N Brown Group founder Lord David Alliance passes

N Brown Group’s founding shareholder Lord David Alliance has passed away, aged 93.

As well as serving as Chairman of N Brown Group, which owns retail brands JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo, Alliance was a life-long supporter of the company and served on the board as a director for over 50 years prior to the group being taken private in 2025.

Along with N Brown Group, Alliance was joint founder of leading textile company Coats Viyella, a company he also chaired.

Alliance was born in Kashan, Iran, in 1932, and began his career in the bazaars of Iran at the age of 14. At the age of 18, he moved to Manchester, which was then still the centre of England’s textile trade.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1984 and received a knighthood in 1989.

Steve Johnson, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer, said: "Without Lord Alliance there would be no N Brown, an employer of around 1,500 people nationwide. Lord Alliance had a career defined by entrepreneurship, public service and philanthropy, and was a titan of British retail.

"He was a source of great wisdom for me and for so many of us at N Brown and it was a privilege to have worked with him. We will all miss him and our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his wife, Lady Homa Alliance, his son Joshua Alliance - a director of the company - and their wider family."

Lord Alliance had a long standing relationship with the Manchester Business School, to which he also generously donated, and in 2015 it was renamed as the Alliance Manchester Business School in his honour.

In December 2024, N Brown Group secured approval for a £191 million take-private acquisition led by Joshua Alliance, who is also the retailer’s fourth largest shareholder.