You are forgetting the German pils beers we enjoyed before Tenants came on the scene . Holsten (5.5%) and Lowenbrau (5.2) were a couple of favourites and even Becks (5%) was half decent before they dropped a clanger with the UK market Becks Vier .
Brewers looking to cut costs with home brewed lagers along with government taxes saw the end of our German favourites who refused to give uk brewers license to make their beers due to German purity laws .
I remember when Holsten first hit the pubs on Draught ,must have been late 70's .Bearing in mind we were used to drinking Skol which was a pissy 2.8% . I was having a few Holstens with dad and the local postman one lunchtime .......the rest is a blur but remember mum getting home sometime late afternoon to find the three of us crashed out in the living room with the postmans bike along with a bag of mail in the hallway . "What the f*** is going on here ?" I think was the term used
Thankfully some stronger beers are making a comeback in some independent micro pubs that are free to sell beer from craft breweries .Though they mainly concentrate on Ales and Bitters most carry a barrel or two of decent a Pilsner .
I think thats where the older drinker is now heading , if you are spending 5 ,6, 7 quid a pint you really do deserve better than the mass produced yuk brewed in places like Northampton .