Editing Pub (section)

==Companies==
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2017}}

{{Main|Tied house|Pub chain}}
In the 18th century, after the development of the large London [[Porter (beer)|Porter]] breweries, a trend grew for pubs to become ''[[tied house]]s'' that only sold beer from a single brewery. (A pub not 'tied' in this way was called a '''free house'''.) The usual arrangement for a tied house was that the brewery owned the pub but rented it out to a private individual (landlord) who ran it as a separate business (even though contracted to buy the beer from the brewery). Another common arrangement was (and is) for the landlord to own the premises (whether [[Freehold (English law)|freehold]] or [[leasehold]]) independently of the brewer, but then to take a mortgage loan from a brewery, either to finance the purchase of the pub initially, or to refurbish it, and be required as a term of the loan to observe the solus tie.

In the late 20th century, breweries increasingly ran their pubs directly, using managers rather than tenants. Most such breweries, such as the [[regional brewery]] [[Shepherd Neame]] in Kent and [[Young's]] and [[Fuller, Smith & Turner|Fuller's]] in London, control hundreds of pubs in a particular region of the UK, while a few, such as [[Greene King]], are spread nationally. The landlord of a tied pub may be an employee of the brewery—in which case, they are a manager of a managed house—or a self-employed tenant under a lease agreement with a brewery that obligates (trade tie) them to purchase only that brewery's beer. The beer selection is mainly limited to beers brewed by that particular company. [[The Beer Orders]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1989/245beer.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040410221744/http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1989/245beer.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=10 April 2004 |title=The Supply of Beer nationalarchives.gov.uk |access-date=9 March 2015}}</ref> passed in 1989, were aimed at getting tied houses to offer at least one alternative beer, known as a [[guest beer]], from another brewery. This law has now been repealed but while in force it dramatically altered the industry. Some pubs still offer a regularly changing selection of guest beers.

Organisations such as [[Wetherspoons]], [[Punch Taverns]] and [[O'Neill's (pub chain)|O'Neill's]] were formed in the UK in the wake of the Beer Orders. A PubCo is a company involved in the retailing but not the manufacture of beverages, while a [[Pub chain]] may be run either by a PubCo or by a brewery. In 2016, a number of the largest PubCo's were [[The Pubs Code Regulations 2016|regulated]], and tied tenants in England and Wales got new statutory rights to go free of tie or to have disputes heard by the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

Pubs within a chain usually have items in common—such as fittings, promotions, ambience, and food and drink menu. A pub chain positions itself in the marketplace for a target clientele. One company may run several pub chains aimed at different segments of the market. Pubs for use in a chain are bought and sold in large units, often from regional breweries that then close down. Newly acquired pubs are often renamed by the new owners, and many people resent the loss of [[traditional]] names, especially if their favourite regional beer disappears at the same time.

In 2009 about half of Britain's pubs were owned by large pub companies.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=BBC|title=Pubs 'face mass closure threat'|date=27 January 2009|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/mobile/wales/7853132.stm|access-date=1 May 2015}}</ref>

===Brewery tap===
{{main|Craft beer#Brewpub}}
A [[Craft beer#Brewpub|brewery tap]], also called a brewpub or taproom, is the nearest outlet for a brewery's beers. It is usually a room or bar in the brewery itself, although the name may be applied to a nearby pub.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}