This page links to those of Hogarth's scenes associated with inns and taverns. His most famous prints are perhaps the two designed to help the campaign to encourage legislation against the evils of 'gin' in the mid eighteen century. They were at the forefront in bringing about such change (aided also by Henry Fielding's An Enquiry into the Causes of the Late Increase in Robbers). Gin Lane (77K) depicts a place of misery, with the drunken mother unable to care for the baby at her breast. Only the pawnbroker prospers. This is contrasted with Beer Street (61K), where conviviality reigns thanks to the excellent qualities of the national beverage. The drunkenness caused by gin was regarded as something completely new.

Another feature of eighteenth-century life, lasting through to the Victorian period (described in Pickwick Papers), was the use of inns at election times. Large numbers of voters and non-voters - the latter were encouraged to lend their 'support' - were treated to free food and booze. 'A Country Inn at Election Time' (77K) shows one such occasion. The election agent in the foreground pays the large bill, even though he carries a copy of the Act against bribery. Hogarth also engraved a series of four election scenes, two of which, An Election Entertainment (165K) and Canvassing for Votes (78K), are set aroundtaverns/inns.

A Modern Midnight Conversation (70K), although set in a coffee-house, can hardly be distinguished from a tavern drinking party. His final piece of work shows Hogarth shuffling off this mortal coil, with The World's End Tavern (154K) crumbling.