(Paras. 1 to 3)

Norwich Area Pubs

Brewery Ties

1. : Introduction

Often this happy state of affairs proves impossible,
owing to lack of information: both of an antique kind
and - surprisingly - of a very recent kind.

The latter derives from the bewildering array of possible
owners/lessees etc. - these days - and the rapidity
with which ownership often changes hands.

2. : Brewery Ties

Putting Free Houses to one side, very many pubs are
not owned by breweries these days. So it is often
difficult to tell if a brewery is involved in an exclusive
way - by contract with the owners (or even the tenants) -
i.e. the pub is a genuinely "tied" house.

Furthermore, in past years, a proportion of the more
"important" pubs has always been outside the direct
control of any brewery.

Therefore ties displayed with recent dates and/or
unexpected names should be regarded, principally,
as records of ownership.

Ownership, as such, is also shown where known,
even when a non-owning brewery has been given
exclusive rights to supply the pub.

3. : Watney's

The proportion of those pubs NOT held[1]
by Watney's was extremely low until 1972.
It is therefore pointless to include hundreds of
instances of -     November 1963 : Watney's
in the often crowded lists of historical ties.

In February 1972 Courage Brewery obtained
47 pubs from the Watney near-monopoly.
The record of these pubs is shown as -
      (1972 : Courage)
      ^ note the brackets.
This indicates a succession from Watney's (not shown);
rather than from any previous Norwich brewery
actually listed.

[1] Lacon's/Whitbread houses and Free Houses etc.
      are clearly distinguishable.

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