Britvic is planning to axe its Drench and Pennine Spring water brands when the company shuts its Huddersfield factory.
The consultation on the planned closure of the Huddersfield plant, where Drench and Pennine Spring are made, is due to end in a month’s time.
If the shutters go down, Britvic will kill off both water brands and focus all its energies on building up the Ballygowan water brand in Britain. Ballygowan is the number-one brand in the Republic of Ireland but has yet to be tested in the UK. It underwent a major revamp last year.
Britvic would supply Ballygowan from its manufacturing facilities in the Republic.
Drench water has failed to win a significant following in the UK despite big pushes at the end of the noughties including a 2008 TV ad featuring Brains from Thunderbirds.
Over the past year, sales of Drench water have fallen 29% to £1.4m having lost over £1m of sales the previous year [IRI 52 w/e 25 May 2013].
Britvic will continue to make the more successful Drench juice drinks.
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