This 1954 advert appears to suggest that the Derby firm Burrows & Sturgess considered themselves the inventors of Iron Brew, and that similar drinks produced by rival firms were mere copycats of the true original

The name BURROWS AND STURGESS will almost certainly be familiar to Derbyshire residents over the age of fifty. The company was a long-established manufacturer of mineral water and fizzy drinks, and a bottler of a wide range of ales and porters.

But in common with many firms in the highly-competitive drinks industry, their name faded from public consciousness following a series of takeovers after World War Two. Even so, many of the more senior residents of Derbyshire will recall the name, for the company was founded in Derby and its products were particularly successful in the county.

Historical information on Burrows & Sturgess is scant, but advertising material states that the firm was founded in Derby in 1850. It was sometimes styled W. E. Burrows and Sturgess, so there was certainly a Mr. Burrows. So too a Mr. Sturgess, for descendants of that name still ran the company in the 1950s.

Their range of mineral waters and fizzy drinks became very popular, eventually being distributed under their 'Spa Drinks' brand name. One of their signature lines was Dandelion and Burdock, and another successful product was their Ginger Beer, which was sold in brown stoneware bottles or larger flagons.

Burrows & Sturgess were also the makers of 'Spartona Iron Brew', a non-alcoholic drink which an advertisment from 1954 claimed to be 'The Original Iron Brew'. That statement would be fiercely contested by the Scottish soft drinks manufacturer A. G. Barr, whose own publicity material suggests that their company was the first to make Iron Brew in 1901. Barrs are certainly the makers of it now, indeed they are world-famous for it, and have developed the rather eccentric bright orange drink into one of Scotland's national icons.

Barrs implemented a famous advertising slogan - 'Made in Scotland from Girders' - but here in Derbyshire we know that Burrows and Sturgess were also making it in Derby. So who really did invent the celebrated Irn-Bru? Perhaps we shall never know.

Burrows and Sturgess had a manufacturing and bottling plant in the Ashbourne Road area, next to Ashgate School. Many Derby people must have worked there, so perhaps some reminiscences will emerge.

When the company became successful they began to take over their rivals. In 1957 they bought Lissimores, who were based in Rowley Regis, in the Black Country. One of the family, John Philip Lissimore, always known as Philip, was sent to work in Derby, and when Mr. Sturgess died he was appointed the General Manager of Burrows and Sturgess, and became a leading figure in the soft drinks industry. The work must have suited him, for he remained in Derby during a long retirement. He died in Littleover on 16 September 2003, at the age of 93. Maybe he drank Iron Brew.

Having taken over Lissimores, however, Burrows and Sturgess then became a target themselves. The company was sold to R. L. Jones, who were subsequently taken over by Mansfield Breweries. Nor did it end there, for Mansfield were absorbed by Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries, who then sold the soft drinks arm of the business to - wait for it - Barrs of Glasgow! They now turn out 200 million litres of 'Irn Bru' a year, from plants in Cumbernauld and Mansfield - but definitely not Derby!

If you have memories of Burrows and Sturgess in Derby you can post them here. Just click on 'edit' or 'discussion' at the top of this page.

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