At the end of the 1980s, six national brewers dominated the market for beer sold in pubs in the UK.

[1] These were Allied, Bass, Courage, Grand Metropolitan, Scottish & Newcastle and Whitbread.

The orders restricted the number of tied pubs that could be owned by large breweries in the United Kingdom to 2,000, and required large brewer landlords to allow a guest beer to be sourced by tenants from someone other than their landlord.

The industry responded by spinning off purely pub-owning companies ("pubcos"), such as Punch Taverns, Enterprise Inns, and Admiral Taverns, from the older brewing-and-owning companies (notably Allied Lyons, Bass, and Scottish & Newcastle).

[3] The Beer Orders were revoked in January 2003, by which time the industry had been transformed from the position in the 1980s.