Allied Breweries Ltd

The Victoria Wine Company, wine merchants and importers, was in operation by at least 1867, when the company is mentioned in The Times newspaper. In 1929 the company became a subsidiary of brewers Taylor, Walker and Company. In 1959-1960 Ind Coope, which owned Taylor, Walker and Company, successfully bid to purchase those shares in Victoria Wine not owned by Taylor, Walker and Company and thus Victoria Wine became a subsidiary of Ind Coope. In 1983 it was described in The Times newspaper as "Britain's largest high street wine and spirits chain, which has some 900 shops".

Ind Coope Tetley Ansell Limited was registered as a limited company in 1961 and was the result of a merger between Ind Coope Limited, Romford, Essex and Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Tetley Walker Limited, Leeds, West Yorkshire and Ansells Brewery Limited, Birmingham, West Midlands. In 1963 the company was renamed Allied Breweries Limited. The companies pooled there resources but still functioned independently. In 1968 the Showerings, Vine Products and Whiteways group merged with Allied Breweries. A new parent company, Allied-Lyons plc was established after the acquisition of J Lyons and Company Limited, a food manufacturing and distribution company.

Allied Breweries acquired numerous other companies including Wm Teacher and Sons Limited in 1976, United Rum Merchants Limited in 1984, and the Canadian group Hiram Walker-Gooderham and Worts Limited in 1984, which made Allied Breweries the leading international wines and spirits producer and distributor. This position was reinforced by the acquisition of James Burroughs Distillers in 1989 and the buy-out of Whitbread's 50 per cent holding in the companies joint venture company, European Cellars (Holdings) Limited. During the 1980s Allied Breweries began to fragment with various companies being sold off. The result was Allied Domecq which concentrated on wines and spirits. Allied Breweries pulled out of the brewing business around 1990.