Whitbread

A company with deep roots, Whitbread was established in the 18th century as a London brewery, a partnership between Samuel Whitbread and brothers, Godfrey and Thomas Shewell in 1742. Samuel eventually bought the brothers out of the business and under his tenure the Hind Brewery, the first purpose-built mass-production facility in the UK, become one of the largest in the world. Whitbread introduced its first bottled beer in 1868, which went on to become a national household brand.

Fast-forward a century, the now hugely successful company began to diversify its operations. Initially this remained in the brewing realm when they acquired the UK license to make Heineken after identifying the growing preference for lager among British consumers. In 1974 the company opened its first Beefeater steakhouse, before taking its first steps into the Scotch whisky distilling industry the following year through the acquisition of Seager Evans. It already had interests in blending and bottling having bought Campbell, Hope & King in 1967.

Seager Evans started life as a gin distiller in 1805 but had moved into the Scotch market at the turn of the 20th century, building the Strathclyde grain distillery in 1927. It was acquired by US-based Schenley Industries in 1956, by which time its portfolio included the Glenugie malt distillery. Schenley further added to the portfolio, building Kinclaith and buying Tormore and Laphroaig. Whitbread acquired all of these properties in 1975, alongside the Black Bottle and Long John blended Scotch brands.

Whitbread ran Seager Evans as its Scotch whisky division until 1988 when they renamed the subsidiary Long John International. Its investment in the Long John blends had been substantial, having also reunited the brand with the Ben Nevis distillery in 1981, its spiritual home. By 1989 however, Whitbread deemed its business interests to be too disparate, and opted to divest from its spirits operations and focus on its brewing, hotel and catering companies. Long John International was sold to Allied Lyons who folded it into their Allied Distillers subsidiary.

Today, Long John International is a dormant subsidiary of Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Brothers, and the Whitbread group remains a major player in the hotel and catering industry, its flagship brand being the Premier Inn chain.