APRIL 2019 GBF - SCHWEPPES
Great British
Factories
This month, we dive into the history of one of the men
who helped create soft drinks as we know them today
It all started in Geneva in 1858, when Jacob
Schweppe read the ‘Directions for Impregnating
Water with Fixed Air’ by Joseph Priestly, the
creator of carbonated water.
Geneva was where Schweppe, who described
himself as an amateur scientist, experimented
with infusing gases in water to create what was
then known as artifi cial spa waters. During this
period, spa waters were credited as having health
properties. Yet, it was generally only the wealthy
who could aff ord them.
Schweppe set about developing the best
way to capture gas in liquid. He achieved this
by inventing what he called a ‘condensing
engine’. The public had the chance to trial the
liquid, and so demand increased.
By 1783 Schweppe had become an
entrepreneur and progressed his experiments
into a small commercial business. Jacob
Schweppe was the fi rst to develop a mechanical
method of aerating water in large quantities –
and of a high standard – to sell commercially.
Jacob Schweppe came to the UK in 1792,
carrying with him a letter from an eminent
Genevan professor extolling the virtues of his
spa waters. Although business boomed relatively
quickly in Geneva, Schweppe hit several
unexpected complications in the English market,
starting with the location of his new factory,
based in a slum in London’s Drury Lane.
Issues swelled from there, and the business
did not grow as quickly as was anticipated. An
English market saturated with competition
prevented consumers and physicians from
sampling and praising the product as Schweppe
so desperately needed.
Eventually, though, headway was made when
Erasmus Darwin – grandfather of famed biologist
Charles Darwin – advocated the eff ervescent
waters, inevitably leading to much-needed support
from other leading academics. Darwin highly
praised the waters, saying: “Mr J Schweppe,
preparer of mineral waters, is the person who
you have heard me speak of and who impregnates
water so highly with fl exible air as to exceed, in
appearance, Champagne.” Darwin also had a hand
in coining the phrase ‘Schweppervescence’, which
was later used in advertisements.
It is important to note, at this early stage, the
products were still marketed as medicines, and sold
in earthenware bottles, but early advertisements
also reference their use as mixers for spirits.
branded Schweppes bottles date to 1809. This
design remained in use for 100 years. Schweppe’s
business in England had become a major success
– with products sold across the land – and was
primed for growth on Schweppe’s death in 1821.
The business received royal appointments from all
successive monarchs since 1837.
In 1835, the company launched an artifi cial
seltzer water – to be drunk straight, or with a
little milk, wine or syrup – and also marketed
the fi rst aerated lemonade. This was the fi rst
and only sparkling fruit drink produced by the
company until much later, when an orange
fl avour was added in 1931.
Schweppes was then turned into a limited
company with a value of £432,000. Just before
WWI, the company launched lime, lemon,
peppermint and other cordials. Orders dropped
during both wars, but by the end of 1958, the
company was in a strong position, with profi ts
exceeding £3m for the fi rst time in history. Six
new factories were built in Aintree, Fareham,
Birmingham, Gateshead and – the largest and
most modern – Sidcup.
During the 1960s, in a bid to expand into
other markets, the business acquired Typhoo
Tea and Kenco Coff ee, bringing overall profi ts
up to a healthy £10.8m. After another merger,
Schweppes became Cadbury Schweppes in 1969,
which launched the group successfully into the
next decade. In 1999, The Coca-Cola Company
acquired Cadbury Schweppes in one of the
biggest mergers of the time.
After over two centuries in Great Britain,
in 2017, Schweppes celebrated the 225th
anniversary of when Jacob Schweppe brought
his iconic bottled bubbles to the city of London
for the fi rst time.
Above: Jacob Schweppe
225
years of Schweppes was
celebrated in 2017
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