History UsefulNotes / BritishBusinesses

* Boots (sometimes suffixed "the Chemist", especially by older people - it was known as this and is now simply "Boots", but definitely NOT "Boot's"), a huge chain of chemists (read: pharmacies) that as well as dispensing medicines does most of its trade selling beauty and health products, along with a range of somewhat decent lunch foods and other such things (for reasons nobody quite understands). Extremely abundant - a reasonably sized city will likely have multiple within walking distance of each other and most towns will have one (e.g. Norwich has three in its city centre alone within five minutes' walk of each other, Portsmouth has five, Manchester at least ten) - although many of these stores are quite old and therefore fairly grotty and tatty. Now owned by Walgreens, with the combined company now the world's fourth-largest retailer (peaked at third in 2019), it's the retail segment of a large and well-respected pharmaceutical business that invented ibuprofen, amongst many other household names. Their No 7 own brand make-up range is internationally known and is even sold on QVC in the US, as well as US Walgreens locations.

** It's sometimes referred to as a "catalogue retailer" because for most of its history goods were selected from large, heavy paper catalogues that were roughly the size and weight of two house bricks. The catalogue itself has a somewhat positive association in many Brits' minds, largely from childhoods spent flicking through the toy section and wishing you owned it all. Creator/BillBailey referred to it (or at least the laminated versions Argos themselves have in their shops alongside stock checker terminals) as the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggOa9aSG-Ow "laminated book of dreams"]], so laminated as to "catch the tears of joy" from beholding the vast quantities of goods available. In July 2020 the company announced they would no longer be printing the catalogue to the dismay of the British public.

* Acorn Computers – A computer company founded in Cambridge in 1978, its best-known product was the iconic 8-bit UsefulNotes/BBCMicro under licence to the Beeb. The BBC Micro dominated the UK educational market in the 80s, and spawned a budget version in the Acorn Electron. Its next product, the 32-bit Platform/AcornArchimedes, wasn't as popular, but proved to be one of the most influential designs in computing history. Like most systems of the day, the Archimedes used a RISC-based processor, but unlike its competitors, it used an in-house design. The Acorn processor, later known as ARM (from Acorn RISC Machine), proved immensely popular, but not for its original platform. The company ran into financial problems in the last half of the 80s, but soldiered on until it was split into multiple companies in 1998, with Acorn formally folding in January 1999. Which brings us to...
* Arm Ltd (stylised as "arm") – Originally the processor design arm of Acorn and spun off in late 1990, it has continued developing the ARM technology to this day. Today, most mobile phones and [=MP3=] players, a fair number of netbooks, and the [=iPad=] use ARM-based technology, and Creator/{{Apple}} began to transition its [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh Macs]] to ARM-based processors in 2020. Bought by the Japanese conglomerate [=SoftBank=] in 2016, but still operates largely independently, and has its global HQ in Cambridge. Arm was planning a sale to American chip designer Nvidia, but the deal collapsed in early 2022 due to regulatory obstacles. [=SoftBank=] has since announced that it will float Arm on the stock market no later than 2023.

* Acorn Computers – A computer company founded in Cambridge in 1978, its best-known product was the iconic 8-bit UsefulNotes/BBCMicro under licence to the Beeb. The BBC Micro dominated the UK educational market in the 80s, and spawned a budget version in the Acorn Electron. Its next product, the 32-bit UsefulNotes/AcornArchimedes, wasn't as popular, but proved to be one of the most influential designs in computing history. Like most systems of the day, the Archimedes used a RISC-based processor, but unlike its competitors, it used an in-house design. The Acorn processor, later known as ARM (from Acorn RISC Machine), proved immensely popular, but not for its original platform. The company ran into financial problems in the last half of the 80s, but soldiered on until it was split into multiple companies in 1998, with Acorn formally folding in January 1999. Which brings us to...

* Game - video game store. Has been put into administration multiple times but has bounced back and appears to be doing fairly well.

* Booths – A small chain based in Lancashire and spreading into the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and the affluent Cheshire suburbs of Manchester. A kind of upmarket Waitrose, which surprises Southern folk who think OopNorth is all grime and poverty. Is in a buying agreement with Waitrose which explains why there are very few Waitrose branches in the North West of England.

* Reaction Engines Limited. A tiny company founded by a collection of boffins[[note]]Note to Americans: "[[UsefulNotes/BritishEnglish boffin]]"="nerd," "geek," "egghead".[[/note]] in 1989, it deserves to be noted for the breathtaking ambition of its current projects, the Skylon and the A2. Essentially, a traditional "garden-sheds and dreams" company is trying to go where giants of the space and aviation world have failed by creating a single stage to orbit spaceplane to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life, and new civilizations - no wait, instead they want to create a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(spacecraft) single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft]] (essentially what the next Space Shuttle ''should'' look like) that could carry 15 tonnes or ''30'' people[[note]]No spacecraft has ever carried more than ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-61-A eight]]'', and no more than about 10-12 people have every been in space at once[[/note]] to space in one go at 4% of the cost per kilogram of conventional rockets, and a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Engines_A2 green hypersonic airliner]] that could travel from Brussels to Sydney in just over 4 and a half hours (the trip today takes a full day). As of 2013, the various tests have gone off [[http://www.gizmag.com/sabre-engine-skylon/25218/ swimmingly]]. Watch this space.

* Irn-Bru, Scotland's "other national drink". Bright orange, tastes like bubblegum [[note]]More discrening consumers state that it tastes like peach Schnapps without the alcohol[[/note]]. Outsells Coca-Cola, but only in Scotland. "Made from girders", according to the adverts.

** And it is minging.

* Poundland - Yes! Everything's a pound! Really. A mix of cheap Chinese-imported crap household goods, no-name brands of household goods and foods, remaindered/stock clearance goods from other shops and actual brand name products sold for a pittance. Has undergone an ENORMOUS expansion, with some cities having several. Recently purchased their closest rival 99p Stores (guess what their gimmick was?) and amalgamated it into a pound shop empire. Often a byword for cheap, potentially dangerous/lethal crap, although in reality many of their goods are actually handy in a pinch and/or are actually brand name products, just with fewer of them in a pack or for a lower price. [[WebVideo/StuartAshen Ashens]] regularly covers some of the more bizarre or unpleasant items they sell. Dollar Tree is the American equivalent.

* Abellio, owned wholly by the Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen. Runs some local buses and a number of rail franchises. Much like Arriva, no longer uses its own name on its trains, the only former exception being Abellio Greater Anglia, which [[SarcasmMode obviously serves Wales]] and is now just called "Greater Anglia" (potentially to avoid brand damage due to their inheriting a basket case of a franchise). Used to run rail services in the north of England as Northern, and currently runs them in Scotland under the [=ScotRail=] brand, though the Scottish Government have recently announced that this arrangement will end as of March 2022.

* Thomas Cook Group - One of the oldest such firms in the world, with the main component founded in 1841, organising rail excursions to the 1851 Great Exhibition. Recently, and suddenly, [[https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2019/sep/23/thomas-cook-travel-chaos-insolvency-leaves-150000-stranded-on-holidays-live-updates collapsed overnight]], leaving tons of travellers in the lurch (with the government having [[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/23/how-secret-plans-saved-customers-of-thomas-cook-from-being-stranded already created a pop-up airline to rescue stranded holidayers]]).

* Woolworths, usually referred to as "Woolies" - although this was originally a US company[[note]] Woolworth's last general store in the U.S. closed in 1997. The company continues today as Foot Locker, Inc., a retailer of athletic shoes and clothing[[/note]], the UK stores had been a separate company since 1982 and had operated in the UK since 1909. Remembered by many from their youth for the Pick'n'Mix sweets and as a good place to get stationery, TheNoughties saw the chain's business (largely confectionery and videos, games etc.) being increasing eroded by the big supermarkets on one hand and online stores in the other. The 2008 credit crunch and the announcement of huge debts led to the chain closing down over Christmas 2008-January 2009, in a closing down sale in which even the shelves and staff microwaves were sold.
* Argos - a long-standing and very unique retailer, owned by Sainsbury's since 2016. Argos shops tend to be rather barebones, as they don't display many if any goods, which in larger locations are generally kept in the warehouse at the back. Instead, you pay for items at cash desks, unmanned payment terminals and online, and then collect these from a dedicated collection point. Because Argos doesn't have to worry about displaying goods in a pretty way, it can sell a ''huge'' variety of stock from what are otherwise rather small stores, and indeed it sells almost ''everything'' - from appliances to home furnishings to games consoles to plug adapters - from its vast catalogue of items.

* Shell plc - One of the six oil "supermajors", Shell is a joint Anglo-Dutch affair with HQ in the Hague but certain major operations (including refining, marketing, finance, and HR) managed out Lambeth. Long known as Royal Dutch Shell, it was formed by a slow-motion merger of the Royal Dutch Oil Company and the British firm Shell Transport (or something),[[note]]Initially, it was a "dual-listed company" consisting of what amounted to a general partnership between two legally distinct companies, one British and one Dutch. Eventually, however, the business advantages of this arrangement ceased to outweigh the drawbacks, and in 2004, they adopted a simpler structure, with there just being one British corporation headquartered in the Netherlands.[[/note]] it was initially done just to stay in competition with John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil. In 2022, it abandoned its dual-share structure, changed its name to simply Shell, and moved its HQ to London. It is still the world's largest private-sector oil company and the largest energy company in Europe.

* Royal Dutch Shell - One of the six oil "supermajors", Shell is a joint Anglo-Dutch affair with HQ in the Hague but certain major operations (including refining, marketing, finance, and HR) managed out Lambeth. Formed by a slow-motion merger of the Royal Dutch Oil Company and the British firm Shell Transport (or something),[[note]]Initially, it was a "dual-listed company" consisting of what amounted to a general partnership between two legally distinct companies, one British and one Dutch. Eventually, however, the business advantages of this arrangement ceased to outweigh the drawbacks, and in 2004, they adopted a simpler structure, with there just being one British corporation headquartered in the Netherlands.[[/note]] it was initially done just to stay in competition with John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil. It is still the world's largest private-sector oil company and the largest energy company in Europe.

One of Britain's thriving industries, the second or third largest in the world depending on standard of measurement. [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] has an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerospace_industry_in_the_United_Kingdom article]] on the subject. Should be brought up whenever people in the pub moan that Britain doesn't make things. The British aerospace industry has made many important contributions to the history of aircraft, and was solely or jointly responsible for the development and production of the first aircraft with an enclosed cabin (the Avro Type F), the first jet aircraft to enter service for the Allies in the Second World War (the Gloster Meteor), the first commercial jet airliner to enter service (the de Havilland Comet) the first aircraft capable of supercruise (the English Electric Lightning), the first supersonic commercial jet airliner to enter service (the Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde), the first fixed-wing V/STOL combat aircraft to enter service (the Hawker Siddeley Harrier), the first twin-engined widebody commercial jet airliner (the Airbus A300), the first fly-by-wire commercial aircraft (the Airbus A320), and the largest commercial aircraft to enter service to date (the Airbus A380). Britain would also have been the first to break the sound barrier had the United States kept its post-war technology sharing agreements, instead of letting the British share their engine and aerodynamic designs with them and then pulling an ILied.

* London EV Company: Current manufacturer of the famed London taxicabs; based in Ansty, just outside Coventry. Founded in 1919 in Coventry as Carbodies, specialising in building coachwork for smaller automakers. After WWII, it got into the taxicab business, and after being purchased by BSA Group in 1954 evolved into primarily a maker of taxis. Bought by Manganese Bronze in 1973 and renamed LTI Limited in 1992. Chinese automaker Geely bought a minority stake in 2009, three years before LTI went into administration. Geely bought the company's taxicab business in 2013, changing the trading name to London Taxi Company before adopting the current name in 2017, when it opened its current Ansty plant and began making exclusively electric taxis. The company has since announced plans to make electric commercial vehicles alongside taxis.

* O2, a mobile operator demerged from BT as mmO2 in the early 2000s after years being called BT Cellnet. Used to operate home phone and broadband as well, which has since been sold off to Sky. Part of the Spanish group Telefónica. A planned sale of O2 to Hutchison Whampoa was blocked by the EU in 2016.
* Three (or "3"), the UK's first 3G network launched in a blaze of glory in 2004 by Hutchison Whampoa (their second crack at the mobile market, having sold off Orange some years ago.) Brands itself as "the network built for the Internet", and made a big play of offering "all you can eat data" on its plans right up until that proved financially unviable. Intriguingly, Three are the last company that's purely a mobile network[[note]]as in, one that owns its own infrastructure, not virtual networks like Tesco Mobile[[/note]] left in the UK, with the other companies having interests in other things too. It's not clear at this point as to whether Hutch will merge it into O2 or leave it as is, as they tend to target different markets. Used to use EE networks as a 2G fallback, now does not offer 2G at all.

** EE (Everything Everywhere), the UK's biggest mobile network which was itself formed from the merger of the Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile (originally One2One) and the France Telecom-owned Orange, originally owned by Hutchison Whampoa. Was formed and is branded specifically to take advantage of the roll out of the 4G network across the UK - it was the first on the scene for this, with EE originally only referring to the 4G side of things with the Orange and T-Mobile brands now more or less gone. Merged with BT in early 2016.

* [[Creator/{{Sky}} Sky]], UsefulNotes/RupertMurdoch's UK telecoms outpost-- until it was sold to Comcast in 2019. Formerly (officially) [=BSkyB=], a legacy of the very brief competition in satellite services between Sky and British Satellite Broadcasting, who wound up merging basically to put BSB out of their misery. Operates the Sky satellite service, the most popular paid-for TV service in the country, as well as offering telephone and broadband services (using Openreach infrastructure). Also a broadcaster and programme maker in its own right.
* O2, a mobile operator demerged from BT as mmO2 in the early 2000s after years being called BT Cellnet. Used to operate home phone and broadband as well, which has since been sold off to Sky. Part of the Spanish group Telefonica, although shortly to become owned by Hutchison Whampoa, who are themselves the owners of...
* Three (or "3"), the UK's first 3G network launched in a blaze of glory in 2004 by, as mentioned, Hutchison Whampoa (their second crack at the mobile market, having sold off Orange some years ago.) Brands itself as "the network built for the Internet", and made a big play of offering "all you can eat data" on its plans right up until that proved financially unviable. Intriguingly, Three are the last company that's purely a mobile network[[note]]as in, one that owns its own infrastructure, not virtual networks like Tesco Mobile[[/note]] left in the UK, with the other companies having interests in other things too. It's not clear at this point as to whether Hutch will merge it into O2 or leave it as is, as they tend to target different markets. Used to use EE networks as a 2G fallback, now does not offer 2G at all.

* Arm Ltd (stylised as "arm") – Originally the processor design arm of Acorn and spun off in late 1990, it has continued developing the ARM technology to this day. Today, most mobile phones and [=MP3=] players, a fair number of netbooks, and the [=iPad=] use ARM-based technology, and Creator/{{Apple}} began to transition its [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh Macs]] to ARM-based processors in 2020. Bought by the Japanese conglomerate [=SoftBank=] in 2016, but still operates largely independently, and has its global HQ in Cambridge. Arm is currently in the process of being sold to American chip designer Nvidia, which would continue to operate Arm as a Cambridge-based company, but the deal is facing strong regulatory scrutiny. Stay tuned...

* Primark - Piss-cheap, originally Irish clothing chain owned by Associated British Foods (yes, really). Renowned for ridiculously low-priced clothing that tends to fall apart quickly, although in truth this isn't entirely fair (much of their clothing is actually rather good for the price paid). Sometimes ironically called "Primani" to hint at it being a more fashionable brand than it actually is, although it's worth noting that none of its clothing actually carries the Primark brand (they have a variety of sub-brands, e.g. men's clothing branded "Cedar Wood State"). It does not do online shopping whatsoever, which is a pity since thanks to the combination of a large teenage customer base, low prices causing high footfall and often grossly inadequate floor space for the customers they serve its stores are often a living hell, capable of making a [[Music/TheSmiths shy bald Buddhist plan a mass murder]] and everyone else come a pubic hair away from carrying one out. The clothes ''are'' cheap though. Has recently begun expansion in America, primarily in mall anchor stores that were either abandoned when their chains went out of business, or rent them out from others (specifically the dying Sears).

** The famous Lutine Bell is based at Lloyd's. The bell is the ship's bell of HMS ''Lutine'', an 18th-century French warship captured by the Royal Navy during the [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars Siege of Toulon of 1793]]; the ''Lutine'' sank while carrying a large sum of gold insured by Lloyd's, and when the underwriters paid out in full they gained a claim on the wreck. When they managed to pull the bell up from the wreck in 1858, Lloyd's claimed it, and started to use it as a signal to its underwriters: it would be rung once if a ship was lost, and twice if a ship feared lost had returned to port safely. This had a practical aspect to it; ringing a bell made sure that everyone heard the news at the same time, thus ensuring that nobody had any unfair advantages. However, back in TheSeventies, it developed a crack, and so to make sure it doesn't fall to pieces it is only rung on ceremonial occasions now--once for bad news, twice for good news.[[note]]By that point, of course, there were many other ways of ensuring that nobody had an unfair information advantage about the status of ships, so its informational purpose was no longer useful.[[/note]] The last time it rang once upon receiving bad news was upon the death of UsefulNotes/ElizabethII in 2022; however, it also rings once annually at the end of the two minutes' silence on [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Armistice Day]]. The Lutine Bell has rung twice a few times in recent years on the occasion of good royal news, including the birth of [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince George]] in 2013 and a visit by UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen and Prince Philip in 2014.

** The famous Lutine Bell is based at Lloyd's. The bell is the ship's bell of HMS ''Lutine'', an 18th-century French warship captured by the Royal Navy during the [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars Siege of Toulon of 1793]]; the ''Lutine'' sank while carrying a large sum of gold insured by Lloyd's, and when the underwriters paid out in full they gained a claim on the wreck. When they managed to pull the bell up from the wreck in 1858, Lloyd's claimed it, and started to use it as a signal to its underwriters: it would be rung once if a ship was lost, and twice if a ship feared lost had returned to port safely. This had a practical aspect to it; ringing a bell made sure that everyone heard the news at the same time, thus ensuring that nobody had any unfair advantages. However, back in TheSeventies, it developed a crack, and so to make sure it doesn't fall to pieces it is only rung on ceremonial occasions now--once for bad news, twice for good news.[[note]]By that point, of course, there were many other ways of ensuring that nobody had an unfair information advantage about the status of ships, so its informational purpose was no longer useful.[[/note]] The last time it rang once upon receiving bad news was upon the death of Prince Philip in 2021; however, it also rings once annually at the end of the two minutes' silence on [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Armistice Day]]. The Lutine Bell has rung twice a few times in recent years on the occasion of good royal news, including the birth of [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince George]] in 2013 and a visit by UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen and Prince Philip in 2014.

* House of Fraser (who once owned Harrods) now part of Sports Direct, Debenhams, and Selfridges (yes, [[Series/MrSelfridge that one]]) are other common high street department stores.

* RBS Group - majority government owned after a bailout in the wake of the financial crisis, which it was a major player in and consequently victim of, and something of a basket case as a result. While the government's stake in Lloyds is being slowly sold off, its stake in RBS is still with it almost ten years on. Contains:

* JJB - a sports clothing chain. Originally set up by Dave Whelan, a Blackburn footballer who got a career-ending injury in the 1960 FA Cup Final, claimed an insurance payment and invested it in a food stall, which he built up, sold to Morrison, then started this chain, which he has now sold on.

** As well as running East Midland Trains and South West Trains in its own right, is actually the joint owner and effectively operator of Virgin Trains' franchises - it now runs both the East Coast main line *and* the West Coast main line. Tends to be regarded as one of the more competent franchisees.