In 2000, Bass sold its brewing operations to Interbrew, while Whitbread also moved out of brewing. Two of the great names of the old British beer industry ceased to be brewers in the traditional sense. The moment symbolised the end of the Big Six era and the arrival of global ownership.

The withdrawal of Bass and Whitbread from brewing in 2000 completes the arc from beerhouse liberalization to corporate concentration. This event gives modern poets and readers a historical frame for pub elegies, real-ale nostalgia, and poems about local names surviving only as brands, reflecting on the changing landscape of community and tradition.