psmv5: Erratum

In the course of yesterday, I alleged that the Costcutter and Cooperative brands were owned by the Issa brothers, owners, inter alia, of ASDA, with a modest HQ in Welbeck Street. Drink had been taken.

Checking this morning, I find that the first part of this allegation is probably rooted in reference 1, which explains that Costcutter is actually, since 2021, part of the Bestway group, owned by the Pervez, Choudrey and Sheikh families. There is also some kind of a link with the Co-op.

While the Issa brothers did well with the Euro Garages, partly by buying into forecourts that the majors were withdrawing from, now the EG Group. Which group has moved into various food operations, mainly linked with the forecourts. It has also moved into foreign forecourts. The brothers, along with TDR Capital, also own ASDA and the three operations appear to be well tangled up. Bard is probably not that far off the mark when it concludes: 'It's important to note that their relationship is complex and multifaceted, and further details might require information regarding specific aspects of their interaction'.

According to reference 6, TDR operates from Bentinck Street, rather than Welbeck Street, but the eastern end of Bentinck Street does run into Welbeck Street, so not a big error.

So my allegation had roots in the truth, even if various strands of the truth - for example two rags-to-riches stories - have been conflated. And various aspects of the truth - the relationships between some of the parts - remain unresolved.

Which all goes to show that you need to be as careful with what you pick up in pubs as with what you pick up from the likes of Bard.

On firmer ground with Garofalo, last noticed at reference 8, where I continue to make steady progress, as snapped above. Perhaps it is time I inspected the other Garofalo on view at Room 10 of the National Gallery. Five more in store for the seriously curious. Not to be confused with various other Garafolos, Garofolos, Garofalos and Garafalos, for example the pasta people at reference 9.

PS 1: my spelling of this Garofalo is rather wobbly, which can confuse search.

PS 2: all this first surfaced more than ten years ago at reference 10. Our own version of the oxtail noticed there has served well since. Quite a lot of it to be found, for example, at reference 11.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/12/fake-170.html.

Reference 2: https://www.bestwaygroup.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestway.

Reference 4: https://www.tdrcapital.com/.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohsin_and_Zuber_Issa.

Reference 6: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/09/pubcos.html.

Reference 7: https://www.eg.group/.

Reference 8: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/trolley-624.html.

Reference 9: http://garofalo.co.uk/.

Reference 10: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2010/11/wheatsheaf.html. What happened to the Capricorn connection?

Reference 11: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/search?q=oxtail.