Step back in time with Ben Shaws

Jul 24 2009 By Joanne Douglas

IT was a day for childhood memories, of fizzy pop and wonderful names.

Shoppers stepped back in time as an old-fashioned horse and cart delivered drinks in Huddersfield town centre.

The Ben Shaws drinks company re-created history by using two horses and a cart to launch its new, yet historical, line of drinks.

And although the cobbles of yesteryear have now gone, the drinks remained the same, from cloudy lemonade to cream soda and dandelion and burdock.

The event was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ben Shaws being the first in Europe to use the can.

So Cotts Beverages, which owns the former Ben Shaws business at Birkby, has relaunched traditional drinks in a can.

And yesterday the firm treated shoppers in Huddersfield to a taste of what is described as a true, summer drink – despite the rain.

Robert Shaw, great-grandson of Benjamin Shaw, said: “Back in the day, summer wasn’t summer without cloudy lemonade and dandelion and burdock.

“The drinks were distributed by horse and cart – Bonny, Dick, Blossom and Cherry were four of the family’s horses back then.

“They were key in the distribution of our products to the corner shops, stores and licensed outlets in the Yorkshire area.