Binge drink (16th century) Britain! How the Tudors were worried by alcohol-related violence because most people drank beer for breakfast Elizabeth I warned against dangers of super-strength 'double double beer' Average Briton drank 17 pints per week because beer was safer than water Draconian punishments for drunkards included being sent to the stocks Drunken scenes on the streets of British towns may seem like a distinctly modern phenomenon, but in fact binge-drinking has been a problem for centuries. A new book reveals the extraordinary drinking habits of the Tudor period, when people drank beer for breakfast because it was thought to be healthier than water. Alcohol abuse was so widespread that it prompted the personal intervention of Elizabeth I herself, who issued a ban on a super-strength drink known as 'double double beer'. However, this did not stop her courtiers guzzling an extraordinary amount of ale - in 1593, the royal household got through 600,000 gallons. Binge drinking: A scene from a Tudor tavern, when alcohol abuse was as much of a problem as it is now Smoking: The introduction of tobacco to England led some to call for a ban on smoking in alehouses The extraordinary details of how Britain's binge culture has a 500-year pedigree are revealed in Ye Olde Good Inn Guide, which claims to 'contain all the information a Tudor traveller would need to negotiate a 16th-century pub crawl'. The average person seems to have drunk around 17 pints each week - many preferred it to water because it was less likely to carry diseases. In 1552, during the short-lived reign of Edward VI, alehouses were required to have a licence for the first time, owing to 'intolerable hurts and troubles to the common wealth of this realm' which resulted from overconsumption. Drunkards were forced to undergo humiliating punishments such as sitting in the stocks or even wearing a hollowed-out beer barrel. Concerns: Elizabeth I warned against the dangers of super-strength 'double double beer' Ale, made from malted barley and water, was the traditional English drink which had been enjoyed for centuries. However, after fermenting it had to be drunk quickly to stop it going off. Beer was a more recent arrival, having been imported from the continent. The main difference was that it was made with hops, which allowed it to be kept for weeks rather than days. Strong beer was, like now, popular among those who wanted to feel the effects of the alcohol quicker. It was given evocative nicknames such as 'mad dog', 'dagger ale' and 'dragon's milk'. Wine from England was notorious for its poor quality, so those who could afford it drank imported wines from France and Germany. It was often spiced to disguise the fact that it might have gone off. Cider and perry were popular in the West Country, while the Scots enjoyed a dram of whisky. Other spirits such as gin were known but were not generally drunk in Britain. Local officials would keep a keen eye out for signs of drunkenness - some revellers were punished just for wetting the bed, on the assumption that they must have been overindulging. It was not just the lowest social classes who suffered from the embarrassing fate of being placed in the stocks for excessive drinking. Thomas Wolsey, the future Lord Chancellor, was found to be drunk while he was a junior priest, and was duly punished by the sheriff - though the powerful cardinal had his revenge years later when he sentenced the same sheriff to six years in prison. As today, a heavy drinking culture brought a host of other problems in its wake. Gambling was rife in England's pubs - and professional hustlers would swindle tipsy merry-makers by using loaded dice to rig the games. The alehouses of London were frequented by 'great swarms' of prostitutes, according to one Swiss visitor to the city. And Tudor publicans had to wrestle with an early version of the smoking ban following the introduction of tobacco, which playwright Ben Jonson said was 'good for nothing but to choke a man'. Iconic: Shakespeare's Falstaff, shown being played by Kevin Kline, was a notorious drunkard The reputation of the English for drinking vast amounts of beer was legendary - an army commander leading his troops through France noted with astonishment that his men had 'no beer these last 10 days', which was 'strange for English men to do, with so little grudging'. The alcohol industry created a number of now obsolete jobs - such as ale-conner, a position held in Stratford by Shakespeare's father John. The ale-conner's job was supposedly to test the quality of beer by pouring it over a bench then sitting in it while wearing leather trousers - if the trousers stuck, the drink was off. The Bard himself was also a keen toper, according to some stories, and once took part in a drinking contest which was so onerous that he fell asleep under an apple tree. While beer was loved by Elizabethans of all backgrounds, there was a strict social segregation when it came to drinking, with each class having its own preferred haunt. 'Taverns' were more upmarket establishments where the middle class would enjoy bottles of wine, while poorer people were restricted to cheap 'alehouses'. 'Inns' were similar to modern hotels. Ye Olde Good Inn Guide, by James Moore and Paul Nero, is published by The History Press and is out now. Revelations: The Tudor love of binging is detailed in a new book about drinking in the 16th century