Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I is marking eight decades of manufacturing at its Coleford factory in the Forest of Dean with confirmation of £57.5 million in supply chain investment. The site, home to Ribena and Lucozade, began construction 80 years ago and remains one of the largest Suntory owned facilities in Europe, now employing more than 300 people. Celebrations at the factory bring together current and former staff, local growers and political figures including Matt Bishop MP and Councillor Nick Penny, Mayor of Coleford. The investment spans a new manufacturing line, a blackcurrant processing facility and electrification work aimed at cutting emissions well ahead of schedule. It caps a period in which the company has continued to pour capital into a site that has quietly underpinned British soft drinks manufacturing since the 1940s.

Eighty Years And Counting

Production of the blackcurrant drink began at Coleford in 1947, with Lucozade added to the site a decade later in 1957. The factory’s history is written into its fabric, with blackcurrant stains from berries pressed in the 1940s still visible in the concrete paving. Suntory, the Japanese group that acquired the Lucozade and Ribena brands in 2014, has continued to commit multi-million pound sums to the site, and the anniversary has become an occasion to set out the scale of that ongoing commitment.

The £57.5 million figure covers a mix of projects: a new £25 million manufacturing line due to start production in 2027, £3.5 million on a supporting warehouse, a £14.5 million next-generation blackcurrant processing facility in Ledbury timed for this summer’s harvest, and a £6.1 million electrification project, alongside two further projects totalling £9.1 million yet to be publicly announced.

Sustainability At The Centre Of Growth

Environmental performance has been woven into the investment programme rather than treated separately from it. Over the past six years, £13.9 million has gone into improving the recyclability of ready to drink bottles, including reduced plastic sleeves on Ribena, Lucozade Sport and Lucozade Energy bottles. The £6.1 million electrification project is designed to cut the factory’s reliance on its gas turbine and is expected to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 58% once complete, putting the business years ahead of its 2030 target of a 50% reduction. Further detail on the company’s wider environmental commitments sits within its Growing for Good sustainability plan.

Elise Seibold, Chief Executive Officer, SBF GB&I, said:

“The significance of this milestone isn’t simply that our factory has been here for 80 years; it’s that we’re continuing to protect its future for the decades still to come. It’s a responsibility and commitment to the people who work here today, to the generations who were guardians of the site before us and to the community that continues to be such an important part of Coleford’s story.”

Backing The People Behind Production

The Coleford story is inseparable from the people who have staffed it, with more than half of today’s 300-plus workforce having been with the business for at least ten years, and six apprentices currently training on site. Support extends into the wider community too, with the Together for Good Community Fund committing up to £2.5 million across the UK and Ireland by 2030, including £125,000 ringfenced for the Forest of Dean. The company’s Mizuiku water education programme has also run along the banks of the River Severn for local families since 2023.

Karl Ottomar, Supply Chain Director, SBF GB&I, said:

“What makes the people in our factory special is their ability to keep moving forward while holding on to the knowledge, skills and pride built up over decades. As we continue to invest in the site, it’s about more than strengthening resilience and productivity; it’s about backing the people, skills and community that have made it such an important part of British manufacturing. That spirit of improvement, pride and care is what continues to drive the factory forward today.”

A Milestone Built On Momentum

The anniversary event brings together generations of employees, community representatives and political stakeholders to reflect on eighty years of production, more than 420 million litres of Lucozade and Ribena manufactured annually, and a supply chain now being reshaped for lower emissions and greater efficiency. Coleford’s history of blackcurrant stains in the concrete sits alongside plans for a new manufacturing line, electrified processes and continued investment in the workforce that has carried the site through eight decades. The combination gives the factory a case for its next chapter that rests as much on people and place as on capital spent.