Pimm's Pimm's Pimm's is a brand of fruit cups, but may also be considered a liqueur. It was first produced in 1823 by James Pimm and has been owned by Diageo since 1997. Its most popular product is Pimm's No. 1 Cup. Pimm, a farmer's son from Kent, became the owner of an oyster bar in the City of London, near the Bank of England. He offered the tonic (a gin-based drink containing a secret mixture of herbs and liqueurs) as an aid to digestion, serving it in a small tankard known as a "No. 1 Cup", hence its subsequent name.
James Pimm married Mary Southernden Mallery at St Mary Woolnoth, London. Within ten years he was running a chain of five restaurants patronized by the rest of the British gentry and "hoi polloi". Pimm and his wife Mary had at least 11 children, however few reached adulthood. Pimm devised the cocktail to accompany the shellfish; the recipe was a closely guarded secret then, and remains so to this day. The owners now are Diageo PLC. Pimm died on 16 August 1866 at the family home in East Peckham, Kent, although he was still known to be residing in addresses in The City