Granada plc

Granada has its origins in Sidney Bernstein's Granada Theatres Ltd, a cinema company founded in Dover in 1930. The company was incorporated as Granada Ltd in 1934, with Granada Theatres Ltd turned into a subsidiary.[2] Granada has been listed on the London Stock Exchange in one form or another since 1935.[2] It was awarded the North of England ITV franchise in 1954, broadcasting as Granada Television.[2] The company also established a chain of television rental shops from 1959 onwards.

Granada entered the publishing business in the 1960s: it combined its operations into the publisher Hart-Davis, MacGibbon in 1972. William Collins, Sons acquired Granada Publishing in 1983. Paperback imprints of Granada Publishing Ltd included Panther Books, Paladin Books (co-founded in 1966 by Sonny Mehta),[3] Grafton (established c. 1981), and Mayflower.[4]

During the 1980s, Granada became involved in the British Satellite Broadcasting satellite television company. This went on air in March 1990, but merged with Sky Television plc in November 1990, to form British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), in which Granada had a minority shareholding for some time. In 1991, Granada Theatres Ltd was sold to Bass. In 1994 Granada acquired London Weekend Television.[2] In 1997 it acquired Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc, forming Granada Media Group plc.[2]

Granada also bid together with Carlton Communications and BSkyB for one of the UK Digital terrestrial television licences. They won the licence, though BSkyB was excluded from the company, ONdigital, on competition grounds.[5] It went on air in 1998, was rebranded to ITV Digital in 2001, then entered voluntary liquidation before closing in 2002.[6]

In 2000, Granada purchased United News & Media's television interests, which were Meridian Broadcasting and Anglia Television;[2] Granada was forced to sell the HTV broadcasting business (to Carlton) for competition reasons, though it held onto HTV's network production business. It also acquired Border Television in 2001,[7] from Capital Radio plc.[8]

Until 2000, there was a widespread high street chain called Granada TV Rental in the UK, Canada and in the US. The UK headquarters were originally in Manchester. The company started life as Red Arrow TV Rental, using a red version of Granada's north-pointing arrow as its logo. This was a home entertainment equipment rental chain, similar to Radio Rentals and Rediffusion. The mainstay of the business from the late 1950s, and through the 1960s and 70s, was television set rental; during this period television receivers were expensive to purchase and were often unreliable.

In 1978 the company expanded its operations into the domestic VCR (videocassette recorder) rental market. This new household item was also a high-cost item in home entertainment: for example, a JVC model HR3300 VHS recorder cost £680 in 1978, equivalent to £3,900 in 2019.[9] In the 1980s, the rental of satellite TV reception equipment became another opportunity for the company to supplement its declining income.

As electronic product prices fell and their reliability improved, consumer behaviour changed from renting to buying electrical goods. This drift away from rental eventually resulted in the decline of this chain and others. Granada purchased Telefusion (a Blackpool-based rental company) and DVR. It then went on to merge with Robinson Rentals, moving the Granada base from Sharston Road, Manchester, to the Robinson building on Ampthill Road, Bedford, England. The two main players at this time were Granada TV Rental (GTVR) and Radio Rentals. Both were experiencing a decline in business and in 2000 they merged to form Boxclever.[10]

Red Arrow was one of a number of experimental companies launched by Sidney and Alex Bernstein's Granada Group and was, apart from Granada Cinemas and Granada Television, by far the most successful. Others included Green Arrow – artificial plant and flower leasing to companies, and Black Arrow – office furniture and equipment leasing. This company was disposed of and has no connection with any other venture of a similar name.

Aside from media, Granada's other main strength was in the catering business. It opened its first motorway service area in 1964, and established a chain of service areas across the British motorway network. Granada was the first British service station operator to move away from fancy dining and instead offer a basic but quicker service. Soon, all the other operators took on this idea. Granada's hospitality arm was at its strongest in the 1990s under Gerry Robinson's chairmanship of the group. At one time the company owned and operated 75% of the motorway service areas.[11] It expanded into other areas of catering, including most notably the acquisition in 1996 of Forte Group.[12] This included rival operator Welcome Break (later sold due to regulations), roadside chains Little Chef and Happy Eater, and Forte's hotels (including Travelodge and Le Méridien).

In July 2000 Granada merged with Compass Group plc to form Granada Compass plc, as part of a planned strategy to separate Granada's media and catering interests.[13] The demerger took place in early 2001, with the media business becoming Granada Ltd.[14] The motorway service stations were soon rebranded as Moto.

• In the 1960s, when bingo was at its most popular, Granada turned some of their cinema chain into bingo halls. This business was sold to Bass in 1991 and was rebranded as Gala Bingo.
• From the late 1980s to the late 1990s, Granada operated three theme parks:
  • Camelot was purchased by Granada in 1986 along with Park Hall Leisure. The park near Charnock Richard, Lancashire, had a medieval theme and featured a jousting arena. It was sold by Granada in 1998 and closed in 2012.
  • The American Adventure was opened by Granada in 1987 in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. The site had been sold by Derbyshire County Council after a failed theme park called Britannia Park closed 10 weeks after opening. The park was successful for several years and was known for having the tallest log flume in the United Kingdom. Granada sold the park in 1997 after its business started to decline; it eventually closed at the end of 2006.
  • The Granada Studios Tour was opened in 1988. It was a Granada Television themed park that featured sets, props and techniques used by the company. In 1997 the park gained Skytrak Total, the world's first flying roller coaster. The park closed to the public in 1999 and fully in 2001, during the company's difficulties with ITV Digital.
• In 1983, Granada Microcomputer Services were set up to supply computer hardware to businesses. These services were originally marketed as shops but later became "business centres". This business was sold in 1987.
• Granada expanded into book publishing in 1961, but sold the business in 1983. They also owned publishers Leckie and Leckie.