THE cost of a pint of ale has long been a key talking point in England.

Now Looking Back reader Ken Hunt has brought home to us just how much the price of beer has risen.

Mr Hunt popped in with memories of the old Delhi Inn that once stood in Delhi Lane on Portland.

His grandfather, William Pearce, was landlord in the inn until 1908 when it was sold and he moved to the Red Lion in Easton, which later became the post office.

The John Groves brewery, which was based in what is now Brewers Quay in Weymouth’s Hope Square, made daily deliveries to the Mr Pearce’s pub.

The ale travelled by train from Weymouth to Easton, where it was loaded onto the horse-drawn brewery dray and taken to the pub.

Mr Hunt said: “He bought in XX, which was a mild beer that cost a shilling a gallon and that he sold for tuppence a pint, meaning he made 25 per cent profit. A firkin, which was nine gallons, would cost him 13 shillings and sixpence.”

He added that Mr Pearce was only licensed to sell ale, not wine or spirits, and that the pub was open from 7am until 11pm.

“The quarrymen used to go in on their way to work for a drink and later in the morning they would send the boys up to get the ale for their lunch.

“Once a fortnight grandfather would have a delivery of whisky, but that was purely for his own consumption.”

Mr Pearce had a daughter called Betty who lived at the pub.

One day a young employee with Great Western Railway came knocking at the door looking for somewhere to stay – and the rest, as they say, is family history.

“My father, Fred Hunt, was from Westbury and he worked for GWR. He wore an armband denoting the fact that he was doing essential work during the First World War,” said Mr Hunt.

“He was sent to Easton as a signalman and when he got there he wanted to find some digs. As you came out of the railway yard you were at the back entrance of the red Lion, so he knocked on the door and asked for lodgings. Fred went on to marry the landlord’s daughter and I was born in 1928.”