| AdminHistory | The East London Licensed Victuallers (ELV), the local branch of The Beersellers' Protection Association and their ilk are rooted in the Society of Licensed Victuallers, founded in 1793. They represented the interests of people working in the licensing trade. The ELV was based in Burdett Road, Poplar, with officers and members drawn from the ranks of licensees whose establishments fell within the parliamentary boundaries covered by East London. The ELV's expressed objective was to protect members " against invidious persecutors of a legitimate industry, and against vexatious prosecutions".* It undertook the defence of the brewing industry and resolution of the grievances of local licensed victuallers.
Originally the East London Licensed Victuallers Protection Association and the Beersellers Protection Association were separate societies, but in due course they merged. Once the Society of Licensed Victuallers formed, similar associations followed. In London, the Licensed Victuallers Central Protection Society of London and the Licensed Victuallers Defence League began to lobby on behalf of the trade. The work of many such societies is recorded separately, including the two aforementioned. These societies evolved into the National Society of Licensed Victuallers, to be renamed the National Licensed Victuallers Association, and which dissolved in 1993 owing to bankruptcy. Today the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations is the principal lobbying vehicle for members of the pub trade.
Sources of information:
*East London Observer, 31st January 1920
East London Licensed Victuallers and Beersellers Protection Association (ref no: LC10271)
Licensed Victuallers Central Protection Society of London: Finance and Publications ( London Metropolitan Archive ref no: ACC/3122-4; ACC/3122-5.)
Papers of National Licensed Victuallers Association (London Metropolitan Archive ref no: ACC/3122)
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