A pub chain is a group of

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

s 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. Pub chains can exist as a stand-alone operation, often called a ''pubco'', or can 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 breweries led many of them to buy up local pubs 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 securing markets for their own products, this system provided an efficient

supply chain A supply chain is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers, while supply chain management deals with the flow of goods in distri ...

directly from the brewery to the pub; cutting costs for breweries and allowing complete and uninterrupted control over quality. Most tied houses today are owned by non-brewing pub chains, known as ''pubco's''. A key difference between this, and the traditional tied house system, is that pubco's align themselves with specific brewers in order to obtain big discounts; reducing profits for breweries and restricting their ability to control the quality of the end product.

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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, there are two types of

chain, reflecting the ownership of the pub and the style of operations. Pubs are either tenanted or managed.

Marston's Brewery Carlsberg Britvic is a British subsidiary of Carlsberg Group, created in January 2025 by the merger of Carlsberg's UK business (including the former Marston's plc breweries) and Britvic, acquired by Carlsberg Group in 2024. History In 2020, Ma ...

and

Stonegate Pub Company Stonegate Pub Company Ltd is the largest pub company in the UK, operating around 4,800 managed, leased and tenanted pubs. It is owned by TDR Capital. The head office is based in Solihull, England, and the company is registered in the George Town, ...

are two of the largest pub chains in the UK operating multiple brands of branded pubs. 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 consti ...

and

Ei Group Ei Group plc, formerly known as Enterprise Inns plc, was the largest pub company in the UK, with around 4,000 properties, predominantly run as leased and tenanted pubs. Ei Group plc was headquartered in Solihull, West Midlands (county), West Mid ...

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