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17 Mar 20
11:41
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26 Nov 08
Corona was a brand of carbonated soft drink produced by Thomas & Evans Ltd in South Wales and distributed across the United Kingdom!
Orangeade, dandelion and burdock, raspberryade and lemonade!
Orangeade was my favourite!
Oh to be a kid again!
Orangeade, dandelion and burdock, raspberryade and lemonade!
Orangeade was my favourite!
Oh to be a kid again!
Show More
From the 1920s through to the end of the 1980s the sight and sound of the Corona pop man meant delight for thousands of children across the whole of Britain. It was a Welsh success story that has gone down in legend and remains an important part of the country's social history.
William Thomas was born in 1851 in Mathry in Pembrokeshire in the west of Wales. He came from a family of farmers, and at the age of 14 he left home to take up an apprentice as a butcher in Newport. In 1874 he married Rowena Rowlands and the two moved to the village of Aberbeeg where he set up a butcher's shop, the two of them living in the premises above. The business was a success and soon a warehouse was added and the shop enlarged.
In 1882 William Evans (born 1864), who himself came from Pembrokeshire, came to work at the shop and ended up living with the family for three years. The two men became business partners setting up a chain of grocery stores and a few years later they branched into the soft drinks market.
Initially, Evans had not considered producing non-alcoholic beverages, but a chance meeting with an American business man and the growing temperance movement that was prevalent in the south Wales valleys led him to the production of carbonated drinks. Although partners, Thomas provided the money to set up the business and the money he loaned to Evans was set an interest rate of 50%.
Their first major plant was based in Porth in the Rhondda Valleys, the heartland of the industrial coalfield in south Wales. Named the Welsh Hills Mineral Water Factory, the building opened during the 1890s and boasted state-of-the-art bottling machinery and a process to safely clean the glass bottles, allowing for the bottles to be reused after being returned by the customer for a small deposit.
The bottles originally used Hiram Codd's globe-stopper with a wire hinged top to keep in the pressure of the carbonated drinks. Initially the firm produced mineral water and ginger beer, under the brand Thomas & Evans' Welsh Hills soft drinks, in the hope they could gain a foothold in public houses as a non-alcoholic alternative.
This was an unsuccessful venture, and Evans was forced to find an alternative market for his drinks. Evans struck upon the idea of selling door-to-door using horse and wagon, and soon his venture became a success, with the company branching into other more child-friendly flavours, such as orangeade, dandelion and burdock, raspberryade and lemonade.
By the turn of the century the company had over 200 salesman delivering Corona drinks by horse drawn delivery wagon across Wales, and two massive steam driven vehicles.
Corona
In the early 1920s Evans decided to re-brand his soft drinks and chose the name Corona. A logo was devised consisting of seven wire topped bottles fanned to represent a crown over the company's new name. The brand was extremely successful and expanded across south Wales, and at its peak the company consisted of 82 distribution depots and five factories, at Porth, Tredegar, Pengam, Maesteg and Bridgend.
Money back on the bottle
The glass bottles in which the pop was sold were a valuable commodity and, from the beginning, the company operated a system of 'money back on the bottle', thus ensuring that generations of school children would augment their pocket money by collecting discarded bottles and turning them in to shop and door to door sellers.
The door to door deliveries proved so successful - though they did little to reduce drunkenness - that further factories were opened in places such as Pengam, Maesteg and Bridgend. By 1934 the Porth depot alone was operating 74 motor vehicles - three years later there were over 200 vehicles.
The outbreak of World War Two caused the company some disruption with lorries - and drivers - being commandeered for war service but soon after 1945 things were back to normal and the Corona pop man was back on his rounds.
William Evans, the guiding force behind the company, died in 1934 but the company continued to expand with his brother Frank assuming control. By the end of the 1930s over 170 million bottles of Corona pop were being produced each year - and most of it was sold by the delivery man who came each week to people's doors.
Although a common and popular sight throughout Wales, the horse and wagon were slowly phased out during the early 1930s to be replaced by a fleet of motor vehicles. These vehicles, recognizable by their red and gold livery and Corona logo, were serviced and repaired by the company's own engineering shop attached to the Porth factory. By 1934 the Porth depot had 74 vehicles and just three years later that number had risen to 200.
In 1934 William Evans died and the role of chairman and managing director was taken over by his brother Frank, a role he would maintain until 1940.
Under Frank Evans' management the company continued to grow and by the end of the decade the factories of Wales were producing 170 million bottles a year. With the outbreak of war in 1939, many of Thomas and Evans motor vehicles were commandeered by the government for war service. This, along with the rationing of petrol saw a brief reintroduction of the horse and wagon delivery service.
With the end of the war in 1945, the company went back into full production and reintroduced their motorized fleet. In 1950 the firm launched Tango, one of its more enduring line of drinks which would continue to be manufactured after Corona ceased as a company.
In 1958 the company was bought by The Beecham Group, who kept the company brand. Although production continued to be centralised in South Wales the depots now began to appear all over the United Kingdom. Under new management Corona reached a new audience and during the 1960s was promoted on television in a series of advertisements starring British singer and comedian Dave King. With the rise of supermarkets in the late 1960s and 1970s the public's shopping habits changed and the door-to-door sales dropped. It was during the 1970s that one of Corona's most memorable advertising campaigns was launched under the slogan "Every bubble's passed its FIZZical!".
In 1987 the company again changed hands coming under the ownership of Britvic Soft Drinks. Britvic closed the Welsh Hills plant in Porth in 1987 with production being transferred to Bolton in England.
In 2000 the old Corona factory in Porth was converted into a music recording studio named The Pop Factory, a play on words where the colloquial term for a carbonated drink is 'pop' connected to the style of music, pop.
The Corona pop man remains a part of Welsh social history. Thousands of men and women remember with affection the clinking of those glass bottles on the backs of the lorries and, above all, the expectation as they hurried home from school, of the delivery of yet another bottle of dandelion and burdock. It was an essential part of childhood.
Great British Brands - Corona Lemonade
Paul Townsend
William Thomas was born in 1851 in Mathry in Pembrokeshire in the west of Wales. He came from a family of farmers, and at the age of 14 he left home to take up an apprentice as a butcher in Newport. In 1874 he married Rowena Rowlands and the two moved to the village of Aberbeeg where he set up a butcher's shop, the two of them living in the premises above. The business was a success and soon a warehouse was added and the shop enlarged.
In 1882 William Evans (born 1864), who himself came from Pembrokeshire, came to work at the shop and ended up living with the family for three years. The two men became business partners setting up a chain of grocery stores and a few years later they branched into the soft drinks market.
Initially, Evans had not considered producing non-alcoholic beverages, but a chance meeting with an American business man and the growing temperance movement that was prevalent in the south Wales valleys led him to the production of carbonated drinks. Although partners, Thomas provided the money to set up the business and the money he loaned to Evans was set an interest rate of 50%.
Their first major plant was based in Porth in the Rhondda Valleys, the heartland of the industrial coalfield in south Wales. Named the Welsh Hills Mineral Water Factory, the building opened during the 1890s and boasted state-of-the-art bottling machinery and a process to safely clean the glass bottles, allowing for the bottles to be reused after being returned by the customer for a small deposit.
The bottles originally used Hiram Codd's globe-stopper with a wire hinged top to keep in the pressure of the carbonated drinks. Initially the firm produced mineral water and ginger beer, under the brand Thomas & Evans' Welsh Hills soft drinks, in the hope they could gain a foothold in public houses as a non-alcoholic alternative.
This was an unsuccessful venture, and Evans was forced to find an alternative market for his drinks. Evans struck upon the idea of selling door-to-door using horse and wagon, and soon his venture became a success, with the company branching into other more child-friendly flavours, such as orangeade, dandelion and burdock, raspberryade and lemonade.
By the turn of the century the company had over 200 salesman delivering Corona drinks by horse drawn delivery wagon across Wales, and two massive steam driven vehicles.
Corona
In the early 1920s Evans decided to re-brand his soft drinks and chose the name Corona. A logo was devised consisting of seven wire topped bottles fanned to represent a crown over the company's new name. The brand was extremely successful and expanded across south Wales, and at its peak the company consisted of 82 distribution depots and five factories, at Porth, Tredegar, Pengam, Maesteg and Bridgend.
Money back on the bottle
The glass bottles in which the pop was sold were a valuable commodity and, from the beginning, the company operated a system of 'money back on the bottle', thus ensuring that generations of school children would augment their pocket money by collecting discarded bottles and turning them in to shop and door to door sellers.
The door to door deliveries proved so successful - though they did little to reduce drunkenness - that further factories were opened in places such as Pengam, Maesteg and Bridgend. By 1934 the Porth depot alone was operating 74 motor vehicles - three years later there were over 200 vehicles.
The outbreak of World War Two caused the company some disruption with lorries - and drivers - being commandeered for war service but soon after 1945 things were back to normal and the Corona pop man was back on his rounds.
William Evans, the guiding force behind the company, died in 1934 but the company continued to expand with his brother Frank assuming control. By the end of the 1930s over 170 million bottles of Corona pop were being produced each year - and most of it was sold by the delivery man who came each week to people's doors.
Although a common and popular sight throughout Wales, the horse and wagon were slowly phased out during the early 1930s to be replaced by a fleet of motor vehicles. These vehicles, recognizable by their red and gold livery and Corona logo, were serviced and repaired by the company's own engineering shop attached to the Porth factory. By 1934 the Porth depot had 74 vehicles and just three years later that number had risen to 200.
In 1934 William Evans died and the role of chairman and managing director was taken over by his brother Frank, a role he would maintain until 1940.
Under Frank Evans' management the company continued to grow and by the end of the decade the factories of Wales were producing 170 million bottles a year. With the outbreak of war in 1939, many of Thomas and Evans motor vehicles were commandeered by the government for war service. This, along with the rationing of petrol saw a brief reintroduction of the horse and wagon delivery service.
With the end of the war in 1945, the company went back into full production and reintroduced their motorized fleet. In 1950 the firm launched Tango, one of its more enduring line of drinks which would continue to be manufactured after Corona ceased as a company.
In 1958 the company was bought by The Beecham Group, who kept the company brand. Although production continued to be centralised in South Wales the depots now began to appear all over the United Kingdom. Under new management Corona reached a new audience and during the 1960s was promoted on television in a series of advertisements starring British singer and comedian Dave King. With the rise of supermarkets in the late 1960s and 1970s the public's shopping habits changed and the door-to-door sales dropped. It was during the 1970s that one of Corona's most memorable advertising campaigns was launched under the slogan "Every bubble's passed its FIZZical!".
In 1987 the company again changed hands coming under the ownership of Britvic Soft Drinks. Britvic closed the Welsh Hills plant in Porth in 1987 with production being transferred to Bolton in England.
In 2000 the old Corona factory in Porth was converted into a music recording studio named The Pop Factory, a play on words where the colloquial term for a carbonated drink is 'pop' connected to the style of music, pop.
The Corona pop man remains a part of Welsh social history. Thousands of men and women remember with affection the clinking of those glass bottles on the backs of the lorries and, above all, the expectation as they hurried home from school, of the delivery of yet another bottle of dandelion and burdock. It was an essential part of childhood.
Great British Brands - Corona Lemonade
Paul Townsend
From my childhood I remember the happy smiling faces of the bubbles on the label. Something that could never ever hurt me. Basically like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. And look how that turned out..
Highlight of the week trying to climb on the lorry and get some empties to sell back to the delivery man...
Pretty sure the "Alpine" pop man blew the "Corona" pop man out of the water around the Midlands selling 2 ltr bottles for the same price as the corona mans ltr bottles, happy days.
Remember tasting the Corona shandy and thought I am now a man.
Pretty sure the outdoor at the pub used to sell bottled beer, Manns, Newcy, stoute etc with money on the bottles, as a kid used to look for them and take them back for a tanner a bottle.
Those bottles above, look good enough to taste!
Think was a hard job being a POP delivery man, loading all those crates, carting them up the paths, stacking the emptys away from the full ones, lots of moving around of the crates and in all weathers.
He used to deliver 2 bottles every week to my grandmother in Lanhilleth. I didn't think anyone else would remember.
My Dad was a lorry driver for soft drinks firm Biddle & Gingell, Clyde Place, Leyton.
I’ve still got two earthenware ‘brewed ginger beer’ jugs that I use as door stops for the French windows.
One is stamped 1933 and the other 1939 and on both is written “ THESE JARS ARE LENT. ANYONE ILLEGALLY USING THIS JAR – WILL BE PROSECUTED”
As kids we called his firm Piddling Ginger.
Happy days.
I’ve still got two earthenware ‘brewed ginger beer’ jugs that I use as door stops for the French windows.
One is stamped 1933 and the other 1939 and on both is written “ THESE JARS ARE LENT. ANYONE ILLEGALLY USING THIS JAR – WILL BE PROSECUTED”
As kids we called his firm Piddling Ginger.
Happy days.
ALPINE up my way ,poor mans version of lowcocks, lots of people couldn't afford lowcocks in those days
I am actually an expert on this because grew up between 2 huge housing estates and trawling sites, spying empty bottles up scaffolding etc to take back for 5p/10p deposits was my weekend /holiday job
,
when getting friendly with workmen,expanded to getting their sarnies,drinks,etc from local shops,keep change etc
I am actually an expert on this because grew up between 2 huge housing estates and trawling sites, spying empty bottles up scaffolding etc to take back for 5p/10p deposits was my weekend /holiday job
,when getting friendly with workmen,expanded to getting their sarnies,drinks,etc from local shops,keep change etc
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