The terms tied house and free house are used (primarily in the United Kingdom) to describe the ownership of pubs. The terms reflect the fact that in the United Kingdom, and especially in England, pubs have been traditionally owned and controlled by breweries.
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Tied house
A tied house is a pub that is either owned by, or has an exclusive arrangement with, a particular brewery. As a result, the pub will generally serve primarily, or in some cases only, beer from that brewery. This is often indicated by including the brewer's name or logo prominently on the pub's sign.
Free house
A free house is a pub with no particular tie, where the landlord is free to choose the beers on tap. This can result in a greater variety of beers being available, although in many cases it simply means that the beers are chosen by a distributor rather than a brewery.
Guest beer
By law, even in tied houses, landlords must be allowed to stock at least one beer from a different brewer, known as a guest beer.
