In 1911 a young couple moved to Peterborough to brew and sell Ginger Beer and dandelion and burdock in stone jars. They became established over the next few years with Sarah Adcock engaged in brewing and her husband Leonard, selling and delivering the products on a one-horse dray.
By 1928 the firm bought its first delivery vehicle, a Model T ford van and Adcock’s (Peterborough) Ltd entered the soft drinks trade.
In 1936 Adcocks began to bottle carbonated drinks as well as having Soda syphons bottled for them by another local company called Hydrox Ltd. As the business began to expand Sarah’s eldest son Lawrence started working full time being joined shortly after by their other son Keith.Adcocks continued to expand throughout the next few years purchasing new filling equipment upon the way.
In 1954 Adcocks acquired Hydrox Limited and it was at this point that Adcocks began to manufacture their own brand of Glass Soda Syphons.The company began by washing the syphons by hand and refilling them on the filling machine that they had purchased from Hydrox.A paper label was applied to the neck of the bottle and they were packed into wooden crates.
By 1969, and after the deaths of both founders, Adcocks had established themselves as the largest Soft drinks manufacturers and suppliers in the area. Keith’s son Graham Adcock had begun to work full time and Adcocks had begun to win Gold and Silver medals in the national British Bottlers Competitions. Adcocks began to purchase new Screen Printed Glass Soda syphons in the early 70’s to keep up with the demand from customers. Each syphon had the company name and logo on the front to enhance the way they looked.
Soda syphon sales continued to grow and during the 1970’s the company continued to buy more syphons and upgraded their filling equipment. By 1982 Adcocks had a full manufacturing plant in place to wash and refill syphons as well as 2 other bottling plants for flavoured carbonated drinks. By 1986 Mr Keith Adcock and Mr Lawrence Adcock had both retired leaving Graham to run the family business. Grahams eldest son Jon joined the family business upon leaving school in 1986 followed 1 year later by his younger son Darren.
Over the next 5 years as plastic bottles became more popular it was decided that the company would scale down its operation of flavoured carbonated drinks and concentrate on glass soda syphons and a smaller amount of soft drinks.
The company moved to new premises in Crowland near Peterborough in 1992 and from here began to expand its soda syphon sales nationally. In 1998 Graham Adcock retired due to ill health and Jon and Darren were left to run the company as co-directors.
Jon & Darren continue to run the company today and in 2011 celebrated 100 years of the Adcock family business being established in the soft drinks industry.
As 2018 approached Adcocks purchased all of Hartridge Soft Drinks Soda Syphon bottle population and began to supply their customers direct. This now meant that Adcocks Drinks were the sole supplier of the product throughout the United Kingdom.
In August of 2019 a new exciting re-location to new premises in Central Peterborough took place. This will enable the business to continue to supply its product for years to come and now remain as the only manufacturer and supplier of Traditional Glass Soda Syphons throughout the United Kingdom.
