From 1830 to 1869 there was agreat increase in the number of public houses, for any person of good character could obtain a beer-house licence for a tenement of certain rateable value. Licences were granted so freely that beer-houses opened close together in one street. In a number of places in the city, there were public houses next door to each other. This is shown in a survey made in 1835, when there were 109 public houses under the jurisdiction of the Worcester corporation, or one for every 239 citizens. A number had already opened in the five years from 1830, and this would not include those in the 'College' area of the Cathedral, which was outside the city limits. When the next survey was taken in 1873, there were 186 licensed premises in the city, or one for every 178 citizens.
