H&G Simonds established a prosperous Off Licence business both in the UK and overseas.
They took over the Reading firm of Arthur Cooper in 1929 and by 1953 had developed it into a chain of some 30 Off Licences.
Saccone & Speed were a world-renowned firm of wine and spirit merchants, shippers and tobacco merchants with a head office in Gibraltar, which was the centre of the ship stores business, with various branches elsewhere. They were first established in Gibraltar in 1839 by Jerome Saccone and James Speed. H&G Simonds bought 35% of the business in 1945 and by the time of the Courage merger they had branches in Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Malta, Morocco and Italy.
Here are some wine labels that demonstrate the scope and quality of the Off Trade operation.
