Britain Introduces the Beer Orders

On December 19, 1989, the British government completed a pair of statutory instruments commonly known as the Beer Orders. The measures responded to a Monopolies and Mergers Commission investigation that found the beer market dominated by vertically integrated national brewers controlling production, distribution, and large tied-pub estates. The principal Tied Estate Order applied to brewing groups owning more than 2,000 licensed premises and required them to release half of the premises above that threshold from their beer ties. The Orders also gave qualifying tied tenants access to a guest cask-conditioned beer from another supplier, removed ties on low-alcohol beer and non-beer drinks, and introduced additional restrictions concerning loan ties, wholesale prices, and beer supplies. Intended to increase competition and improve access for smaller brewers, the reforms transformed British pub ownership during the 1990s. Large brewers sold or reorganized many pub estates, helping create powerful independent pub companies—an outcome that changed the structure of the market without eliminating controversy over the beer tie.