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                                    137number of sites on Hylton Road, before moving back north of the watter in 1984 to its current site in Southwick.Changes in the soft drinks industry, both in terms of the rise in demand for healthier alternatives and the growing domination of companies like Coca Cola has meant the business has had to adapt in recent decades. It diversified into bottling other drinks as well as making its own, and moved into water by sinking its first borehole in 1990 under its factory to bring a supply directly into it. A second one was bored in 2016.There have been a number of name changes too. Villa was swapped for Contract Bottling Ltd in 2001, and the current name of Clearly Drinks was adopted in 2016. It continues to operate in the face of very strong global competition, and employs around 100 people in Southwick in a factory that has capacity to produce 350 million canned drinks. Sykes was created in a similar era to Villa. It was based in Hendon before it moved to Ryhope. It sadly didn%u2019t adapt as well as Villa, and closed in 19xx.Other Notable Street SellersJohn %u2018Jacky%u2019 Reay sold hot potatoes outside the Theatre Royal in Bedford Street for over 50 years until 1953.Paul Grall was one of the many %u2018onion jonnies%u2019 who came from Brittany to the UK every year to sell onions. He came to Sunderland for many years before the second world war. A Villa staff photo. Credit: Clearly Drinks
                                
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