The English reel does exist though clearly is not as common as reels are in Scotland and Ireland. All dance music is functional and only makes its mark and survives when it can fulfill that function. So the reason that they are much less common is because English dances did not call for reels. Dance tunes in 2/4 or 4/4 time were called 'measures' up until the introduction of the polka. The first reference to the polka in England was in 1829 and it certainly became hugely popular from around 1840. Only the dance was new; the tunes that were 'measures' gradually became called 'polkas'.

One really convincing body of evidence for the reel in England are some of the tunes that are found in the hand-written manuscripts (1823) of Richard Hughes of Ash, near Whitchurch, Shropshire. This manuscript was one of four C19 manuscripts from the same family. Neil Brookes has conducted a lot of research on these and has done much to popularise them.

Listen to track 14 of the CD The Whitchurch Hornpipe (Wildgoose WGS350CD 2008) by Neil Brookes & Tony Weatherall and you will hear three superb reels - The Woolsack, Oh! What A Row and a third one that is simply called Reel all clearly reels but very English in their melodic construction. It is one of my very favourite albums of English dance music.