Post WWII
Post 1945 Pubs
When victory in Europe was won, the British celebrated in time honoured fashion and went to the pub. Most were decked out in bunting and union flags, the patriotic heart of the community. Despite their popularity and importance there has been a steady decline ever since, with a net reduction in the number of pubs.
The number of brewers continued to decline too. Takeovers and mergers resulted in just a handful of brewers not only producing the vast majority of beers but also owning the majority of pubs. The Big Six, as they were known, Allied Breweries, Bass Charrington, Courage, Scottish and Newcastle, Watney Mann & Whitbread, put their brands to work. They were national brewers reaching all of the country and therefore could market their brands nationally. The corporate pub had arrived, and with it, keg beers. The most notorious and memorable being the Watney's Red Revolution and Red Barrel, both now synonymous with an all time low in modern British pub history.
Keg (pasteurised) beers and lagers were, and are, popular with the national brewers as they have a long shelf life, need no special handling or treatment, do not deteriorate when transported and are consistent. This means their brand can be sold nationally without variation and there is little wastage, thus profits are higher. Unfortunately for the consumer it means a restriction in choice and a bland drinking experience. In 1971 a group of men from the North West of England, fed up with fizzy, poor tasting keg beers, decided to start a campaign to revitalize ale. The result was the Campaign for Real Ale, which now has 85,000 members.
The tie between pub and brewer is an old one, but in the late1980s this arrangement was seen as unhealthy and restricted choice, the brewers being both manufacturer and retailer. A government report recommended that each of the national brewers should have no more than 2000 pubs in their control and as a result about 12,000 pubs were sold off. Some brewers decided theyd be better off as retailers and sold off their breweries instead.
New retail pub chains were formed but the increased consumer choice envisaged by government was not realised as many of the pub chains bought their beers from the national brewers. The pub chains too have been bought and sold so many times it is hard to know who owns what. Some operate as property companies in all but name, selling off pubs for redevelopment.
Pub closures are estimated by CAMRA to be about 50 per month. It has led to some historic brewing names such as Whitbread and Courage no longer brewing beer. The Beer Orders was revoked in 2003, the brewing and pub landscape changed forever, but not necessarily for the better.