| Extra info | Vimto is a soft drink originating from England. It was first manufactured as a health tonic in cordial form, then decades later as a carbonated drink. It contains the juice of grapes, raspberries and blackcurrants (in a 3% concentration), flavoured with herbs and spices.
Vimto was created in 1908 at 19 Granby Row in the centre of Manchester England, by (John) Noel Nichols of Blackburn, Lancashire (1883–1966), a wholesaler of herbs, spices and medicines. He saw the market opening for soft drinks due to the temperance movement and the passage of the 1908 Licensing Act. It was originally sold under the name Vim Tonic, which Nichols shortened to Vimto in 1912. Vimto was originally registered as a health tonic or medicine, which was then re-registered in 1913 as a cordial In 1910, because the Granby Row premises had become too small, they moved to a warehouse at Chapel Street, Salford, then to Old Trafford (1927) and finally (1971) to a state of the art plant in Wythenshawe, Manchester.
Vimto monument Granby Row at The University of Manchester
During the 1990s, Vimto print advertisements used the cartoon character Purple Ronnie, along with slightly rude poems by Giles Andreae, the creator of Purple Ronnie. In 2003, Purple Ronnie was dropped, and a new creative direction was adopted, revolving around the benefits of Shlurpling the Purple. This, in turn, led to the launch in 2006 of Billy and his Dad's Pants - a modern-day morality story in which, despite turning up at the swimming pool with his Dad's pants in the middle of his rolled up towel, Billy wins out with ingenuity and humour. The theme tune 'Dad's Pants' become something of a cult classic, and was based on the Loudon Wainwright III song, "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road". A sculpture entitled "A Monument to Vimto" (1992), carved out of an oak tree from a sustainable forest by Kerry Morrison, is situated on Granby Row in central Manchester. The statue was restored and repainted in 2011 |
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