Berry Bros & Rudd

History

Berry Bros. & Rudd is Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchant, having traded from the same shop for over 300 years.

The business was established in 1698 by the Widow Bourne at 3 St James's Street, London. Today members of the Berry and Rudd families continue to own and manage the family-run wine merchant.

By 1765, at the 'Sign of the Coffee Mill', Berrys not only supplied the fashionable 'Coffee Houses' (later to become Clubs such as Boodles and Whites) but also began weighing customers on giant coffee scales.

Records of customers' weights, including those of Lord Byron, William Pitt and the Aga Khan, span three centuries and continue to be added to, to this day.

Berrys first supplied wine to the British Royal Family during King George III's reign and has continued to do so until the present day. Today, Berrys holds two Royal Warrants for H.M. The Queen and H.R.H. The Prince of Wales.

In 1923 the company created Cutty Sark Scots' Whisky; this was the first naturally-coloured Scotch. More recently a range of fine vintage Single Malts has been developed under the Berrys' Own Selection label.

Despite Berrys' history and the continuation in the belief in traditional standards of service and quality of care, storage and provenance, it is one of the most innovative and modern wine and spirit merchants.

In 1994 Berrys launched one of the first internet wine shops, www.bbr.com, and the following year a Duty Free Wine Shop in Heathrow's Terminal 3.

Today the company also has offices in Dublin and Hong Kong, two Wine Schools and an exclusive fine dining venue in the spectacular vaulted cellars in London's St James's.

Whilst Berrys continues to grow and prosper, above all, it appreciates that wine is meant to be enjoyed and that all wine knowledge in the world can be distilled into one simple question - "Is it good to drink?"