I work behind a bar at present. GUEST,Jon is perfectly correct; tied houses are more restricted in the range of bitter beers they sell and at the same time more expensive than Free Houses.

Judging by comments in this thread and others, and books by Bill Bryson et al. both British and American suppliers are up against a bleating, I'll drink it because everybody else does, follow-my-leader attitude. That is why a Starbucks will drive Fred's Coffee House out of business if it opens within a few city blocks.

Likewise with pubs. Hordes of young people will flock in and just say, "Lager". If really pushed for details, they might just say, "Carling". They can quite happily ignore half a dozen pumps for light or dark bitters or milds.

"Real Ale" also suffers a little from the image presented by CAMRA. CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, was formed in the 1970's to protest about the growing homogenisation of the brewing industry in Britain. All well and good. Unfortunately, most of the real ale enthusiasts show ample evidence of their dedication to their palates, in the form of gigantic beer-bellies. A few others show the obsessive name- and number-collecting habit associated with train-spotters.

My personal opinion; most draught lager sold in Britain has the authentic taste of hacksaw blades dissolved in battery acid. It is served extra cold to make it palatable. I wouldn't normally touch bottled lager, but there are some specialised brands available albeit at a price; Leffe, Hoegaarden (sp? I have difficulty with the gothic script on the bottle).