Kent’s Desert Island Beer Labels #1

Trying to choose my ten favourite labels has been a difficult task – and has taken me quite a long time.  What criteria should I use? Rarity? Attractiveness? Historical Significance?  In the end I decided to select labels which have meant something to me during my collecting endeavours, either because they have a local connection to where I was born (hence the bias toward Kent) or they have some other personal significance. Some reasons are obvious – the visual impact or some other quality, other reasons are more quirky. There is no particular order and I’d find it even harder to pick my top three!

I have no connection with Sheffield but just think this label has a wonderful 1930s feel to it. However what really fascinates me is the incongruity of the imagery. The glamourous, elegantly dressed women – reminiscent of a film starlet or “screen goddess” holding aloft a half pint of Nut Brown Ale is unusual to say the least. Needless to say that I doubt if she would have been among the regular clientele of Sheffield pubs or working men’s clubs, but one can always hope…