but in 1949, the year of its 150th anniversary, the Romford
had 700 employees, 370 vehicles and 543 horses serving 44
provincial depots and 32 overseas. Foxearth was easy prey
to a takeover bid. The firm’s directors had already taken
the steps to cut back on beer production and the selling of
wines and spirits.

Matthews  Street,  Ipswich  to  act  as  a  soft  drinks
distribution depot, but after a slow period of trading they
moved the operation to the centre of town, eventually
buying 95a Victoria Street.

One year on, the firm took out a franchise with the
mineral  water  company  Apollinaris,  then  owned  by
Gordon’s Gin. The idea was to market novelty soft drinks
which had tie-ins with children’s comics such as Dan Dare.
But before the company had the chance to develop this
lucrative strand the deal collapsed after six months, victim
of a German buy-out.

Then there was another hazard to consider. Many
people in the trade were decrying the onslaught of lager,
which although gaining popularity, only accounted for
around about 1% of the market, but even so it threatened
beer  consumption. Now brewers  had  to  place more
emphasis on heavily branding their products. It was clear,
even then, that the lager market was not like the
traditional beer trade - it was all about being culturally
sophisticated.

So Ward’s went back to production of its own branded
soft drinks with turnover, the 1956 accounts tell us, a
healthy £3,220 (net profit) or £50,000 in today’s money.

These accounts35 make interesting reading. The number
of barrels of beer brewed was a diminutive 4,650, down on
the 5,307 brewed in 1955. A huge drop from previous years,
in fact it equated to production levels in 1890. The balance
of the overall profit and loss account was a very healthy
£45, 458 (roughly £700,000 in today’s money) though this
had decreased by £7,428 on the £52, 886 made the previous
year.

Like  so  many  of  its  competitors,  Ward’s  had
concentrated their efforts on being a regional brewer and
had not stretched their advertising much beyond East
Anglia. They knew this had to change and mounted an
aggressive marketing campaign and looked into developing
a lager beer based on lambic yeast where the yeast is not
manually added but is allowed to drift in from the
surrounding countryside. 34

This experiment was soon abandoned with the firm
changing tact and turning to the mineral water operation,
which at the time was on the verge of becoming a major
brand. Within a short time new flavours were added to the
range in order to cope with increasing demand – these now
included: Lemonade; Cherryade; Grapefruit Crush, Orange
Crush and Limeade. In 1953, the firm leased premises in St

the firm’s accountants had valued the brewery at £145, 391
(approximately  £22  million  in  today’s  markets).
Considering its size and prominence, the brewery was an
extremely attractive proposition for those who had the
money to be able to afford to buy it.

Not only would the buyer have a valuable asset but the
company would have a prize name among its associated
businesses and be able to do what it wished with the
products in an ever decreasing market.

spontaneous fermentation, Lambic is a seasonal beer brewed only
in the winter season (October-May). In summertime, there are too

many undesirable bacteria in the wild yeasts, which can infect the
wort and influence the fermentation.