Hungerford Arcade is full of thousands of items, from sublime rare antiques to everyday items of no apparent particular significance. One such item was this ginger beer bottle from A Matthews of Elm Park Road, Reading.
Available from Avril in unit 13, it is a piece of local history as A. Matthews ceased trading in the 1960s. The Matthews family had a mineral water factory. In the 1920s they manufactured soft drinks and bottled many different flavours of fruit juces and mineral waters. A particular line was ginger beer. During the war, they had the first Pepsi Cola franchise in the UK and delivered to the US Army stationed at Bicester. So far, just another old bottle….
However, to Alison Clapson it is so much more than that. She was delighted to find it, as it is part of her family history. Alison’s maiden name is Matthews and her Dad’s cousin owned the factory. It was wonderful to be able to reunite her with a memento from her family’s past.
That’s the joy of the Arcade, you never know when you’ll find unexpected treasure!
