Permitting drunkenness on licensed premises

Hertfordshire Mercury, 20th March 1915

Transcript

On 3rd March.  P.S. Palmer stated that on the day in question he saw a man named Sharp in the house drunk, and he was convicted on the following day.  The landlady admitted serving him, and said she had been trying to get rid of him.  P.C. Capon corroborated.  He added that Sharp told him that he had paid for the beer and treated the navvies present into the bargain.  Mrs Pope was there, and admitted that Sharp was drunk.  Ernest Sharp stated that he had two or three whiskies in the house, and paid for some beer for three navvies.  There was also a woman in another room, and he treated her; in fact, he was muddle-headed, and asked everyone in the house to drink.  The landlady served him.  He was sorry for getting her into this trouble, because she had bought a straw hat from him about a fortnight before.  That was the reason he called, thinking he would do her a good turn.

Mrs Rose Pope said she had been at the Crown and Thistle for about six months, and it was rather a rough house.  She knew the man Sharp, because he had been there before.  When he entered the house on this occasion he walked quite straight, and there was nothing in his speech or manner to indicate that he was anything but perfectly sober.  She served him with one whisky and some beer for the navvies.  Sharp was in the house on the previous day, and as he had had a tidy drop she asked him to go out.  She knew that he was drunk the previous day, but she had no suspicion of him on this day, because he was quite rational.  Asked why she told the police sergeant that she had been trying to get rid of Sharp for an hour she denied that she said so.  It was a fact that she wanted to get rid of the man, not because he was drunk, but because she knew that he was neglecting his business.  ‘Do you usually want to get rid of your customers if they are sober?’  ‘No, but I know his business, and I asked him to go and get about it’.  Mrs Grumble, of Hayden’s Court, who was in the house at the time, said that the man was quite sober, and he asked her to have a drink of lemonade.  She did not have any beer with him.  The magistrates decided to convict and fined the defendant 30s.

 

 

 

 

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