Babycham drink is making a comeback with revamp of green bottle and iconic glass

26 February 2023 , 19:47

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Charlie O'Neal drinking Babycham (Image: ds)

Seventies fizzy favourite Babycham is set to make a comeback.

The brand of sparkling perry has been bought out by the brewing family which originally invented it in the late 1940s.

The alcoholic drink, aimed at women, was the first to be advertised on TV, coining the phrase: ‘I’d love a Babycham.”

More than 140 million bottles with the baby deer logo were sold in 1977, but increased competition led to a steady decline to around 15 million a decade ago.

The Showering family now plan to inject new life into the sparkling tipple, which was the first alcoholic drink advertised on television.

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The drink was invented in the 1940s (WesternDailyPress)

It's a perry, which is similar to cider but made with pears instead of apples (Daily Record)

Francis Showering, a trained chemist, invented the pear-based beverage and sold it at agricultural shows in Somerset in the late 1940s.

It won a string of prizes and after the Babycham trademark was registered in 1950, it was released nationally in 1953, with a huge newspaper advertising campaign.

Now it is set for a relaunch with a revamp of the famous green bottle and the Babycham glasses, the originals of which are collectors items.

The drink became hugely popular in the 1970s (Tamara Stanfill)

The branded Babycham coupes often pop up at vintage shops (The Advertising Archives)

Matthew Showering, a grandson of Francis, said: “We will get closer to the original production method and recipe, as some things got chiselled away for speed with mass production.

"We are going towards the original look too.”

The Showering family, based in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, have been in the drinks industry for 14 generations.

They are now back in their original headquarters, featuring a decades-old 15ft statue of the Babycham fawn.

Matthew, who runs Brothers Drinks Co with his three siblings, said: “The paint was peeling but we gave it a fantastic spray job and will get it up on the roof again.”

Paul Byrne