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With two Royal Warrants and more than 300 years of history, Berry Bros. & Rudd is one of the oldest wine and spirits retailers in Great Britain.
The history can be traced back to 1698 when an enterprising woman, the widow Borowski, opened an "Italian grocery" at number 3 St. James Street, selling tea, snuff, spices and the most fashionable drink of the day, coffee. The coffee grinder sign still hangs at number 3 today, as a tribute to the company's roots.
Over time, Berry Bros. & Rudd's focus shifted to something "stronger". As wine became more important to the business, so did spirits. In the early 19th century, the company began bottling casks under its own label. This made BBR Britain's oldest independent spirits bottler. Three centuries later, the family business remains one of the largest wine and spirits merchants in the British Isles.
The company's colorful history includes episodes such as supplying smugglers with alcohol in America during the Prohibition era and housing Napoleon III in the cellars beneath the store. In 1994, BBR was the first wine and spirits retailer to have a presence on the World Wide Web. In 2010, another branch of BBR was opened: the brokerage business with a focus on the wine trade.
Although much has changed over the years, BBR is still owned and run by members of the Berry and Rudd families and continues to supply the British Royal Family, as it did during the reign of King George III. From time to time, customers are weighed on a giant coffee scale, a tradition that began in the 1760s. Lord Byron, William Pitt and Beau Brummell are among those whose weights are recorded in BBR's accounts.
Berry Bros. & Rudd’s philosophy is based on a simple question: “Is it good to drink?”