Whilst I was joking about there only being Bass available, my genuine preconception is that there wasn't a great range of beer styles readily available until more recently and everything was just a variation on "real ale". True or no?
Sorry, but "False".
The problem with today's brews is that a lot of businesses have adopted "The McDonalds Principle". The company basically sell "a burger in a bun with chips" but unless you look at the Menu carefully you can be conned into thinking that they sell a huge variety of food.
Today's beer industry is very similar. Using the basic ingredients of water, malt, hops and yeast they tweak the recipe, bugger about with the way it is brewed, call it a stupid name and then stick a price tag on it that will make your eyes water!
Back in the 60's and 70's there was still a variety of bottled and canned beers available from UK Breweries and even some from "foreign parts" so we did have "variety" but without the daft names, flavours and massive price tags.
My own start on beer was as a lad working on Butlin's Amusement Park at 15 years old was an occasional bottle of Manns Brown. As my palate matured, I went to sea and aged 17 I moved on to Tennent's Lager. This wasn't a "Life Choice" so much as a "Financial Necessity" because with a wage of £9.11.8d a month (
before the removal for National Insurance at 5/5d a week) it was all I could afford; and of course it had the pretty ladies on the cans.
By the time I was in my 20's I was a genuine "Pint of Bitter" man. Even with a decent wage, the acquisition of a wife, two kids and a mortgage meant that the cost of a pub bought pint went out of reach so I started Home Brewing in the late 60's; basically Bitter to a recipe given to me by a fellow worker.
By the time I could regularly go to a pub in the early 70's the "foreign Lager flood" had started. It was cheaper than Bitter and with a dash of Lime Juice it became drinkable; and I got wooed over to the dark side for a few years. At this time I also had two consecutive brews infected at home and gave up Home Brewing for many, many years.
Happy Days - and with cheaper beers!