On one big pub company's published April 2026 price list, a 50 litre keg of Carling is £218.65. On a free-trade wholesaler's website this morning it's £165.72. That's £52.93 a keg, or 60p on every pint before you've pulled one. Across 18 kegs I could match like for like, the tied price ran between 17p and £1.01 a pint dearer, and the middle of the range was about 62p. The duty in both prices is identical, so none of that gap is tax. The law says a tied tenant should be no worse off than if they weren't tied, which means that gap is supposed to come back to you somewhere else, mainly in a lower rent. This guide shows the sums so you can check whether it does.
I'm a tied tenant. I'm not anti-tie and I'm not going to tell you to rip up your agreement. A tie can be a fair deal. But you can't judge whether yours is fair without knowing the number, and almost nobody I know has ever put their price list next to a free-trade one. The pub companies have the number. You should too.
Where the prices come from
The tied prices are from Star Pubs' wholesale price list dated April 2026, which Star publishes on its own Pubs Code page. I'm using Star because its list is public and current, not because it's better or worse than anyone else. Most tied tenants never see a competitor's list, and your own pubco's list is what matters for you.
The free-trade prices are from Inn Express, a drinks wholesaler that publishes keg prices ex VAT on its website. I checked every price on 12 October 2026. Inn Express covers about 70 miles around Stratford-upon-Avon, has no minimum order and charges £2.50 plus VAT for delivery, so these are real prices a free-of-tie pub in its area could pay today. They aren't the cheapest prices in the country and they aren't the dearest. A big free house buying direct from a brewery may get better, a small one in a different region may pay more.
Two things to know before the table. Star's list carries no VAT column and Inn Express quotes ex VAT, so I've treated both as ex VAT trade prices. Check one line against your own invoice before you rely on any of this. And Star's list has a "band" column next to each beer. I haven't tried to interpret it. If you're tied, ask your BDM in writing what discounts, if any, apply to your agreement, because your real price may be below the list.
18 kegs, side by side
Same brand, same container size, both prices ex VAT. Per pint is the gap divided by the nominal pints in the keg (88 in a 50 litre keg, 176 in a 100 litre). Real yield is a few pints lower either way, and that doesn't change the gap.
| Keg | Tied list price | Free-trade price | Gap per keg | Gap % | Gap per pint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peroni 50L | £278.86 | £189.91 | £88.95 | 47% | 101p |
| Beavertown Neck Oil 50L | £274.50 | £187.18 | £87.32 | 47% | 99p |
| Budweiser Budvar 50L | £237.72 | £162.83 | £74.89 | 46% | 85p |
| Estrella Damm 50L | £267.90 | £198.64 | £69.26 | 35% | 79p |
| Coors 50L | £213.27 | £148.72 | £64.55 | 43% | 73p |
| Cruzcampo 50L | £240.55 | £177.34 | £63.21 | 36% | 72p |
| Tetley's Smoothflow 50L | £172.06 | £116.00 | £56.06 | 48% | 64p |
| Carling 100L | £433.26 | £321.22 | £112.04 | 35% | 64p |
| Worthington Creamflow 50L | £180.91 | £125.00 | £55.91 | 45% | 64p |
| Carling 50L | £218.65 | £165.72 | £52.93 | 32% | 60p |
| Amstel 50L | £218.71 | £169.05 | £49.66 | 29% | 56p |
| Theakston Best Bitter 50L | £184.68 | £135.25 | £49.43 | 37% | 56p |
| Guinness 50L | £243.12 | £194.00 | £49.12 | 25% | 56p |
| Heineken 50L | £236.03 | £187.59 | £48.44 | 26% | 55p |
| Birra Moretti 50L | £245.85 | £206.29 | £39.56 | 19% | 45p |
| Foster's 50L | £177.60 | £141.08 | £36.52 | 26% | 42p |
| Red Stripe 50L | £225.90 | £196.13 | £29.77 | 15% | 34p |
| John Smith's Extra Smooth 50L | £160.67 | £146.05 | £14.62 | 10% | 17p |
I left three matches out. San Miguel, Boddingtons and Stella all showed gaps of more than 75% on the day, which looked to me like a promotion or a clearance price on the free-trade side rather than a normal one. Leaving them in would have made the average worse for the tie. I'd rather the table undersold the gap than oversold it.
Cask, per sellable pint
Star's list does something useful for cask. It shows the sediment allowance and the sellable pints in each cask, so you can work out the gap per pint you can actually sell. Same comparison, nine gallon casks, using Star's own sellable pints figure for both sides.
| Cask (9 gallon) | Tied list price | Free-trade price | Sellable pints (Star's figure) | Gap per sellable pint |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greene King Abbot Ale | £172.27 | £113.99 | 67.2 | 87p |
| Theakston Best Bitter | £149.72 | £98.49 | 70.4 | 73p |
| Theakston Old Peculier | £188.52 | £139.49 | 70.4 | 70p |
| Adnams Ghost Ship | £155.56 | £114.99 | 68.0 | 60p |
| Sharp's Doom Bar | £152.16 | £117.49 | 69.4 | 50p |
Cask comes out about the same as keg, 50p to 87p a pint. If anything it hurts more, because cask already sells at a lower price than lager in most pubs. The cask pricing guide has what pubs are charging.
None of the gap is duty
People sometimes assume the tied price is dear because of tax. It isn't. Duty on draught beer is £19.45 per litre of pure alcohol from 1 February 2026. A 50 litre keg of 4% lager holds 2 litres of pure alcohol, so it carries £38.90 of duty whoever sells it to you. The duty guide has the full sums.
On the Carling line, that's £38.90 of duty in a £165.72 free-trade keg and the same £38.90 in a £218.65 tied keg. Take duty out of both and the tied keg costs £179.75 against £126.82. On the beer itself, the tied price is about 42% higher.
What 60p a pint does to your GP
The average pint of standard lager was £4.89 in the Morning Advertiser's 2026 survey. Take VAT out and the pub keeps about £4.08. Here's that pint on each price, on the nominal 88 pints.
| Carling, 50L | Cost per pint | Cash margin per pint (ex VAT) | GP% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tied list price | £2.48 | £1.59 | 39% |
| Free-trade price | £1.88 | £2.19 | 54% |
That's 15 GP points on the same pint at the same price over the bar. It's why tied and free-of-tie licensees argue past each other in the groups. A free house running 55% on lager and a tied house running 40% can both be running well. The GP% isn't comparable, the deal is. The GP report guide covers why the same pint gives four different answers.
Those are my sums on the published prices, not figures from any real pub.
What the gap adds up to in a year
Taking 60p a pint as a round middle figure:
| Keg pints a week | Gap a week | Gap a year |
|---|---|---|
| 400 | £240 | £12,480 |
| 600 | £360 | £18,720 |
| 1,000 | £600 | £31,200 |
That's the number to hold in your head when you look at your rent. It isn't a loss. It's the price of the tied deal, paid a pint at a time. The question is what you get for it.
What the gap is supposed to buy you
The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 says the Pubs Code must be consistent with two principles. One is fair and lawful dealing. The other is that tied pub tenants should not be worse off than they would be if they weren't subject to any product or service tie. That's section 42, and it's the whole reason the Code exists.
In plain terms, if you're paying £18,720 a year more for beer than a free house would, your tied deal should be giving you about that much back. Mostly that's meant to be a lower rent than a free-of-tie rent on the same pub. Depending on your agreement it can also include things a free trader pays for separately, so ask your pubco in writing what your tied deal includes and put a figure on each item.
Then do the simple version of the sum.
- Your keg and cask pints a year, times your own gap per pint, is roughly what the tie costs you.
- What a free-of-tie rent on your pub would be, minus your tied rent, is roughly what the tie gives you back on rent.
- Add a value for anything else in the tied package that a free house would have to pay for.
If the first number is a lot bigger than the second and third together, you may be worse off than the law intends, and that's what the Code's rights are there for. If they're close, the tie may be a fair trade for you. Either way you'll know, which puts you ahead of most of us.
The tools the Code gives you
None of this works as a negotiation unless you use the routes the Code sets out. They have deadlines and they're strict.
- Rent assessment. At a rent review, or after a significant price increase, you can ask for one. The pubco has to show its workings, including how it's treated your tied prices. The rent assessment guide has the steps and time limits.
- Market rent only (MRO). At set trigger points you can ask to go free of tie at an open market rent. The pubco's MRO offer and your current tied deal can then be compared properly. The MRO guide walks through it, including the 21-day window.
- Significant price increase. If your tied prices rise faster than the Code allows over a set period, that can be a trigger. The tied price rises guide has the formula.
One warning. The free-trade comparison only carries weight if your own figures are solid. A pubco can argue about what a free house would pay. It's much harder to argue with your own dated sales by product, your own keg counts and your own invoices.
How to do this for your own pub in an hour
- Get your pubco's current price list. If you can't find it, ask your BDM for it in writing.
- Pull your last 12 weeks of sales by product from the till, or your delivery notes if the till won't give you that.
- Pick your top eight draught lines. They'll be most of your volume.
- Find a free-trade price for each from at least two wholesalers that deliver to you. Note the date and the web address, because prices move.
- Work out the gap per pint for each, multiply by your weekly pints, add it up.
- Write the total on a piece of paper next to your rent. Keep both for your next rent review.
If you want a simple sheet to do this in, the free stocktake template has cost-per-pint and GP columns already set up. And if you've never compared your tied prices month to month, the price rise tracking guide shows how to catch the rises line by line.
Things this comparison can't tell you
I'd rather be straight about the limits. It's one pubco's list against one regional wholesaler. Your pubco's prices could be higher or lower than Star's. Free-trade prices vary by region, volume and the deals a free house can get from brewers, which can be big. A free house also pays for things a tied tenant may not, and it carries risks a tied tenant may not. And list price isn't always paid price.
What it does tell you is the order of magnitude. On these two published lists, being tied costs somewhere around 35% more for the same keg and 60p a pint in the middle of the range. If your rent saving is nowhere near that, it's worth finding out why.
Where StockTap fits
StockTap won't tell you what a fair rent is. That's a surveyor's job, and the Pubs Code Adjudicator's 2026 survey found only 12% of tied tenants took advice from a qualified surveyor before taking on their tenancy. What StockTap does is hold your side of the numbers: dated counts of every keg and bottle, cost prices that update when you scan a delivery note, GP by product and a CSV export of the lot. When it's time to put your figures in front of a pubco, they're already there, and they're yours.
Common questions
How much more do tied pubs pay for beer than free houses?
On Star Pubs' published April 2026 list against a free-trade wholesaler's prices on 12 October 2026, 18 matched kegs were between 10% and 48% dearer tied, a middle figure of about 35%. Per pint, the gap ran from 17p to £1.01, about 62p in the middle. Your own pubco's prices and your local free-trade prices will differ.
Is the tied price higher because of duty?
No. Duty is the same whoever sells you the keg. A 50 litre keg of 4% lager carries £38.90 of duty at the 2026 draught rate either way. Take duty out and the tied Carling keg is about 42% dearer on the beer itself.
Is a tied tenant supposed to be worse off?
No. Section 42 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 says the Pubs Code must be consistent with the principle that tied tenants should not be worse off than if they were not tied. The higher tied price is meant to be balanced, mainly by a lower rent.
Where can I find my pubco's price list?
Some pubcos publish theirs; Star links its list from its Pubs Code page. Otherwise ask your BDM for the current list in writing. You need it for any rent assessment or MRO comparison.
Why is my GP% lower than a free house's on the same beer?
Because the cost per pint is higher. On these lists, a Carling pint sold at £4.89 makes about 39% GP on the tied price and 54% on the free-trade price. Compare the whole deal, rent included, not the GP%.
Sources
- Tied prices, sediment allowances and sellable pints: Star Pubs and Bars WSP List April 2026, linked from Star Pubs, Pubs Code page, both checked 12 October 2026.
- Free-trade prices (ex VAT, as shown on each product page on 12 October 2026), trading area, minimum order and delivery charge: Inn Express, Carling Lager 50L Keg and the matching product pages for each line in the tables, and Inn Express FAQ.
- The not-worse-off principle: Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, section 42, legislation.gov.uk, checked 12 October 2026.
- Draught beer duty £19.45 per litre of pure alcohol from 1 February 2026: HMRC, alcohol duty rates, gov.uk.
- Average pint of lager £4.89: Morning Advertiser pint price survey, 21 May 2026 (see the average pint price guide).
- 12% of tied tenants sought advice from a qualified surveyor before taking on a tenancy: Pubs Code Adjudicator 2026 tied tenant survey (see the dilapidations guide).
- Gap per pint, gap per sellable pint, the ex-duty comparison, GP% per pint and the yearly totals are my own arithmetic on the published prices, illustrative, not about any real pub. Three lines (San Miguel, Boddingtons, Stella Artois) were excluded because the free-trade price on the day looked promotional.