Free house (pub)

A free house is a British pub that is owned independently of the brewery (or breweries) that supply it. As a result, a free house can in theory stock whichever beer brands it chooses from whichever breweries it chooses. This is in contrast to a tied house, which is owned by a specific brewery and primarily stocks its products.

Definition of 'Free'

"Free" in this context does not necessarily mean "independent", and the view that "free house" on a pub sign is a guarantee of the quality, range or type of beer available is a mistake. In fact, these days there are very few truly free houses. Many privately owned pubs which advertise themselves as free houses are in fact not totally free to choose what they sell, but committed to selling the products of specific breweries under the terms of loans from those breweries, while not being directly owned by them. Such agreements are sometimes referred to as "loan ties".

Many other "free houses" are not independent family businesses but are now owned by one of the large pub chains (PubCos) such as J.D. Wetherspoon which have sprung up in recent years. Some of these chains have rather uniform pubs and products, while others allow managers more freedom. One of the largest pub chains does sell large amounts of a wide variety of real ale at low prices - but its pubs are not specifically "real ale pubs", being in the city centre to attract the Saturday night crowds and so also selling large quantities of alcopops and big-brand lager to large groups of young people.

Free houses were at one time wrongly perceived to be more expensive than tied houses. Indeed, because of their independent ownership and ability to source from many different breweries, free houses were able to source beer cheaper than tied houses. A wider access to beer brands (and spirits) coupled with the ability to bargain with breweries ensures that free houses operate in a free market for their supplies.