Glaret Maine Soft Drinks Ltd. is a company based in Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, which sells soft drinks, cordials and aerated waters. During the early 21st-century recession, it remained in Ballymoney while several other companies with large numbers of employees disappeared. [1] The company was founded by John Harkness in 1949, and is named after the River Maine.
As well as having a presence in retail outlets, Maine is also known for its fleet of distinctive green lorries which deliver soft drinks door to door in Counties Antrim, Londonderry and Down. The person driving the lorries is often known colloquially as "The Lemonade Man" or The Maine Man or more commonly The Mineral Man.
Many of the products sold by Maine are specific to them in Ulster, such as American Kola, Scottish Cola, and Limeade; and some are specific to Northern Ireland but not to Maine such as Brown Lemonade.
Maine Men can still be found on the streets of Ulster and deliver 6 days a week to thousands of locals. They cover all of Northern Ireland and parts of County Donegal.
As of 2023, Maine sells the following products: [2]
In 1998, Maine Soft Drinks product Smak drew the ire of anti-drugs campaigners in Scotland when it went on sale there, saying that it could trivialise heroin abuse. [3]
Ulster is one of the four traditional or historic Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland ; the remaining three are in the Republic of Ireland. It is the northernmost province of Ireland.
County Antrim is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 3,086 square kilometres (1,192 sq mi) and has a population of 651,321, as of the 2021 census. County Antrim has a population density of 211 people per square kilometre or 546 people per square mile. It is also one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland.
Larne is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,853 at the 2021 census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. Together with parts of the neighbouring districts of Antrim and Newtownabbey and Causeway Coast and Glens, it forms the East Antrim constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. The civil parish is in the historic barony of Glenarm Upper.
Ballymoney was a local government district with borough status in Northern Ireland. It was headquartered in Ballymoney. Other towns in the borough included Dervock, Dunloy, Cloughmills and Rasharkin. The borough had a population of 31,224 according to the 2011 census.
Ballymoney is a town and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated in the historic baronies of Dunluce Upper and Kilconway in County Antrim, as well as the barony of North East Liberties of Coleraine in County Londonderry. It had a population of 11,048 people at the 2021 census.
William Joseph Dunlop was a Northern Irish motorcyclist from Ballymoney, County Antrim, who was noted for his performances at the Isle of Man TT. In 2015, he was voted Northern Ireland's greatest-ever sports star.
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland. Due to large-scale plantations of people from Scotland and England during the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as decades of conflict in the 20th, Ulster has a unique culture, quite different from the rest of Ireland. As all of Northern Ireland lies within Ulster and comprises about 90% of its population, the culture of Northern Ireland is very similar to that of the whole of Ulster. In particular, the Ulster Scots, or Scots Irish identity is strong among descendants of the Plantation, notably in counties Antrim, Cavan, Donegal, and Down. There is also a thriving indigenous Gaelic culture, largely attributed to the GAA and Conradh na Gaeilge.
The Independent Loyal Orange Institution is an offshoot of the Orange Institution, a Protestant fraternal organisation based in Northern Ireland. Initially pro-labour and supportive of tenant rights and land reform, over time it moved to a more conservative, unionist position.
Mauds Ice Creams is an ice cream manufacturer from Northern Ireland, with stores across the island of Ireland and one in England. The company has made over 350 flavours during its 42-year history, the most popular being Poor Bear, a mix of vanilla ice cream and honeycomb. They are the largest producer of dairy ice cream in Northern Ireland.
Firmus Energy is an energy company based in Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Cloughmills or Cloghmills is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Ballymoney is 9 miles to the north-west and Ballymena is 10 miles to the south. It had a population of 1,309 people in the 2011 Census. It is in Causeway Coast and Glens District Council.
Cushendall, formerly known as Newtownglens, is a coastal village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located in the historic barony of Glenarm Lower and the civil parish of Layd, and is part of Causeway Coast and Glens district.
Sir William Moore, 1st Baronet, PC (NI), DL was a Unionist member of the British House of Commons from Ireland and a Judge of Ireland, and subsequently of Northern Ireland. He was created a Baronet in 1932.
Robert Mervyn Storey, usually known as Mervyn Storey, is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician, serving as a Causeway Coast and Glens Councillor for the Ballymoney DEA since 2022. Storey previously served in the Northern Ireland Executive, where he was Minister for Social Development from 2014 to 2016, and then Minister for Finance between January and March 2016. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim from 2003 to 2022.
Joe Gaston was a Northern Irish unionist politician.
McDaid's Football Special is a soft drink produced for James McDaid & Corey Delamingus Ltd., a company based in Ramelton in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland. Other currently produced beverages sold by McDaid's include Pineapple, Creamy Cola and American Ice Cream Soda. All McDaid's products were originally made and bottled at the Swilly Bottling Stores in Ramelton in North Donegal. However, since 2014, all of McDaid's products are now made and bottled for them by Maine Soft Drinks Ltd in Ballymoney, County Antrim. Some McDaid's products, including Football Special, are also manufactured under license by the Reading Soda Works in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Dunluce Upper is a barony in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is bordered by six other baronies: Dunluce Lower to the north; Cary to the north-east; North East Liberties of Coleraine to the north-west; Coleraine to the west; Kilconway to the south; and Glenarm Lower to the east. Dunluce Upper also formed part of the medieval territory known as the Route.
William McFarland, also known as "the Mexican", is a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary. He was a leading figure in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), he had served as head of the North Antrim and Londonderry East Tyrone Brigade of the group.
Ballymoney Town Hall is a municipal structure in the High Street, Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The structure, which incorporates a local history museum, is a Grade B1 listed building.
Tony McWhirter is an Irish former rugby union player, who played number eight and lock for Ulster.