This list started with Gordon Brown mentioning the ‘websphere’ in his post-referendum speech in Scotland. Allen Brown said it was the name of IBM’s webserver software. Andrew Denny said he thought IBM was going the way of Pan Am – a brand name in daily use that everyone has now forgotten…
- Berni Inns One of Peter Hitchens’s “ghost brands” in The Cameron Delusion. Nominated by Labour History Group.
- ICI Split off drugs and bioscience to Zeneca in 1993, now AstraZeneca; sold off chemicals; remaining paints company bought by Akzo Nobel in 2008.
- Woolworths Shops closed 2009. Brand continues as Shop Direct online.
- Amstrad I never had a green-screen computer, but I had a PC1512 (two 5¼-inch floppy disk drives) in 1986. Selected by Austin.
- Midland Bank Bought by HSBC in 1992 and renamed in 1999. From Adrian McMenamin.
- C&A Last British shop closed in 2001, but still operates in much of the rest of Europe and in China. Put forward by Brian Dempsey.
- Waddingtons Bought by Hasbro in 1994. From Mark Fraser.
- Spangles Boiled sweets made by Mars discontinued in 1984. I liked the acid drop ones. From Mitchell Stirling and Paul Bexon. Graham Thorne’s appeal – “They are not forgotten” – was overruled.
- Green Shield stamps Suspended 1983. Revived 1987-1991. Catalogue company had already been rebranded as Argos, 1973. Nominated by Keith Howitt.
- Radio Rentals Merged with Granada Rentals in 2000 to form boxclever, which went bust in 2003.
First published in the Independent on 7th December 2014.