Liquor licensing legislation, in England at least, is extremely complex and here dates back to the early part of the 19th century when socio-economic conditions and social customs in respect of liquor consumption were entirely different from those which exist today. The Ale House Act of 1828 incorporated all of the previous Statutes relating to the granting of licences. Between 1828 and 1910 a number of related Acts were passed such as the Beer House Acts of 1830 and 1834, the Licensing Act of 1842, the Refreshment Houses Act of 1860 and the Wine and Beer House Act of 1869, as well as Licensing Acts in 1872, 1881 and 1902.

The Beer House Act of 1830 allowed a householder, assessed to the poor rate, to retail beer and cider from his or her own house on payment of an annual fee to the Excise of 2 guineas. The purpose of this legislation was to popularise beer at the expense of spirits, which with wines, as well as beer, were sold by Publicans. This Act opened the floodgates to a proliferation of drinking establishments, many of them in the front rooms of dwelling houses. The Act was repealed in 1869.

There was clearly sufficient demand for licensed premises from time to time to tempt a number of Lovelocks and one Loveluck to take up the trade. Our extensive Census collections furnish the entries in the table below. (Where an individual can be positively identified a link in the Name column will take you to the Webtrees page for that person, or to the family fragment in which they appear.

The latest legislation to apply is the Licensing Act of 2003. It sets out the procedures that any business selling alcohol must follow, including which licenses they need to apply for and what they must do to responsibly carry out the sale of alcoholic beverages. The Act also regulates the provision of other licensable activities, namely regulated entertainment — such as showing a film, hosting a sports event, or a performance of live music — and late-night refreshment, most of which would hardly have bothered most of those listed in the table above!