Soft drinks firm acquires ‘renowned’ Scottish juice maker

Summerhouse Drinks, a leading Scottish craft soft drinks producer, announced the acquisition of Ella Drinks, a “renowned Brechin-based producer of pressed fruit juices”, following the retirement of its founders, John Gallagher and Anne Thomson.

The acquisition marks a strategic move by Summerhouse Drinks to expand its production capacity and strengthen its commitment to Scottish-sourced ingredients, it said.

The move was finalised with a two-part deal that includes the purchase of Ella Drinks’ wholesale fruit processing equipment, along with its established retail brands, Ella Drinks, Bouvrage, and Angus Apples.

The investment in the processing equipment was made possible with support from NESFLAG and was partially funded by Aberdeenshire Council’s Coastal Communities Challenge Fund.

Production will relocate to Summerhouse Drinks’ facility near Fraserburgh after a handover period, with operations expected to commence in early 2025. The consolidation of operations will enable Summerhouse Drinks to enhance its product portfolio and continue delivering high-quality beverages to its customers.

Claire Rennie, founder of Summerhouse Drinks, said: “John and Anne at Ella Drinks have set a standard for producing some of the finest not-from-concentrate fruit juices in the UK. We are delighted to secure this processing capacity within Scotland, ensuring that these exceptional Scottish fruit juices remain available to consumers. Beyond producing fruit juice for our own soft drinks, we will continue to serve the wide range of customers that Ella Drinks has built over the years.”

Ross Rennie (Financial Director Summerhouse Drinks), Claire Rennie (founder Summerhouse Drinks), Anne Thomson (co-founder Ella Drinks), John Gallagher (co-founder Ella Drinks) (Image: Summerhouse Drinks) Anne Thomson, co-founder of Ella Drinks, said: “We have always cared passionately about the wonderful flavours of berries grown in East Central Scotland and the need to make these accessible through the medium of juice to consumers, the trade, and manufacturers. We are delighted that Summerhouse Drinks are taking that purpose forward into the future and wish them every success. It has been a huge pleasure to have supplied the best of Scotland for over 25 years to the most discerning of businesses and consumers throughout Scotland and the rest of the UK.

“We should also thank Allan Young from the Scottish Land Matching Service (SLMS), funded by the Scottish Government, for introducing our opportunity to a wide audience.”

Fort William ditched from UCI Mountain Bike World Series calendar

The UCI Mountain Bike World Series will not return to Fort William for the first time in more than 20 years after it was pulled from the calendar.

A leg of the series has taken place at Nevis Range every year since 2002 but hasn’t been included in this year’s event.

Instead, the UCI have decided to take the event, which is now run by Warner Bros Discover Sports, to places such as Brazil, Italy and US. The Nevis Range, which has also held two world championships in the past, confirmed on social media that there would be no return of the UCI Mountain Bike World Series next year in a lengthy statement.

Relentless focus lifts Scots tourism to new heights, new VisitScotland chief declares

Scottish tourism is reaping the benefits of relentless marketing undertaken in international markets throughout the pandemic, as overseas visitors spend billions of pounds, the new boss of VisitScotland has declared.

Vicki Miller was unveiled as chief executive of the publicly funded agency in July, shortly after it emerged that the value of international tourists to Scotland had exceeded the worth of the domestic market for the first time.

Ms Miller, who has worked for VisitScotland since 2005 and officially succeeded Malcolm Roughead in the top job on October 1, said Scotland’s recovery from the pandemic has been “strong” and had outpaced the tourism sectors in other UK nations.