C&C Group plc (known prior to its flotation as Cantrell & Cochrane Limited) is an Irish manufacturer, marketer and distributor of alcoholic drinks, particularly cider, and soft drinks. It has production facilities across Ireland, Great Britain and the United States, and its products are sold around the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Early history The company was founded by Dr Thomas Cantrell, who opened a shop in Belfast in 1852 selling soft drinks; he went into partnership with Alderman Henry Cochrane in Dublin in 1868, thereafter trading as Cantrell & Cochrane Limited. Cochrane was appointed a baronet in 1903. For several decades its main Dublin factory was based at Nassau Place between Kildare Street and South Frederick Street. A particularly famous product in Ireland is C&C Club Orange, a carbonated orange soft drink developed in the 1930s. Other flavours were subsequently developed, such as Club Lemon and Club Rock Shandy (an orange and lemon blend). With C&C's increasing emphasis on alcoholic beverages, the Club range of soft drinks and bottled water was sold to Britvic Ireland in 2007. In 1937, William Magner in Clonmel acquired the rights to produce the Bulmer's Cider brand in the Republic of Ireland from H. P. Bulmer. C&C introduced Magners cider in 1999, as they only held rights to Bulmers in the Republic of Ireland and wanted to expand into the United Kingdom. C&C Television Corporation In America the company saw a chance to challenge soft-drink giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola with its own C&C Cola. An elaborate marketing scheme was launched in 1955, in connection with the television revival of 740 motion pictures produced by RKO Radio Pictures. In December 1955 film executive Matty Fox arranged the $15,200,000 purchase of the RKO film backlog from studio owner General Teleradio. C&C Television Corporation reprinted the entire RKO library dating back to 1929, for nationwide syndication in the United States. All of the features now began with a "C&C Movietime" title card, and TV stations showing the films would interrupt the telecasts for commercial mentions of C&C Cola. Although the broadcast rights to the RKO library now belong to WarnerMedia, licenses to the C&C prints were granted in perpetuity. Stations that bought 16mm prints of the C&C films in the 1950s continue to show them today. 2000s The company changed its name to