SCOTTISH & Newcastle was among the top UK brewers accused yesterday by MPs of maintaining a stranglehold on the distribution of beer.

The Trade and Industry Committee said the market was controlled by three international brewers: Carlsberg UK, Scottish & Newcastle, and TradeTeam.

However, other criticisms that large pub companies have grown too dominant were rejected.

The committee launched an inquiry earlier this year amid concern that too many pubs were owned by a small number of companies.

It was also alleged so-called pubcos were treating their tenants unfairly.

However, the committee instead turned its attention on the large brewers.

In its conclusions, the select committee report said: "We are concerned that national brewers retain a stranglehold on the distribution of beer."

The report said the situation was due to the distribution contracts major pub companies have with the national brewers' distribution operations.

The MPs also suggested the top three brewers should have less control over the distribution of beer.

However Scottish & Newcastle, which makes Newcastle Brown Ale, said its practices were necessary to help it compete in one of the most competitive beer markets in the world.

The original inquiry was sparked by a complaint from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) about what it saw as the growing influence of companies that owned large pub estates.

The companies were created after national brewers were forced to sell thousands of their pubs from the end of the 1980s to generate greater competition.

There are seven large pubcos in the UK. The largest two, Enterprise and Punch, have more than 8,000 pubs each.

The committee said it had found no evidence that one pubco or brewer held a dominant position in the market - a view shared by the Office of Fair Trading.

The FSB said the committee had underestimated both the scale of the problems licensees faced and their cause.

In a statement, it said: "The fact that licensees only stay at a pubco pub for an average of three years does not make it on to the pages of the report and speaks volumes about the nature of the partnership and who takes the lion's share."