The New Sunday Liquor Law Vindicated

In this vivid reconstruction of a mid‑Victorian controversy, listeners are transported to the bustling streets of London as lawmakers, publicans, and newspaper editors clash over the newly enacted Sunday liquor restrictions. The narrator lays out the official purpose of the “New Beer Bill” – to curb drunkenness by limiting tavern openings to two short windows each Sunday – and then follows the rapid backlash from tavern owners who fear ruin and claim the measure attacks ordinary recreation.

Through excerpts from parliamentary testimony, newspaper editorials, and impassioned letters, the work captures the heated rhetoric of the era without spilling any later resolutions. Listeners hear the paradox of a law that promises public order yet provokes accusations of tyranny, all set against the backdrop of a society wrestling with temperance, commerce, and the everyday lives of its working‑class patrons.