Web Page  No 2366

29th April 2017

Top Picture: Original Corona Label

 Second Picture: Original Corona bottle

 Third Picture: The Corona Fizzical

Forth Picture: The Porth Factory

Corona

When we kids the most popular soft drink was Corona  produced by Thomas & Evans Ltd. This was a firm was created by two grocers William Thomas and William Evans when they saw a market for soft drinks caused by the growing influence of the temperance movement in South Wales.

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 fourteen he left home to take up an apprenticeship as a butcher in Newport.  In 1874 he married Rowena Rowlands and they moved to the village of Aberbeeg where he set up a butcher's shop, 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 lived 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, William Evans had not considered producing non-alcoholic beverages, but a chance meeting with an American business man and the growing temperance movement in the south Wales valleys led him to the production of carbonated drinks. Although partners, William .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 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. He struck upon the idea of selling door-to-door using horse and wagon, and soon this 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.

In the early 1920s Evans decided to re-brand his drinks and chose the name Corona. A logo was devised consisting of seven wire topped bottles fanned to represent a crown over the new name (corona is Latin for crown). The brand was extremely successful and expanded across south Wales, and at its peak the company had 82 distribution depots and five factories, Tredegar, Pengam, Maesteg, Bridgend and Porth. Although a common and popular sight throughout Wales, the horse-drawn wagons were phased out during the early 1930s and 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.^[5] By 1934 the Porth depot had 74 vehicles and 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 and under his 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 petrol rationing, 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 a motorized fleet. In 1950 the firm launched Tango, an enduring brand that is still in production. 

 In 1958 the company was bought by The Beecham Group, who kept the Corona brand. Although production continued to be centralised in South Wales, depots began to appear all over the United Kingdom. Under new management Corona reached a new audience and during the 1960s was promoted by a series of television 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. During the 1970s one of Corona's most memorable advertising campaigns used 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 2000 the old Corona factory in Porth was converted into a music recording studio named The Pop Factory obviously, a play on words.

I can clearly remember the Corona man doing his rounds around our area and begging mum to buy some Limeade or Dandelion and Burdock.

Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

On this day 29th April 1960-1965

On 29/04/1960 the number one single was My Old Man's a Dustman - Lonnie Donegan and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

29/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

The On 29/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 29/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 29/04/1964 the number one single was A World Without Love - Peter & Gordon and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

29/04/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.