribution; the strike could “only be of advantage to the commercial motor industry”.