The brief history of the rod licence and details of prices and where to buy them.
Or you can order online at the bottom of this page

The first licence in the UK came into force way back in the 1860's and just covered the River Usk in Wales.Other river boards began to follow suit with their own version of the licence.Then in 1974 the Labour Government created 10 regional water authorities,each was to have their own rod licence to cover England and Wales,except Southern Region,who strangely did'nt bother with one.Anglers needed to buy a seperate licence for every region they fished,very costly for the match angler.
Then along came Margaret Thatcher who oversaw the split of the water authorities and the National Rivers Authority was born.The N.R.A. took charge of water quality and fisheries in 1989 and after 3 years put together the national rod licence,much to the delight of anglers.

When the national licence was created in 1992 it cost £12.50 and covered all species including salmon.A year later in 1993 complaints came from the occasional anglers like holidaymakers and beginners saying that it was too expensive for their short experience of the sport,so the "week" licence was introduced.A year after this came the 8 day licence and the new 1 day licence.Salmon became seperated in 1994 so game anglers began paying more for their sport.In 1995 the N.R.A. became no more and the Environmental Agency took control,keeping with the existing format of licence which has on average increased by £1 per year.