'If the tinplate workpeople who have been accustomed to purchasing bottles of beer will in future purchase cans of beer instead, they will start something that may create a large new volume of employment in South Wales', stated a leaflet. 'If they will not make such an effort to strengthen their local industry, they cannot expect people in other parts of the country to do so.'
That did not prevent industrial leaders trying to influence more distant areas of Britain. On the 9th January 1936, after finishing their shift at Sharlston Colliery near Wakefield in Yorkshire, some 3,500 miners came blinking to the surface to find a surprise: each man was presented with a gift of beer - in strange containers.
'The fact that the beer was in cans led to some speculation as to whether it was "the real stuff" or whether this was some misguided hoax. Curiosity gave way to satisfaction when the men had used the neat little opener provided with each tin', reported the Yorkshire Observer. 'The contents were sampled with much smacking of lips and expressions of appreciation of the donor's generosity.'
Each can of beer was accompanied by a card wishing each miner 'A Happy New Year'. The donor was Sir William Firth, chairman of Richard Thomas & Co. of South Wales, the parent company of the Sharlston Colliery. The canned beer was American, but Sir William said he hoped to supply British ale in similar form the next year.
Certainly there would be no shortage of beers to choose from. After the lead of Felinfoel came Jeffreys of Edinburgh with a canned lager. Barclay, Perkins and Hammertons of London, Simonds of Reading and McEwans and Tennants of Scotland soon followed.
Metal Box began to wake up to the potential, and in May 1936 managing director Robert Barlow invited journalists and other interested parties to inspect Acton works. In July it placed an advert in the brewing trade press proclaiming, 'It's arrived - eleven breweries have now ordered beer cans!' The saving in weight against the bottle was said to be 59 per cent; in space 66 per cent.
Metal Box also produced large showcards (made, of course, from tin) to promote the new concept in pubs and off-licenses. Against the background of a sports crowd, the wall display spelt out the claimed advantages of 'Beer in Cans' - hygienic (used once only); slips into the pocket; no deposits; no returns; unbreakable; protected from light; opens like a bottle; easier to pour; handy in the home; a modern idea. 'And it's good! Beer canned for your convenience. Try it', urged the placard, concluding, 'Why didn't they think of this before?'
Felinfoel Brewery workers even became film stars, revealed the Llanelli and County Guardian of 9 July 1936:
The growth of Llanelli's new industry - canned beer - brought further recognition to the town on Monday when a newsreel cameraman, representative of one of the biggest film companies in the world, presented himself at the Felinfoel Brewery and obtained the permission of the management to shoot a film of the processes.
And so for a day the long-established brewery took on the temporary garb of a film studio as mysterious gadgets were erected in the various departments. High-powered lights and glistening screens were thrown up here, there and everywhere, and for a few brief hours the female workers fulfilled their life's ambition - to figure on the modern film screen.
The feverish activity continued after the cameras rolled away, as more than a quarter-of-a-million cans were consumed in the first few months. Felinfoel took on extra workers with 'a distinct likelihood' of more jobs to follow. A consignment was even sent on a world cruise to see how canned beer stood up to the tropics.
By the end of 1936 two million cans had been produced, and by October 1937 some twenty-three British breweries were marketing over forty different brands. Among them was Lassell & Sharman of Caergwrle, in North Wales, which canned its Famous strong Ale, while Felinfoel marked the coronation of King George VI in May 1937 with a special canned ale.
But despite the flurry of activity, canned booze was still "small beer". Many of the factors that triggered the explosion in America were less significant in Britain. Transport savings, which could mount up in the wide-open spaces of the United States, counted for less in the much smaller British Isles. Take-home beer was not so important in pub-oriented Britain, and when they did want a smaller container, Britain's conservative drinkers still preferred glass bottles.
As the "Brewer's Journal" rather bluntly noted a year after Felinfoel had canned the first beer in Britain: 'It is rather a handicap to the new idea of canning beer that the present type of container suggests immediately to the consumer that he is being regaled with metal polish' (the cone-top can looked like a Brasso tin). 'This creates a destructively critical atmosphere towards a really sound proposition,' continued the article, 'and one hears more remarks about the containers than the contents.' Drinkers were certainly not prepared to pay more for these odd-looking vessels. Felinfoel did not replace them with more familiar flat-top cans until after the Second World War.
An influential article in the Financial Times of 23 January 1936 spelt out the figures:
The quotations given (for cans in large quantities) have finally demonstrated that the can is an uneconomic proposition in the home market. Half-pint cans, overprinted attractively enough to rival their sister bottles, would cost approximately 12s. per gross. Bottles of the same size cost no more, and are good for an average of 200 uses.
