| ||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| Berry Bros & Rudd is Britain’s oldest wine and spirits merchant, having traded from the same shop for more than 300 years and first supplied the royal family during the reign of King George III. The business was established in 1698 by the Widow Bourne at 3 St James’s Street, London. By 1765, Berrys not only supplied the fashionable “coffee houses” — later to become clubs such as Boodles and White’s — but also began weighing customers on giant coffee scales. Records of customers’ weights, including those of Lord Byron and the Aga Khan, span three centuries and continue to this day. Rudd, 79, is the former chairman of the exclusive wine dealership, which has some valuable brands such as Cutty Sark whisky. An artist friend of the family reputedly sketched the now world-famous label after a particularly good lunch in 1923. The company values tradition but has kept up with the times. The wine list used to have to fit in the chairman’s waistcoat pocket; now it is published on the internet. Shares are widely scattered among the family but Rudd is the largest individual shareholder. In 2003-04, the firm made £5.8m profit on £186.8m sales. With nearly £79m of net assets, it is easily worth that figure. We value the wider family at £82m including other wealth. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
