R. White's

In the 1970s R. White's also made orangeade, dandelion and burdock, and cream soda. The lemonade product, formerly made using sugar, has (as of 2012, possibly earlier) changed the traditional recipe, replacing some sugar with aspartame, saccharin and acesulfame K. R. White's still contains real lemons and is available in regular, diet, Traditional Cloudy, Raspberry, Pear and Elderflower varieties. A television commercial from the 1970s, "Secret Lemonade Drinker", was ranked seventh in a 2000 UK wide poll of "The 100 Greatest TV Ads".

History

In 1845, Robert and Mary White started selling home-brewed ginger beer from a wheelbarrow in Camberwell, London under Robert White's name. As a nod to this heritage, today the wheelbarrow features in Britvic's packaging of R. White's drinks. The business saw rapid expansion, and by the late 1860s it had five production units and 16 depots in the midlands of England and London. White's, who had concentrated on lemonade, took over H. D. Rawlings Ltd, a company that specialised in mixers, and the merger made White's the biggest soft drinks company in London and south-east England. Robert White's sons, Robert James and John George, joined the business, and they became R. White & Sons Ltd.

By 1887, White's produced a range of flavours and products, all of which were sold in Codd’s glass bottles. Choices available included strawberry soda, raspberry soda, cherryade, cream soda, pineapple cider, ginger beer, soda water and orange champagne. Prices ranged from eightpence to a shilling per dozen. At the beginning of the 20th century more than 40 different soft drink flavours were on sale.

In 1914, during the First World War, over 100 R. White employees served in the armed forces and the company supplied the government with over half their horses and vans. In the Second World War, a great part of the vehicle fleet was commandeered by the government and used by the army. During the Blitz three major factories were wiped out in London alone.