John Noel Nichols first started selling wholesale herbal and medicinal products in Manchester in 1908. In December 1912, he registered the name of his health tonic ‘Vimto' as a medicine, then again two months later as a beverage. The name was shortened from 'Vim Tonic', vim meaning energy or power. The brand gradually took off as a popular non-alcoholic drink for sale to herbalists and temperance bars. By June 1920, Vimto concentrate was sold to bottling agents across the UK and increasingly abroad, to make up sparkling Vimto for sale in all outlets. In 1926, the cordial was sold in grocer’s shops so the customer could make up still Vimto at home. The brand is now represented in 65 countries throughout the world, with a strong market in the Middle East.

Ref: Sue Nichols Vimto – The Story of a Soft Drink (Carnegie Publishing, 1994)

Archive Content

Date range: 1908 – present

Scope/formats

The archive contains a large body of advertising and marketing material from the early years of the company to the present day. This includes illustrated showcards, shop signs, illustrated press adverts and novelty promotions. There is also a range of packaging material dating mainly from the 1980s onwards. 

All the brand's famous campaigns are represented, including Herbert Stanley Terry's humorous showcards from the early 1950s, the 'Purple Ronnie' poems (1997-2003) and the most recent, 'Shlurple the Purple'.

There are also comprehensive company records, many of them early, comprising early correspondence and order books; staff records; advertising and sales ledgers; papers relating to trademark disputes; company reports; in-house publications; PR and press cuttings.

The large photographic archive includes photos of the Ayres Road factory at Old Trafford in 1928, members of staff, advertising campaigns and packaging.

The Vimto website: http://www.vimto.co.uk/history