So, who's looking forward to Arthur's Day? What will you be doing?

People keep talking about "Diageo pubs", IE pubs which only have Diageo beer, as if Diageo owns them or has some kind of contract with them.
Does one have to have a license or contract from the manufacturer to sell their product? Is there some deal pubs have with Diageo which says they're not allowed to sell anything else?

I always assumed pubs were just like retail stores, buy your products from wholesale suppliers rather than direct from the manufacturers and basically be allowed to carry whatever selection of kegs and taps you like. Is there some agreement that says, "If I want to sell Guinness here I have to agree not to sell any non-Diageo beers"?

Any shneaky word on where Kodaline are playing? Only just got into them recently, they seem to be the most talked about act of this year though and based on what I've heard that doesn't surprise me much, would expect good things from a live set
On a side note, what do people mean when they talk about "Diageo pubs" when referring to pubs which only sell beer from Diageo? I've seen one or two posts which imply that you make some kind of deal with them if you want to sell their beer, which says you can only sell what they want you to. It's interesting - is there some kind of ongoing license a pub needs from a manufacturer to sell particular brands of beer? I always assumed it was just like retail, IE you simply order what you want from wholesale suppliers and have little to no dealings with the manufacturer itself. I know they have special taps and bayonets so you can't use different tap brands (bit silly imo) but people are talking as if it's like "You can order some beer from Diageo as long as you agree not to sell any other beer", or something like that.

Does it really work that way? Would be pretty surprised if it did, would imagine that would be bad for business - been assuming that the pubs which only sell common brands of beer simply did so because they sell, not because they were compelled to only sell those particular brands.