BY THE BEGINNING of 1916 the Board was optimistic that its policies were producing significant results in the battle against drink. The trade had tolerated interference in its work but the extension of the Board's policies over the forthcoming months was to place a severe strain on this grudging acquiescence. The CCB had a broader mandate to improve industrial performance and the ‘drink problem’ was seen as more than just a problem of pubs but also involved an assessment of the working man's daily routine. As a result action was taken by the Board to modify munitions workers’ diets. This extension of the CCB's powers was seen as vindictive temperance policy implemented under the national interest.

The Board pressed on with its programme. The Second Report of the CCB, published on 1 May 1916, is indicative of the swift and substantive progress made in little under a year. The document itself is much longer than its predecessor, which was referred to as a ‘provisional report’ and deals with a number of concerns merely hinted at previously. Most prominent was the interest taken in the relationship between food and the effect of alcohol, again a familiar grievance of both the temperance and social reform movement, and another front in the battle against drink. While today it is unusual to find a pub that does not sell food, in the Edwardian period this was the exception. The report states: