Grand Metropolitan

Grand Metropolitan plc was a 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.

History

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 including the latter's subsidiary International Distillers & Vintners which owned the J&B whisky, Bailey's 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.

Commercial district

A commercial district or commercial zone is any part of a city or town in which the primary land use is commercial activities (shops, offices, theaters, restaurants and so on), as opposed to a residential neighbourhood, an industrial zone, or other types of neighbourhoods. In some cities, authorities use planning or zoning laws to define the boundaries of commercial districts.

Terminology

English

In the United Kingdom, commercial districts that are primarily for shopping are called high streets. In North America, in smaller towns and cities there is often only one main commercial district, which is located on the main street. In larger cities and towns there may be multiple commercial districts, often with more specialized functions. If a city has one large central area of offices and professional buildings, this is called the Central Business District or CBD (term used especially, but not exclusively, in Australian and New Zealand English), or downtown (North American English with the exception of Liverpool, England, who also uniquely use the term 'downtown' ). "CBD" and "downtown" usually refer to centrally located areas of a city and are of predominate importance within their city, which differentiates them from other commercial districts. The financial district of a city is the specific area of either a larger CBD or downtown or separate zone and would typically house a stock exchange or several bank headquarters. Likewise, city centre is sometimes used as a synonym for CBD or downtown, but often the geographical centre of a city not a commercial district. Often the centre of a city in older cities has many historic, institutional, or cultural areas.

Commercial Historic District

Commercial Historic District or Commercial District may refer to:

See also

Bekasi

Bekasi (Indonesian: Kota Bekasi) is a city in West Java, Indonesia, located on the eastern border of Jakarta within the Jabodetabek metropolitan region, as such it serves as a bedroom and factory town for Jakarta. The borders for this city are Bekasi Regency at the north, Bogor Regency and Depok City at the south, at the west is East Jakarta, at the east is Bekasi Regency. It is Indonesia's most populated suburb, and one of the most populated worldwide, but still trails the likes of Incheon and Yokohama. The large number of multinational companies, has apparently attracted a lot of expatriates (mainly Japanese and Korean) to settle in Bekasi.

It has an area of 210.49 square kilometres (81.27 sq mi) and had 2,334,142 people in 2011. The 2010 population was 2,378,211, making it Indonesia's fourth largest city, and second in West Java only to Bandung.

Many middle-up satellite cities have been developed in Bekasi, complete with their own shopping malls, schools, club houses, and shuttle bus services to central Jakarta. Substantial urban areas surround the city. It serves as a commuter city for Jakarta, although it has notable trade, business and processing industries. These are primarily clustered in the area of Karawang.