Grand Metropolitan  Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form Diageo in 1997. The business began in 1934 as a hotel business called "MRMA Ltd" (abbreviated from Mount Royal Metropolitan Association). Grand Hotels (Mayfair) Ltd, a business founded after World War II by Maxwell Joseph, merged with MRMA in 1957 and the combined business expanded rapidly under Joseph's leadership. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1961 and changed its name to Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd in 1962. It diversified into catering acquiring Bateman Catering in 1967 and then Midland Catering in 1968. It then bought Express Dairies in 1969, the Berni Inn chain, and the Mecca bingo halls in 1970. Next came its move into brewing, when in 1972 it bought Truman, Hanbury & Buxton and Watney Mann. The latter's subsidiary International Distillers & Vintners owned the J&B whisky, Baileys Irish Cream, Gilbey's gin, Piat wine and Croft sherry and port brands, as well as the European and Commonwealth rights to Smirnoff vodka. It changed its name to Grand Metropolitan in 1973. In 1980 it bought Liggett Group, a US tobacco and drinks business. In 1981 it bought Warner Holidays and Intercontinental Hotels Corporation. In 1986 the Company sold the Liggett Group to Bennett S. LeBow. It acquired Heublein wines and spirits from RJR Nabisco in 1987, which made it one of the largest producers of wines and spirits in the world, and gave the company ownership of the Smirnoff brand. Also in 1987 the Company withdrew from catering when it disposed of its catering division by way of a management buyout so creating Compass Group. In February 1988 386 pubs in London, the Home Counties and East Anglia were sold to Brent Walker; 210 pubs in the north and Midlands went to Heron International and 105 pubs in the South East went to Gibbs Mew (a Wiltshire brewer subsequently bought by Enterprise Inns). Intercontinental Hotels were sold to Japanese based Saison Group. These disposals funded the expansion of its core betting operations by buying William Hill. It also entered the fast food industry by buying the Pillsbury Company and with it the Burger King chain in 1988. It also bought the Wimpy chain that year and merged it with Burger King.