Webster's Yorkshire Bitter was launched in the summer of 1982. Largely a cask product, by 1984 Grand Metropolitan had transformed Yorkshire Bitter into a "massive" national brand, available in the company's 5,000 tied houses and 15,000 free houses. It was marketed as their response to the growing popularity of "Yorkshire bitter" in the south of England, particularly John Smith's. Yorkshire Bitter was the highest selling off trade bitter by 1985 with 18 per cent of the market. It had become the fifth best selling bitter nationally by 1989, helped by a competitive pricing policy, and was the highest selling bitter in London. The beer was not without its critics, with the 1990 Good Beer Guide describing it as "weak flavour, reminiscent of a poor quality home brew – worty, bland, cloying, with a dirty finish on the tongue." In 1993 Yorkshire Bitter was reduced from 3.8 per cent to 3.5 per cent ABV in order to save money on duty.
When Scottish & Newcastle acquired the John Smith's and Webster's bitter brands as part of their takeover of Courage in 1995, the lower selling Webster's brands were deprioritized, and virtually all marketing support ceased. Roger Protz has described the brand as "almost redundant" and production of cask conditioned Webster's beer was ended in 2010. Despite this, as of 2012 the beer is still regularly stocked in at least 150 outlets in the South of England alone.
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