- Fine Fare
"Fine Fare" was the name of a chain of
supermarket s in theUnited Kingdom until the late 1980s. It was famous for its Yellow Pack budget own-label range, probably one of the first store sub brands or tertiary brand names in the UK.The Melias chain of convenience stores was also part of the Fine Fare group.
The company was acquired by
Associated British Foods in 1963. [http://www.abf.co.uk/about/history_1960.asp] Fine Fare's corporate headquarters were inWelwyn Garden City .Its market share was generally reported as being third behind
Sainsbury's andTesco , who were No 1 and No 2 respectively.In the mid-1980s, ABF sold the company to The Dee Corporation (then trading as Gateway, nowadays known as "Somerfield") as one of a series of acquisitions Dee made around that time [http://www.somerfield.plc.uk/index.asp?sid=17] including the Woolco and
Carrefour hypermarket chains. Following this, all Dee's newly-acquired stores were rebranded as "Gateway" or closed, and the Fine Fare name disappeared. [http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/History_and_Myths/Question195036.html] Later some larger Gateway stores were bought byAsda and were rebranded.Trivia
* During the 1980s, Fine Fare was the sponsor of the
Scottish Football League .
* Fine Fare's advertising tagline was "Fine Fare: that's Fine by Me!".
* Fine Fare is name-checked (among others) on the track "Aisle of Plenty ", from Genesis' 1973 album "Selling England by the Pound ".
* The low-cost, no-frills Shoppers Paradise stores were part of the Fine Fare group.
* A short series of adverts featuring actor Gordon Jackson (best known as Mr Hudson in "Upstairs, Downstairs ") was filmed at the Aylesford depot.
* Other depots were at East Kilbride (Glasgow), Washington (Tyne & Wear), Cheadle Hulme (Stockport), Hucknall (Nottingham), Tuffley (Gloucester). Shoppers Paradise only depots were at Weedon (Northampton), Stevenage (Hertforshire) and Alton (Hampshire). Washington also held stocks of non-food items for national distribution.
* Fine Fare's distinctive double-f logo represented two shopping baskets.Fact|date=April 2007
* Fine Fare also marketed wines and spirits under the name Wine Fare, and household goods under the name Fine Ware.Fact|date=April 2007
* Punk bandThe Toy Dolls produced a song in appreciation of their local Fine Fare store titled "Nowt can compare to Sunderland Fine Fare", to be found on theirBare Faced Cheek album.
*A chain of independent food stores inNew York City carry the name Fine Fare.
*The building inBlackpool , opposite the train station that used to contain Fine Fare is now a branch of Wilkinsons. However, the building is still clad in the 'Double F' logo all the way around.
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