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Trivia: I never knew they owned them...

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alex397

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Gateshead Metrocentre was built and owned by the Church of England, until they sold a majority stake in the mid 1990s - think they may still have a minority holding.

In many places (York is one) they own a fair amount of prime city-centre retail property.

It is the same in Canterbury, with some of the retail space near the Cathedral. And they don’t seem to be a very popular landlord!

Going back to Coca-Cola, I was surprised to see so many local soft drinks in various European countries owned by the company. I was thinking I was contributing to a more local company in that country, until I saw the Coca-Cola logo.
 
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route101

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Buxton Spring sounds very local, they are owned by Nestle which own lots of other brands under Nestle Waters including Perrier.

What happened to vittel water? Used to see it . Not seen it for years.
 

route101

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It is the same in Canterbury, with some of the retail space near the Cathedral. And they don’t seem to be a very popular landlord!

Going back to Coca-Cola, I was surprised to see so many local soft drinks in various European countries owned by the company. I was thinking I was contributing to a more local company in that country, until I saw the Coca-Cola logo.

Dr Pepper is made by Coca Cola in the UK but in Europe and America its by Snapple group or something.
 

najaB

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What happened to vittel water? Used to see it . Not seen it for years.
Owned by Nestlé so they likely decided that it wasn't worth competing against themselves and reduced market penetration.
 

route101

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Happens with beers you buy .

Beavertown is owned by Heinken .

Fullers by Asahi

Magic Rock by Lion.
 

najaB

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Dr Pepper is made by Coca Cola in the UK but in Europe and America its by Snapple group or something.
As I understand it, it's made by Coca-Cola in Europe and Asia, Pepsi in Canada and the original owner in the USA.
 

alex397

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Happens with beers you buy .

Beavertown is owned by Heinken .

Fullers by Asahi

Magic Rock by Lion.

That’s interesting, particularly with Asahi. Didn’t Shepheard Neame used to brew Asahi under licence? I can’t seem to find anything about that online so I might have imagined it. There definitely used to be Asahi on tap in Shepheard Neame pubs (but they do sometimes have other brewers stuff on tap)
 

SteveM70

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That’s interesting, particularly with Asahi. Didn’t Shepheard Neame used to brew Asahi under licence? I can’t seem to find anything about that online so I might have imagined it. There definitely used to be Asahi on tap in Shepheard Neame pubs (but they do sometimes have other brewers stuff on tap)

Shepherd Neame brewed Asahi under license from 2005 to mid-2018
 

DavidGrain

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None of this is new. Way back in one of my first jobs I worked for Shell-Mex & BP. Unless you knew the distribution network there was no way that you would know if the petrol that you put in your car came from a Shell refinery or a BP refinery. We also owned National Benzol and Power Petroleum, remember them?

Round about the same time the two biggest tobacco companies in the UK were Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco yet they both made and sold the same brands of cigarettes. It was only later that they divided up the brands between them.
 

Busaholic

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What happened to vittel water? Used to see it . Not seen it for years.
It is still around, because I managed to find some the other week (might have been in Waitrose, as I visit infrequently). It's my first choice when I can get it. Badoit sparkling water is no longer distributed in this country though: the referendum result put paid to that, the distributors issuing a superbly huffy Gallic response. :)
 

route101

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It is still around, because I managed to find some the other week (might have been in Waitrose, as I visit infrequently). It's my first choice when I can get it. Badoit sparkling water is no longer distributed in this country though: the referendum result put paid to that, the distributors issuing a superbly huffy Gallic response. :)

Badoit was in Sainsbury last year at least. Used to see Vittel until about ten years ago. Volvic is not as common too.
 

Busaholic

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Badoit was in Sainsbury last year at least. Used to see Vittel until about ten years ago. Volvic is not as common too.
Actually, Volvic and Badoit are both brands of Danone, I discover. Danone announced in 2018 it would no longer distribute Badoit in the UK, so it had disappeared by about the middle of last year, as evidenced by many questions on the internet as to the reasons for its disappearance. Can't agree with you about Volvic - it's everywhere nowadays, along with Evian and the detestable Highland Spring.
 

dgl

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Princes foods is owned by Mitsubishi who also own Nikon

Rio (the topical drink) is owned by the brewer Hall & Woodhouse, known for their "Badger" range of beers, they used to own Panda Pops as well.

Some well known brands including, Grundig, Blomberg, Leisure, Flavel are owned by Arçelik, who are well known for their Beko range of appliances.

A lot of cheap TV's under the Panasonic, Toshiba, Polaroid, Technika, Techwood and other are made by the Turkish company Vestel who have made TV's for a while.

Hoover Europe, Candy, Hotpoint America, Fisher and Paykel, and GE Home Appliances are owned by the Chinese company Haier, interestingly GE tried to buy Haier in the 90's and they refused with GE then basically saying that they would drive them out of the market, how things change!

The Chinese automaker Geely own Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, LTI and Proton.
 

LOL The Irony

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Siemens' white goods are actually made by Bosch under a joint venture, that make all of their home appliances, including Neff, Gaggenau and several local brands, including Junkers. Yes, THAT Junkers.
 

SteveM70

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Princes foods is owned by Mitsubishi who also own Nikon

As is Princes Soft Drinks. But not the same Mitsubishi as the car company - I believe the original Mitsubishi Corporation was broken up after the Second World War at the behest of the americans.

I did some contracting for Princes about 15 years ago, and back then anything requiring board approval required a visit to head office in the Liver building, and an incredibly formal meeting led by one of the Japanese statutory directors.

The first time I had to go was one of the hottest days of the year, and I was told that the boardroom wasn’t air conditioned, and that I’d be expected to keep my suit jacket on and top button done up unless and until the chair decided to dispense with his. Which he didn’t, leaving me sweating profusely.

Perhaps they’re a little less old fashioned these days
 

UP13

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These links may surprise some people:
https://www.behindthebrands.org/brands/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfam/14931276759

Basically - a lot of brands you think are competing with each other are actually owned by the same company.
The illusion of choice!

Indeed. I think it is said if you go in Boots then pretty much all the stuff on the shelves are made by one of two companies.

Likewise a lot of supermarket ownbrand products are manufactured in the very same factories as the branded products they are supposedly competing against.
 

Western Lord

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Princes foods is owned by Mitsubishi who also own Nikon

Rio (the topical drink) is owned by the brewer Hall & Woodhouse, known for their "Badger" range of beers, they used to own Panda Pops as well.

Some well known brands including, Grundig, Blomberg, Leisure, Flavel are owned by Arçelik, who are well known for their Beko range of appliances.

A lot of cheap TV's under the Panasonic, Toshiba, Polaroid, Technika, Techwood and other are made by the Turkish company Vestel who have made TV's for a while.

Hoover Europe, Candy, Hotpoint America, Fisher and Paykel, and GE Home Appliances are owned by the Chinese company Haier, interestingly GE tried to buy Haier in the 90's and they refused with GE then basically saying that they would drive them out of the market, how things change!

The Chinese automaker Geely own Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, LTI and Proton.
That is Volvo Cars, not the Volvo company itself which makes trucks etc.
 

GusB

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Indeed. I think it is said if you go in Boots then pretty much all the stuff on the shelves are made by one of two companies.

Likewise a lot of supermarket ownbrand products are manufactured in the very same factories as the branded products they are supposedly competing against.
On the shop floor one day I received a telling off from a customer who insisted on having Walker's shortbread, but we didn't stock the brand at the time (how shocking that we didn't support a local business!) She refused to believe me when I handed her a pack of own-brand shortbread and advised her that it was made by Walker's in the factory down the road.

I remember being quite shocked when I learned that so many of our food brands are produced by so few companies these days. Considering something as basic as flour, three of the major brands are owned by Premier Foods and I dare say they'll probably supply some of the supermarket own brands as well.
 

DB

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It is the same in Canterbury, with some of the retail space near the Cathedral. And they don’t seem to be a very popular landlord!

That doesn't surprise me in the least. I've had involvement with the Church of England in another sphere, and it would be hard to imagine a more ruthlessly self-serving organisation.
 

Western Lord

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Rolls Royce Motor Cars and MINI are both owned by BMW
The Rolls Royce Motor Car saga is a good example of the convoluted world of branding. When the car company was hived off from the aero engine company, the aero engine company licensed the use of the Roll Royce name and badge to the now separate car company which then came under the ownership of Vickers. When Vickers wanted to sell, it was expected that BMW would get RR Motors, but they were outbid by Volkswagen. At the time Rolls Royce (aero) were in a joint venture with BMW to make jet engines and they very much disapproved of the Volkswagen take over, so they told them that they would not license the name or badge to them. This meant that VW had the Crewe factory, the RR Motors "spirit of ecstasy" ornament and the RR Motors grille design as well as the intellectual property rights to the existing and previous car designs. However they would no longer be able to manufacture Rolls Royce cars. Rolls Royce licensed the RR name and badge to BMW for use on cars which meant that the German firm had to set up an entirely new Rolls Royce Motor Cars company from scratch and build entirely new designs. Some kind of sanity prevailed when VW agreed to sell the "spirit of ecstasy" and the RR grille design to BMW for use on their new cars in return for which VW were licensed by BMW to continue to build the existing RR range until such time as BMW were ready to start production of their new car. What all this means is that if you have a pre BMW Rolls Royce you would still deal with Bentley at Crewe as regard spares etc.
 
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