 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hotels |
| Founded | 1762 |
| Headquarters | Harrogate, UK |
Key people | James Burrell (Group CEO) |
| Website | https://www.devere.co.uk |
De Vere is a hotels and leisure business, which until the 1990s was a brewing company known as Greenall's. It used to be listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Greenall's Brewery was founded by Thomas Greenall in 1762. Initially based in St Helens, the company established a second brewery at Wilderspool, south of Warrington in 1787. [1] [2]
It bought the Groves & Whitnall Brewery in Salford in 1961, [3] Shipstone's Brewery in Nottingham in 1978 [4] and Davenport's Brewery in Birmingham in 1986. [5] For much of the 20th century, the company traded as Greenall Whitley & Co Limited. [5] The St Helens brewery was demolished in the 1970s to make way for a new shopping centre. The Warrington brewery on the edge of Stockton Heath was bought by Bruntwood, renamed Wilderspool Business Park and is now let to office occupiers. [6]
The company ceased brewing in 1991 to concentrate on running pubs and hotels. [7]
In 1999, the tenanted wing of the Greenall's operation was sold to the Japanese bank, Nomura for £370 million [8] and the main Greenall's operation, involving 770 pubs and 69 budget lodges, was sold to Scottish and Newcastle for £1.1billion. [9] Greenalls started to focus its resources on its De Vere and Village Leisure hotel branding at that time. [9]
In February 2005, Greenalls sold The Belfry to The Quinn Group for £186 million. [10]
The Greenall family connection remained as Lord Daresbury, the descendant of the original founder, remained the non-executive chairman. This tie was severed in 2006 when Daresbury stepped down from the post and much of the family's interest was sold. [11]
In 2006, the business, by then known as De Vere Group, was acquired by The Alternative Hotels Group plc, a joint venture between HBOS and eight investors led by Richard Balfour-Lynn, for £745.5 million. [12] The Alternative Hotels Group plc renamed itself De Vere Group in 2010. [13]
De Vere Group sold Greenall's Gin for £7 million in a private equity-backed management buyout in 2011. [14] Balfour-Lynn also stood down as chief executive in 2011. [15]
In March 2014, private equity firm Starwood Capital Group acquired the business, by then known as De Vere Venues, and integrated it into Principal Hayley Group which it already owned. [16]
In November 2014, Village Urban Resorts were sold to Denver-based private equity firm KSL Capital Partners for £485m. [17]
In November 2016, Principal Hayley Group went through a major rebranding and re-investment project; the group became known as the Principal Hotel Company and split their portfolio between two groups of hotels: De Vere (a group of modern country estate hotels) and Principal (a group of luxury city hotels). [18]
Greenall's ales are distributed by Carlsberg and brewed for them by Molson Coors in Burtonwood, near Warrington. [19] Greenall's ales can still be bought in some pubs in the North West of England, although they are gradually disappearing. Often, only Greenall's Mild can be found. Greenall's Bitter is 3.6% ABV. [20] Greenall's Mild is 3.1%. [20]
The Coors Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company based in Golden, Colorado that was founded in 1873. In 2005, Adolph Coors Company, the holding company that owned Coors Brewing, merged with Molson, Inc. to become Molson Coors. The first Coors brewery location in Golden, Colorado is the largest single brewing facility operating in the world.
The Molson Brewery is a Canadian-based brewery based in Montreal and was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors.
Baron Daresbury, of Walton in the County of Chester, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 21 June 1927 for Sir Gilbert Greenall, 2nd Baronet by King George V. The Baronetcy, of Walton Hall in the County of Chester, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 22 February 1876 for his father Gilbert Greenall, who was head of the family brewing business and also represented Warrington in the House of Commons as a Conservative. As of 2015 the titles are held by the first Baron's great-grandson, the fourth Baron, who succeeded his father in 1996. The former seat of the Greenall family was Walton Hall near Warrington, Cheshire. However, the house was sold in 1941. The fourth Lord Daresbury was based at Hall Lane Farm on the Daresbury estate, home of the Creamfields music festival.
SABMiller plc was a South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England on the outskirts of London until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by AB InBev. Prior to that date, it was the world's second-largest brewer measured by revenues and was also a major bottler of Coca-Cola. Its brands included Foster's, Miller, and Pilsner Urquell. It operated in 80 countries worldwide and in 2009 sold around 21 billion litres of beverages. Since 10 October 2016, SABMiller is a business division of AB InBev, a Belgian multinational corporation with headquarters in Leuven.
The Carling Brewery was founded in 1840 by Thomas Carling at London in Upper Canada. In 1952, Carling lager was first sold in the United Kingdom, and in the early 1980s, it became the UK's most popular beer brand. The company changed hands numerous times – it was acquired by Canadian Breweries, which was eventually renamed Carling O'Keefe, which merged with the Molson Brewery, which then merged with Coors to form Molson Coors.
Bass Brewery is a British brewer founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK. By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with an annual output of one million barrels. Its pale ale was exported throughout the British Empire, and the company's iconic red triangle became the UK's first registered trade mark.
Burtonwood is a village in the civil parish of Burtonwood and Westbrook, in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the name Burtonwood is known worldwide as the location of the former RAF Station Burtonwood military camp. Burtonwood village itself is a few miles away from the site of the former station. The civil parish also includes Westbrook, which is a council ward and suburb of Warrington. According to the 2001 census, the population of the entire civil parish was 11,265.
Carling O'Keefe was a brewing company in Canada that is now part of Molson Coors. The company's origins can be traced to Canadian Breweries, which bought the Carling Brewery in 1930 and the O'Keefe Brewery in 1934. Canadian Breweries purchased numerous other brewers – some to shut down, and some solely for their brands. In 1969, Canadian Breweries was acquired by a subsidiary of Rothmans, which renamed the company as Carling O'Keefe in 1973. The company was sold in 1987, then merged with Molson in 1989.
Apatin Brewery, a member of the Molson Coors Europe, is a Serbian brewery based in Apatin. It is majority owned by the American company Molson Coors. The brewery's products are exported worldwide. Outside of Serbia, the beer is sold in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Austria, Sweden, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Blue Moon Belgian White is a Belgian-style witbier brewed by Molson Coors under the name the Blue Moon Brewing Co. It was launched in 1995, and was originally brewed in Golden, Colorado.
Terrapin Beer Company is a brewery founded in 2002 by Brian "Spike" Buckowski and John Cochran in Athens, Georgia, United States. In July 2016, Molson Coors announced its majority stake in Terrapin, ending its status as a craft brewery.
Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form Diageo in 1997.
Stones Brewery was a brewery founded in 1868 by William Stones in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and purchased by Bass Brewery in 1968. After its closure in 1999, its major brand, Stones Bitter, has continued to be produced by the Molson Coors Brewing Company.
Principal Hotel Company is a British hotel and conference venue operator headquartered in Harrogate, England.
Starwood Capital Group is an investment firm headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida. It is managed by Barry Sternlicht. It was co-founded by Sternlicht and Robert Faith in 1991. In 1993, Faith left Starwood to found Greystar Real Estate Partners.
Molson Coors is a Canadian-American multinational drink and brewing company headquartered in Chicago, IL with main offices in Golden, Colorado, and Montreal, Quebec.
The history of Warrington began when it was founded by the Romans at an important crossing place on the River Mersey. A new settlement was established by the Saxon Wærings. By the Middle Ages, Warrington had emerged as a market town at the lowest bridging point of the river. A local tradition of textile and tool production dates from this time. The expansion and urbanisation of Warrington coincided with the Industrial Revolution, particularly after the Mersey was made navigable in the 18th century. Warrington became a manufacturing town and a centre of steel, textiles, brewing, tanning and chemical industries.
Saint Archer Brewing Co. was a brewery in San Diego. It was sold to brewing conglomerate Molson Coors in 2015 and run as a subsidiary under the Tenth & Blake group. In January 2022, Molson Coors Beverage Company announced that it would stop production of the Saint Archer brand and sell its San Diego-based brewery and taproom to Kings & Convicts Brewing Co., which owns the Ballast Point brand.
Peter Gilbert Greenall, 4th Baron Daresbury is a British aristocrat and businessman associated primarily with horseracing, notably as the chairman of Aintree Racecourse from 1989-2014.
Greenall's Gin is a brand of gin that dates back to 1761, and which is distilled by the distillers G&J Distillers, formerly G&J Greenall’s, in Warrington, Cheshire, England. Originally founded by Thomas Dakin, the distillers are now part of the Quintessential Brands group. The company claims to be England's oldest gin distillery.
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