The Great Beer Flood of 1814: How One Vial Wiped Out London’s Slums

This episode examines the 1814 London Beer Flood, when a wooden vat burst and sent a wave of porter through streets, killing eight people. It explores how this disaster triggered sweeping industrial safety reforms and looks at other 19th‑century urban calamities that together illustrate Britain’s growing pains as engineering knowledge evolved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices