In 1900 John was in Leeds, where he had a Refreshment Rooms at 111 Hunslet lane. He was fined 20s in April that year for selling milk containing 22% water. He was soon to move to Bristol where he took a cottage near the former racecourse at Knowle.

SINGULAR DRINKS IN ST. PHILIP'S (Western Daily Press - Thursday 26 July 1900 p.7)
    John Reinecke was summoned for keeping a refreshment-house at 88, West Street, St. Philip's, open after 10 p.m. on Sunday July 15th. Mr. H. R. Wansbrough appeared for the defendant. P.S. Rich, 20A, gave evidence as to the hour at which the shop was open, and described the variety of drinks on the counter. In some cases he and another officer watching saw change given, and at length went into the shop, reminding the defendant that all licensed houses were closed at 10 o'clock on Sunday. Defendant replied, "I am not licensed, and have never been interfered with before in any other town." Witness told him he should report him. There were stools and tables in the shop and people were sitting there. Cross-examined, the words medical herbalist were painted over the door, and herbal dispensary on a card in the window. There was also a diploma (see above) stating that the defendant had passed the examination of the Society of United Medical Herbalists of Great Britain, and had been enrolled as a member. Mr. Wansbrough stated that the case the bench had to decide was whether the drinks were refreshments within the meaning of the Act of Parliament. The barrels in the shop contained medicated drinks, and up till ten o'clock at night he sold ginger beer and other drinks, as he was entitled to do, but not after that hour. Defendant said the business he carried on was that of medical herbalist, and the stuff sold on the night in question was dandelion stout, and sarsaparilla and herbal medicated drinks supplied for the liver, blood, indigestion, &c. After ten o'clock at night only those two drinks were sold.
    Mrs. Ada Elizabeth Reinecke spoke as to the liquors she served after 10 o'clock on the Sunday night, and P.S. 10A deposed to seeing white and brown liquids in the glasses. The bench said they were of the opinion that the opinion that the defendant was keeping the house open for the refreshment, resort, and entertainment of the public. It would be idle to suppose that persons would go there to drink medicinal drinks in the way they did. They were satisfied that other than medicinal drinks were sold, and they fined the defendant 20s and costs, or 21 days imprisonment in default of payment.

REFRESHMENT HOUSE OR HERB SHOP - A TEST CASE IN BRISTOL (Western Daily Press - Wednesday 29 October 1902 p.7)
    John Reinecke, describing himself as a medical herbalist and carrying on business at 29 East Street, Bedminster, was summoned at the Bristol police court yesterday before Messrs. J. H. Howell and E. Parsons for keeping open a refreshment house during prohibited hours and with selling refreshments during prohibited hours on July 12, 13, 19. Mr. Wise, from the Town Clerk's Office, prosecuted, and defendant was represented by Mr. H. R. Wanbrough. Mr. Wise, in opening the case, stated that the informations were laid by the Superintendant of the Bedminster Division. The refreshment houses in Bristol must be closed between the hours of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., but the dispute in this case, he imagined, would centre round the question whether this place was a refreshment house or not. The evidence of the police showed that on a number of days in July the house was frequented by a large number of persons between 11 o'clock at night and the early hours of the morning. On July 5th, at 11.50 p.m. 30 men and women were on the premises; on 6th July between 12.20 and 1.10 30 persons visited the shop; on the 12th July between 11.50 and 1.20 there were 48; on the 13th between 10.15 and midnight there were 86; on the 14th between 10.15 and 11.50 there were 52; and the number varied until the 19th July, when between the hours of 10 p.m. and 12.20 a.m. 157 persons visited the premises. Persons went into the shop and were served with refreshments, some of which was consumed on the premises and some taken away in receptacles. They were not for the most part weakly but robust persons who had been spending the night out apparently. The favourite drink was sarsaparilla made up to imitate beer. This, on being analysed, was found to contain one per cent of sarsaparilla, the remainder being water, so that it was of no value whatever as a medicine. The premises were got up in an attractive manner, with herbs hung on the walls. The shop was brilliantly lighted and had something of the appearance of a summer-house or bower.
    P.C. Burge, 31 B, gave particulars as to the numbers of persons he had seen visiting defendant's shop during prohibited hours.
    The Assistant Magistrate's Clerk (Mr. Braithwaite): Do you find it an agreeable drink? Yes, it's wet (Laughter.)
    The Chairman said he would like to taste it.
    Mr. Wansbrough stated he had brough a well-supplied luncheon basket. (Laughter.) He produced a basket filled with bottles, herbs and boxes of pills.
     The witness, continuing, said some asked for a penny glass and others for a three-halfpenny glass. Some asked for sarsaparilla. Many sat here drinking and talking. The customers were working-class people, mostly young. In reply to Mr. Wansbrough, witness said he had some of the drink at New Brislington on the previous day, some of the same firm's. The drink was not agreeable to his palate, and he would be sorry to drink a lot of it.
    Mr. Wansbrough: Your palate has been affected by beer perhaps. (Laughter.) Since the defendant had opened there the mortality of Bedminster had fallen to a very low rate.
    Mr. Parsons: Perhaps you will come over and live there, Mr. Wansbrough.
    Mr. Wansbrough: I hope so, sir, when I can afford it. (Laughter.)
    P.C. Holland, 38B, also gave evidence as to the number of visitors to the shop on 19th July.
    By Mr. Wansbrough: He had not tasted the drink. A lot of people went there half drunk.
    Witness refused a drink proffered by Mr. Wansbrough, but consented to smell it. He thought there was peppermint in it. The Chairman also smelt it, but apparently was not agreeably impressed.
    Inspector Carter and P.C. 44B also gave evidence as to keeping observation on the house.
    Supt. Turner stated that the largest number of persons visited the shop between 10 p.m. and midnight. On 5th of July, at 11.30 p.m., he saw about thirty persons there - men, women and children. Some were sitting round a table with pint glasses containing drink, which had froth on the top of it. He had to keep two or three extra men in the vicinity of the shop, especially on saturday nights and Sunday mornings, owing to the class of people who frequented the place.
    By Mr. Wansbrough: He sent police officers to places of amusement and to places where municipal meetings were being held to see that there was no disturbance.
    A shopkeeper was called, and he said he sold the defendant's dandelion stout and sarsaparilla as beverages.
    Cross-examined: He had a gallon of each as samples, but it did not sell very well. He had one of the bills headed "The Herb King."
    Dr. James Young, of St. George, stated that the mixtures of sarsaparilla and dandelion stout respectively were of no medicinal value. Neither of these things was ever used alone as medicines.
    By Mr. Wansbrough: He spoke as a medical man, and knew nothing as to the practice of herbalists.
    Mr. Wansbrough, for the defense, said there had been an appeal on this subject at the quarter session in Lincoln, and it had been held that these drinks did not come within the meaning of refreshments. It was not drink of an agreeable nature. It was only necessary to look at his Worship's face when drinking it to see that it was not so. Though defendant might sell ginger beer during the day, he only sold cough balsam, sarsaparilla, dandelion stout, pills, &c., after 10 p.m. The fact that so many people called there showed that they were supplying a public want rather than creating a nuisance. The shopkeeper called for the prosecution told them that people would not buy the drinks as beverages, but for the ailments mentioned in the list which he held in his hand people did buy them.
    Defendant was put into the witness-box, and stated that he lived at 88, West Street, St. Philip's, and that he was a member of the Society of Medical Herbalists. In the basket produced he had the ingredients from which the drinks were made, and he proceeded to enumerate these. They were made as medicinal drinks, and he had never any idea of making them for refreshment. He sold ginger-beer and other drinks as refreshment before 10 p.m. He fought an appeal at Lincoln session, and a verdict was given in his favour, with costs. He had been selling at Grimsby ever since.
    Cross-examined: Orders were sent to him, and goods were delivered by a man who was not a canvasser. He did not keep a traveller. Asked why so many perple visited his shop after 11 o'clock, witness replied that it was to do them good. Some took his medicines to do away with the effects of alcohol.
    Dr. E. H. Cook, analytical and consulting chemist, said the sarsaparilla and dandelion stout were medicated drinks. They were of the class of mixtures sold by herbalists. He did not see how they could be described as refreshments. In half a pint of this sarsaparilla there would be 406 grains of solids, which would be a very fair quantity for some medicines.
    The bench thought it was an intricate and important case, and they would give their decision in a fortnight, on 11th November, at 3 o'clock.

    The case was found for the prosecution and John was fined £1 with £3 costs for selling drinks during prohibited hours, but he intended to appeal the case of keeping his house open.

KILLED THROUGH HIGH HEELED BOOTS: (Western Daily Press - Tuesday 13 January 1903 p.3)
    Also [inquest] at Bedminster Police Station, on the body of Harold Reinecke, aged 15 months. John Joseph Reinecke, a herbalist, of Upper Knowle, identified the deceased as his son. On Wednesday last he went to London, and on his return his wife told him that she had fallen down stairs with the child in her arms. She had high heeled boots, and one of the heels came off, causing her to loose her balance and fall over about 14 stairs. The child seemed frightened, and next morning noticing a discolouration over his eye, he sent for a doctor. Death, however, took place on Saturday morning. Witness's wife was getting better, and was able to get up for the first time that day. Elizabeth Bence, a servant in the employ of Mr. Reinecke, said that she was making tea, when she heard the noise of the fall, and found Mrs. Reinecke and the baby lying at te foot of the kitchen stairs, which were very steep and narrow. Dr. William Conway Gent, Brookside, Upper Knowle, said the child was bruised on the forehead, left eyelids, and nose. He did not see deceased again till after death, which, in his opinion, was due to convulsions, following concussion of the brain. The jury returned a verdict of "accidental death."

On the 10th January 1903, only just after the death of his son, John lost his appeal in Bristol at the quarter sessions, there followed that year more prosecutions:

    At Grimsby on June 11, John Reinecke, botanical brewer, Bristol, was summoned for keeping a refreshment-house without a licence. Mr. Denniss, who prosecuted for the Inland Revenue, sought to show that the botanical drinks sold by defendant were merely sugar solutions flavoured with small quantities of extract of herbs. Mr. Schultess Young, barrister, who defended, contended that the drinks were medicated with extracts made according to the Pharmacopoeia. The Bench reserved their decision.

    John received a fine on 2 counts of selling refreshments at Freeman Street, Grimsby in 1903 without a proper license, but his appeal was successful on the grounds that his manager was Thomas Reinecke and he himself was not the resident occupier as at the time, as he now lived in Bristol.