A pub chain is a group of pubs or bars operating under a unified brand image. Pubs within a chain are

tied house In the United Kingdom, a tied house is a public house required to buy at least some of its beer from a particular brewery or pub company. That is in contrast to a free house, which is able to choose the beers it stocks freely. A report for th ...

s and can, generally, only sell products which the chain owner sanctions. Pubs in a chain normally display their chain branding prominently and may also feature shared aspects, such as menus and staff uniforms. The owner is often called a ''pubco'' and the chain may exist as a single operation or it may be a division of a larger company, such as a brewery.

History

Pub chains are an evolution of the

system. During the latter half of the nineteenth century increased competition between the large breweries led many of them to buy up local pubs and directly employ publicans to run them, in an attempt to secure markets for their products. Although tied houses had existed in some cities since the seventeenth century, this period has come to be known as the birth of the tied house system. As well as guaranteeing markets for a brewery, the tied house system allowed an uninterrupted

supply chain In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, activ ...

, directly from the brewery to the pub, keeping costs down. A key difference to the system largely operating today is that most tied houses are now owned by pub chains, known as ''pubco's'', who align themselves with specific suppliers in order to obtain big discounts, therefore reducing profits for the brewery.

Types

In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, there are two types of pub chain, reflecting the ownership of the pub and the style of operations. Pubs are either tenanted or managed. Pub chains such as

Punch Taverns Punch Pubs & Co is a pub and bar operator in the United Kingdom, with around 1,300 leased pubs. It is headquartered in the traditional brewing centre of Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constit ...

and

Ei Group Ei Group plc, formerly known as Enterprise Inns plc, is the largest pub company in the UK, with around 5,000 properties, predominantly run as leased and tenanted pubs. Ei Group plc is headquartered in Solihull, West Midlands. It was listed on t ...

own thousands of tenanted pubs which are not branded to retain uniqueness. They are controlled in the brands of beer, ales and lagers and sometimes other beverages that they may sell. Pub chains operating managed houses are frequently run as brands, located near a high street but rarely in predominantly residential areas. Multiple-held pubs do exist in countries other than the United Kingdom, but due to most countries having different accepted systems of ownership and supply, they do not hold anywhere near the level of control over the market as they do in the UK.

References

{{reflist, 2 Pubs in Australia Pubs in the United Kingdom

History

Types

See also

References