Self-styled pub champion Mulholland had held the West Yorkshire seat for the Liberal Democrats since 2005, but was beaten by Labour party candidate Alex Sobel by 4,224 votes.
Head of the Pubs Advisory Service Chris Wright said Mulholland’s loss was “disappointing” for pubs.
“He was very good at getting legislation through and somebody now needs to take up that position of representing pubs in parliament,” Wright told The Morning Advertiser.
Pub industry veteran and MA columnist Phil Dixon also paid tribute: "I'm surprised as I thought Greg's constituency track record as a fine MP would have saved him. His strength, and weakness, was his aggressiveness, which could, on occasion, see him well overstep the mark.
"His passion and effectiveness for a fairer deal for the nation's publicans will though, be sorely missed."
Pubs minister re-elected
Conservative MP Andrew Percy, who was community pubs minister before the election, secured 60% of the vote in his constituency of Brigg & Goole.
The two ministers who were responsible for overseeing the enforcement of the pubs code before the election, Greg Clark and Margot James, were both re-elected.
Clark, who was secretary of state at the Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), was re-elected as the MP for Tunbridge Wells in Kent.
James, the parliamentary under-secretary of state for small business ahead of the election, increased her majority in Stourbridge, West Midlands.
Mixed results for all-party groups
The chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group (APPBG), Graham Evans, lost his seat in Weaver Vale, Cheshire, to Labour candidate Mike Amesbury.
The group’s president Nigel Evans was, however, re-elected to the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, seat he has held since 1992.
All-Party Parliamentary Pub Group (APPPG) chair and Labour MP Toby Perkins held his Chesterfield, Derbyshire, seat.
However, the group’s vice-chair Conservative Charlotte Leslie lost her Bristol North West seat.
The group’s other two vice-chairs – Green MP Caroline Lucas and Labour’s Louise Haigh – held onto their respective seats in Brighton Pavilion and Sheffield Heeley.