I think it's about the point of reference BC. My point of reference is cask ale (having started on it in pubs as a 13 year old). I was encouraged by my old man to avoid kegs on pain of death - we regularly walked out of pubs if there was no handpump or gravity option. He only really drinks German beers at home. We're cask-snobs as biased as megaswillers are about what constitutes proper beer.
Here's a quote from Richard Boston (RIP) about CAMRA- though they have evolved somewhat - writing in the early '70s: "It has been said that some of their members would drink castor oil if it came from a hand pump, and would reject nectar if it had no more than looked at carbon dioxide."
And while the drink-at-home category has definitely had a resurgence in the UK in the past decade due to the cost of booze in pubs (saloon bars c.1920s-30s often only served bottles as it was considered better than cask and pale ale was the term to differentiate from the bottled version of the bitter), I really believe a lot of it is about the fancy labels and marketing from the likes of Wychwood, Greene King and all the followers.
While I get your point, I agree with Bribie. English bottled beer is inferior, bottle-conditioned is the next best thing. Christ if I was pushing on into the wee hours in a place that sells fizzy pop as beer I would drink Newcy Brown in a bottle over kegged lager, and I find it a sickly disgrace when i'm sober. You just can't recapture the mouthfeel and flavours from a bottle. However, until I figure out my own cask-dispense system for my homebrew it won't stop me from trying