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7 OLD FISHMARKET CLOSE EDINBURGH 031 225 5428
brasserie
4 o-p'e—nuseveh day—s food served all day fri 8: sot
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{aesa'ayl safer-day I900 - 2200
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FRIENDLY ATTENTIVE STAFF ,~ 9'.
BAR 8: RESTAURANT.
1580. Bath St. Glasgow. tel = 331 2257.
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important to consumers that its taste.‘
Revamping Coke was like redesigning the Stars and Stripes. The New Coke fiasco showed that Coca-Cola was vulnerable. It also highlighted the power ofconsumer loyalty. In recent years. more and more brands have begun competing with the two titans Coke and Pepsi, hoping to emulate their success. New names like Pripps (from the people who brought you Irn-Bru) and Tango, and re-launched old favourites like Tizer (recently advertised in The Face) and Vimto, compete for the young adult population, promising fun and good times.
Thirst-quenching refreshment is secondary to the brand‘s expression oflifestyle — zany, rebellious, eccentric. The product personality is what matters.
Earlier this year Coca-Cola and Schweppes Beverages (6088), a joint venture set up in the UK two years ago, launched Sprite, a lemonaded-type drink similar to 7-Up, which is said to have ‘a slightly sharper more sophisticated taste’ than American Sprite, the biggest lemon-lime brand in the world.
With Coke, Sprite, Sunkist, Fanta and Lilt (not to mention Schweppes‘ own range of mixers) 6688 is set to conquer the £39 billion UK soft drinks market and are currently building Europe‘s largest fizzy drinks plant in Yorkshire.
But the market for sugary, carbonated drinks is under threat. Fifteen years ago Perrier was launched in Britain and rapidly became, according to one observer, ‘a fashionable excuse for the weak-headed and a godsend to the teetotaller.’
By 1985 Perrier reckoned that they were selling more cases in Britain per week (around 60,000) than in the whole of 1974. Moreover, it's estimated that mineral water consumption in Britain has grown from less than 20 million litres to over 200 million in the past decade. Increased demand this summer left a drought of Perrier in wine bars all over the land. Perrier is currently enlarging the size of its bottling plant.
Originally bottled water appealed only to health cranks and nervous foreign travellers. The Queen is said to have her tea made with Malvern water when travelling overseas. Margaret Thatcher prefers Ashbourne (a subsidiary of Nestlés), the blue bottle tops conveniently complementing the colourways of the Party Conference rostrum.
Indeed, with the work ethic back in fashion, many business people are opting for sparkling water or Aqua Libra (nicknamed Yuppie Lucozade), as their favourite lunchtime tipple, thus keeping a clear head for deals made in the afternoon. And the health-conscious are convinced that the tiny mineral
deposits in mineral water are good for them.
It remains to be seen whether water privatisation will increase bottled water sales. The argument runs that the water industry will put profits ahead of safety. The recent scares over nitrates, lead, fluoride,
- pesticide and trihalomethans
(chemicals caused by chlorination) in the drinking supply, have alerted the public to dangers that can befall something as basic as the water supply (in some parts of the country jug filters are as common in kitchens as toasters).
As early as 1986 a Consumers‘ Association report suggested that up to a quarter of Britain‘s tap-water was substandard. Due to its lead content most of Scotland‘s tap-water falls below EC standards. Many people today consider water little more than poison on tap. ‘Merely swallowing a glass of mains water. according to some accounts, demonstrates a headlong race to embrace Alzheimer‘s disease.‘ wrote one Guardian columnist earlier this year. The daily pinta water delivered with the milk and yoghurt may not be
so very far away.
{Eating Out
GLASGOW -~
TWO FAT LADIES
In a part of town where the curry house is king. the opening of'l‘wo Fat Ladies in Dumbarton Road offers a welcome break from the rigours ofthe tandoor. It‘s a small. simply furnished and decorated restaurant. concentrating on seafood but offering alternatives for both vegetarians and big meat eaters. The dinner menu changes daily. but in general. out of the choice of five starters and five main courses. three ofeach will be seafood ofsome sort. one will be meat-based or have some meat in it. and the other will be a vegetarian dish. Moules marinieres. avocado and bacon salad. grilled herring. leek soup and
75 The List 10— 23 November 1989