The history of Vimto goes back to the year 1908. Wikipedia attributes its invention to "the temperance movement and the passage of the 1908 Licensing Act"; however, I can find no evidence of a licensing act being passed in that year, and it also has to be said that the temperance movement had been going strong for around 100 years by this time and if anything was probably in decline (albeit about to receive a boost on account of the First World War).
Vimto was originally marketed as Vim Tonic – a health tonic. It was invented by John Noel Nichols (known as Noel), who (according to Wikipedia) was "a wholesaler of herbs, spices and medicines". The BBC (see below) describes him as "a herbalist".
Sources disagree over where Vimto was first produced. Most (including Wikipedia) agree that it was on Granby Row in the centre of Manchester, but others (such as this description of a Cheeky Vimto cocktail – said to be the favourite tipple of the angelically–voiced Charlotte Church) say that it was first made in Timperley, Cheshire (now a 'suburb' of Altrincham, which in turn is a suburb of Manchester).
The Granby Row connection was commemorated in 1992 by a giant wooden replica of a Vimto bottle in a small park alongside the street – well seen from trains passing between Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations. But when the memorial was restored in 2008 (marking the centenary of the invention) a BBC article mentioned the drink's "humble beginnings on Chapel Street in Salford" (as well as stating that "Noel Nichols made his very first barrel of Vimto in a terraced house on Granby Row").
The same BBC article does mention Timperley, but only in the context of "the family in Timperley who had Vimto on tap in their kitchen, thanks to a huge container sunk in their garden provided by Vimto." (This, sadly, is literally all the BBC tells us about the family or their Vimto habit.)
Confused? I know I am.
On its Timperley page, Wikipedia tells us that John Noel Nichols died in Timperley in 1966. So maybe that's the cause of at least some of the confusion. Timperley is a reasonable place for a Manchester businessman to live, but it seems most likely that Nichols moved there after setting up his business. On its Vimto page (linked above), Wikipedia tells us that he "grew up in the Scottish town of Shortridge", although the same page also says that he came from Blackburn, Lancashire.
A Google search for "shortridge scotland" finds no place of that name; but it does provide links to several pages referring to Shortridge Laundry, which is based in Dumfries (and covers the whole of northern England and southern Scotland).
Now I'm more confused than ever. I think what this saga does best is illustrate the shortcomings of Wikipedia – "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit".
© Haydn Thompson 2020