In 1900 the population of the island consisted of the tenant and innkeeper, a Lloyd's signalman, the lighthouse keepers and their families, and the garrison which by this time had been reduced to twenty. The latter, however, were all withdrawn a few years later and the barracks and batteries abandoned and allowed to become derelict.
The inn, which had been a pleasant rendezvous for so many generations, became even more popular in the latter part of the nineteenth century when Flat Holm came to be a favorite place for anglers, fish being very plentiful in the locality. Liquor was sold there at all hours regardless of the licensing laws until eventually it came to the notice of the Cardiff police.
A prosecution followed, and in his defense the innkeeper said that all his life, and that of his father before him, they had sold liquor at all hours and on every day of the week, always believing that the restricted hours did not apply beyond the mainland. [remember there was the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act of 1881, etc. The following Acts were in force in Glamorgan until 1961]
Although found guilty, in view of the unusual circumstances and the many years the practice had passed unnoticed, he was ordered to pay only the costs of the case. Returning to the island a wiser man, he was soon to be saddened by the diminishing attractions of the old tavern, which soon afterwards closed down after having dispensed hospitality for over a century and a half.
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