With news Boddingtons is making a comeback in Manchester, we look back at some of those classic adverts of the 1990s
Scenes from the classic Boddingtons adverts from the 1990s
Once hailed as ‘the cream of Manchester,’ Boddingtons Brewery is synonymous with the city’s history.
While its history in the city dates back over 200 years, Boddingtons saw massive success in the 1990s. The brand was swept along on a wave of Madchester cool, when everything the city produced seemed to attract an eager audience in Britain and beyond.
But in 2000, Whitbread brewers became part of Belgian brewer Interbrew. In 2004, the new owners announced the closure of the Strangeways brewery, with most of its production moving to Wales and Lancashire. Its much smaller cask ale production moved to Hydes Brewery in Moss Side.
Although the company was still profitable, it closed the Strangeways site as it had become a valuable asset. Despite a fierce campaign, the iconic Boddies factory chimney came tumbling down when the brewery was demolished in 2007.
Love Greater Manchester’s past? Sign up to our nostalgia newsletter here
Much like those other 1990s Manchester icons Oasis, it’s now been announced that Boddingtons is making a big comeback. Thanks to Manchester’s oldest brewery, JW Lees, it will brew and distribute Boddingtons under licence by the Budweiser Brewing Group.
Brewed at JW Lees’ Middleton base using traditional methods, the returning Boddingtons Cask Ale is said to honour everything drinkers loved about the original while also giving it a fresh twist for today’s crowd.
Boddingtons advert – The Cream of Manchester
The ale will officially return in September at select pubs across the north west and there will be special launch events across Manchester city centre.
Its high-profile marketing campaigns were key to Boddingtons’ success in the 1990s. The London-based Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BHH) advertising agency was appointed to rebrand Boddingtons.
The agency created some of advertising history’s most recognisable slogans and helped turn the Manchester model Melanie Sykes into a household name.
Much of the agency’s work poked gentle fun at Boddingtons being a peculiarly northern drink with a strong working-class following.
Following Guinness, Boddingtons was one of the first beers to incorporate a ‘widget’ into its cans – a design that gave its poured contents a creamy, draught-like head.
Boddingtons advert from the 1990s
BBH introduced the ‘Cream of Manchester’ tagline to Boddingtons products as part of its rebrand in 1991.
Originally a set of print adverts, the campaign revitalised the brand’s image and extended to TV in 1992.
That year, a Boddingtons TV advert featured a glamorous woman in a black dress walking across a beautiful apartment. There, she proceeded to use the foam from the top of a pint of Boddies as part of her skin-care regime.
An equally sophisticated actor, looking dashing in a full tuxedo and bow tie, embraces her, gets a whiff of the creamy beer foam she has rubbed into her cheek, and says: “By ‘eck, ye’ smell gorgeous tonight, petal.”
Classic 1990s Boddingtons advert featuring gondolas in the River Irwell
Another of its adverts was a spoof on the Walls Cornetto campaign – in which another actress, Anna Chancellor, glides along in a gondola, apparently on the canals of Venice.
Another gondola approaches, with a handsome male actor holding a pint of Boddies.
With a seductive glance, Anna wipes the beery foam from her mouth, smearing her lipstick, and utters the immortal line: “By ‘eck, it’s gorgeous.”
The male actor pulls out another can and says to the camera: “That Gladys Althorp, she never buys ‘er own.”
The camera then pulls back to reveal they are actually on the Irwell.
‘By ‘eck, it’s gorgeous’
From 1996 to 1999, the previously unknown Melanie Sykes got her big break in the Boddingtons TV campaign.
In one advert, the Mossley-born model pops her head out of an ice cream van, passes an athlete a pint of bitter instead of a cone, and says, “Do you want a Flake in that, love?”
Another memorable advert featured a Pantheon of athletic models, shot in stylish monochrome reminiscent of the classic Guinness adverts of the era.
Melanie Sykes became a household name thanks to the Boddingtons adverts
An opera singer wails over a montage of models showing off their rippling physiques, before a confused Melanie Sykes pipes up: “If you think that’s strong, chuck. You should try lifting one of these.”
After she takes a gulp from a pint of Boddingtons, she turns to one male model who hasn’t managed to dress himself correctly and utters the classic line: “Hey, Tarquil, are your trollies on’t right way round?”
Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE