Ribena factory visited by England star marks 80th anniversary milestone

THE maker of iconic drinks Lucozade and Ribena is celebrating 80 years since construction began on its Coleford factory in the Forest of Dean.

Known to most people locally as the ‘Ribena factory’, the famous blackcurrant drink has been manufactured there since 1947 when production first began.

Later, the production of Lucozade was incorporated onto the site in 1957.

Recently, the factory helped fuel the England football team’s World Cup campaign in North and Central America, where they finished third after beating France in a 6-4 thriller.

Lucozade Elite was produced by the Forest of Dean-based business, which is part of Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I, through a long-standing collaboration with the Football Association.

The announcement was supported by a film featuring England star Jude Bellingham – who visited the Coleford factory last year – exploring the role preparation, hydration and fuelling play in modern football performance.

Jude said: "Football is demanding enough on its own, but when you're playing regularly and at the highest level, the small details become even more important.

“Everything around preparation, hydration and fuelling has to be right so you can perform consistently throughout a game. The right preparation can make a big difference."

Even with eight decades of manufacturing behind it, the factory looks forward to a bright future, with Suntory - the Japanese owners that acquired the Lucozade and Ribena brands in 2014 - continuing to invest multi-million pound sums to evolve a site that produces some of Britain’s best-loved soft drinks.

Investment includes a new £25m manufacturing line due to start production in 2027 and £14.5m on a next-generation blackcurrant processing facility in Ledbury.

Sustainability projects remain central to long-term growth. In the past six years, over £13 million has been spent on significantly improving the recyclability of the ready to drink bottles produced at the factory, reducing the size of the plastic sleeve on bottles of Ribena, Lucozade Sport and Lucozade Energy.

Another £6m is also being spent on an electrification project to reduce the factory’s reliance on its gas turbine which is expected to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 58% once completed, putting SBF GB&I years ahead of its 2030 50% reduction target.

Beyond investment, support from Suntory over the last ten years has helped the site continue to nurture the knowledge, dedication and skills of generations of local people working in Coleford as it produces its iconic drinks.

One of the largest Suntory-owned facilities in Europe, the factory produces more than 420 million of litres of Lucozade and Ribena each year, supplying customers across Great Britain and Ireland.

During his visit to the factory last year, Real Madrid star Jude said: “It was amazing to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the factory and meet the people involved in the production of Ice Kick, as well as seeing my face on the side of the bottle!”

Jude had the chance to meet many of the locally based team at the factory and discussed his career as well as his multi-year partnership with Lucozade.