British cider maker plays heritage card to beat big brands Yet within the space of 18 months, Stella Cidre, Carlsberg's Somersby and Molson's Carling Cider have hit pubs and supermarkets as other global brewers try and cash in on the growing shift towards cider, and away from lager. Earlier this month, London Pride brewer Fuller's bought cider producer Cornish Orchards to get in on the action. The rush of activity has sparked rumbles about just what is going into the new "mass market" ciders, given more than half of those already grown in the UK are accounted for by existing producers. In May, amid rumours it was using concentrate from Chinese cooking apples, Molson Coors refused to deny claims the proportion of British apples in its "British" Carling Cider was less than 10 per cent. It's an argument Roger Jackson refuses to be drawn into, other than to say, that no one does it better than his company do. He says: "Some ciders go from orchard to can in ten days, for us, the way we do it, it can be greater than six months." More importantly, he believes Westons, founded by Henry Weston in 1878, can benefit from all the money and focus going into the UK cider market. He says: "Seven years or so ago people we saying we must be really worried about Magners. What they did was incredible really, the whole branding message about using ice in a pint glass. It was so simple and worked brilliantly. But I don't think any of us were significantly worried and it's the same now. Magners, the Stellas, Somersbys, the Carlings, they are all competing head to head in the mainstream market. That's fine. Our view is that anything that is happening for the development of the category is positive. He adds: "If the big boys are spending, they are spending money on bringing in new consumers, bringing back lapsed consumers. Hopefully as they get a little bit disenchanted and fed up with some of the mainstream ciders they will look to trade up. Market figures show the cider market is one of the few success stories of the credit crisis for the alcohol industry. Mintel claims sales should rise from £2.69 billion now to as much as £3.7 billion in 2017. Critically, as well as men switching out of lager, lower duty on cider means it's now a more profitable market. Mintel suggests the potential could even see the likes of so-called "Mexipop" labels such as San Miguel or Corona starting to think about apples. Worringly for Westons, Mintel claims brand appeal is even more important the price - hence why the advertising campaign is so important. Despite all this, Mr Jackson is confident. He points to 16 per cent growth over the past eight years and the fact that Westons is building another dozen huge stainless steel tanks that store apple juice for months on end as a sign of the company's recent success, and potential. He points out Westons has 185 acres of bush orchards in its armoury and more than 300 farmers across Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire under supply contracts, giving the company access to 1,500 more acres of apple production. On a tour of the Much Marcle base, he lovingly points to the traditional cider presses and the old oak fermentation vats. The largest one, called 'Squeak', holds 42,107 gallons or 340,000 pints of cider. Mr Jackson says: "When I joined 17 years ago we had less than one per cent of the market. The market has significantly grown since then and you would think our share had been diluted but the complete opposite has happened. It's now 3.4 per cent. Yes, it's only 3.4 per cent.. but it's a beautiful 3.4 per cent.