The Bottle on Granby Row
On a patch of grass on Granby Row, between the University of Manchester campus and the Sackville Street Building, there is a 12-foot wooden sculpture of a Vimto bottle. It sits on a small plinth surrounded by oversized wooden fruits: grapes, raspberries, blackcurrants, and herbs. It looks like something from a children's playground. It is, in fact, a monument marking one of the most unlikely success stories in Manchester's commercial history.
Most people who walk past it assume it's a piece of student art or a corporate promotion. It is neither. It marks the exact spot where Vimto was invented, in a warehouse on Granby Row, in 1908. The sculpture was created by artist Kerry Morrison and installed in 1992 to commemorate the drink's origins. It has been quietly delighting passers-by ever since.
John Noel Nichols
Vimto was created by John Noel Nichols, a herb trader from Blackburn who moved to Manchester to be closer to the commercial heart of the north. He set up a business on Granby Row, importing and blending herbs, spices, and botanical ingredients. In 1908, he developed a cordial made from grapes, raspberries, blackcurrants, herbs, and spices. He called it Vim Tonic.
The name was a nod to the Latin word "vis," meaning strength or energy. The drink was originally sold as a health tonic, marketed for its supposed invigorating properties. It was sold in concentrated form and mixed with water. Nichols sold it through temperance bars, the alcohol-free establishments that were popular in Lancashire and the north of England in the early 20th century. In an era of temperance movements and teetotalism, a tasty non-alcoholic drink with a vaguely medicinal name was a shrewd product.
The name was shortened to Vimto in 1912, partly to avoid confusion with a cleaning product called Vim and partly because Vimto was simply easier to say. Nichols registered the trademark and began expanding distribution across the north of England.
From Temperance Bars to the Middle East
Vimto grew steadily through the 20th century. It became a staple of the north of England, the kind of drink that every child in Lancashire and Greater Manchester grew up with. It was served hot in winter and cold in summer. It came in bottles, then cans, then cartons. It was never fashionable in the way that Coca-Cola was fashionable, but it didn't need to be. It was ours.
The surprise was what happened overseas. Vimto became enormously popular in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia, where it is traditionally consumed during Ramadan. The drink is served at iftar, the meal that breaks the daily fast, and has become so closely associated with Ramadan that sales spike dramatically during the holy month. In some Middle Eastern countries, Vimto is more popular than it is in Manchester, which is a sentence that nobody in 1908 could have predicted.
It also found markets in West Africa, where it became a household name in countries including Nigeria, Ghana, and Sierra Leone. A cordial invented in a warehouse on Granby Row in 1908 is now sold in over 60 countries. Nichols plc, still based in the north of England, remains an independent company listed on AIM.
"A herb trader from Blackburn invented a drink in a Manchester warehouse and it ended up being served at iftar in Saudi Arabia. You couldn't make it up."
Manchester's Drink
Every city has its drink. Newcastle has Brown Ale. Edinburgh has Irn-Bru (by adoption, at least). Manchester has Vimto. It is not glamorous. It is not trendy. It is a blackcurrant-flavoured cordial that your nan used to make with hot water when you had a cold, and it is as Manchester as rain on a bank holiday.
The Giant Vimto sculpture on Granby Row is one of those Manchester things that makes absolutely no sense until you understand the city. A 12-foot wooden bottle surrounded by oversized fruit, sitting on a patch of grass next to a university building, marking the spot where a herb trader mixed some berries and spices together over a century ago. It's daft. It's brilliant. It's completely and utterly Manchester.
If you've never seen it, it's worth the detour. Walk down Granby Row from Piccadilly, past the Sackville Street Building, and look for the big bottle on the grass. Take a photo. Send it to someone who's never been to Manchester and watch them try to work out what it is. Then go and buy a bottle of Vimto, because you'll want one.