Benjamin Franklin is widely quoted as saying “beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” 

Like so many famous quotes found on the internet, it is not true, he actually wrote this about wine (being a connoisseur from his years in France).  But, if he had said it, what amount of beer would become too much?

It is fair to say that the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street on 17 October 1814 would probably win the award for a scenario where there was such a thing as a surplus of beer.  It was the location of the Meux Brewery (one of the two largest in London) and the site of an enormous 6.7 meter tall vat capable of holding 18,000 imperial barrels of beer.  One imperial barrel was 288 pints so this one container held a staggering 5.1 million pints – so large that 80 tons of iron hoops were wrapped around the vat to stop it exploding under its own weight.

On the afternoon of the 17 October, the vat in question was full of 10 month old porter when the storehouse clerk observed that one of the retaining iron hoops had slipped.  He was not unduly worried, it was a fairly regular occurrence and he wrote a note to his supervisor saying “no harm whatever would ensue” (see the Lord Mayor’s comment about the fire of London for other remarkable misjudgements).

A short while later, the container burst knocking out neighbouring vats with it and creating a beer tsunami 4.6m high.  It destroyed the back of the brewery wall and two houses immediately.  The beer poured into and flooded cellars almost drowning their inhabitants. But, despite the destruction, only eight people died (although tragically three of these were under five).  Somewhat remarkably, the coroner decided the London Beer Flood was an act of God so there was no requirement to pay compensation, perhaps a reminder that our Health & Safety legislation does have a very real purpose.

Sadly, there is no plaque commemorating the event now, just some slightly run down streets behind the back of the Dominion theatre.  Despite this, it is still worth a visit to consider the quite remarkable sight of a wall of beer washing through central London.