Cutty Sark

Berry Bros. & Rudd Ltd. can trace its history back to 1698, when the Widow Bourne established a business next to St. James's Palace, on the grass track that was to become one of the most famous thoroughfares in the world, St. James's Street. This business evolved over the years, from selling provisions and exotic spices, to providing the fashionable Coffee Houses of the area with their tea and coffee. It was at this time - the early eighteenth century - that the shop was rebuilt as it stands today, and acquired its celebrated 'address' and sign: "At The Sign Of The Coffee Mill".

At the same time the Berry family were trading in Exeter as wine merchants. John Berry had married Mary Clarke, one of the Widow Bourne's descendants, and his son George travelled to London in 1803 to take over the business. It is possible that wine had been sold from Number Three St. James's Street since the earliest days, but it was George Berry's arrival that really established the business in its present incarnation as one of the great wine merchants of the world.

This reputation was gradually built up over the next 150 years, as the company attracted such luminary customers as Lord Byron and Beau Brummell, Pitt the Younger, the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon III, prime ministers Balfour, Melbourne, Peel and Asquith, Duff Cooper, John Nash and Edwin Lutyens, Gertrude Lawrence, Laurence Olivier and Evelyn Waugh. From the earliest days, royalty came to Number Three, and the Royal Warrant was first awarded to the firm in 1906.

Berry Bros. & Rudd Ltd. is still a family owned, private company, with the eighth generation now working in the business. The company has never stood still, however, or allowed tradition to get in the way of progress. This century has seen major developments. In 1923 the partners decided to produce a whisky for their customers which became one of the best selling brands in the world - Cutty Sark. In 1994 BB&R became the first specialist wine merchant to open a Duty Free shop in a major international airport - Terminal 3 at London's Heathrow.

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