During the 2nd World War, what had been the Wharfedale Brewery was used as a mineral water bottling plant.
With the arrival of visiting American troops came the great demand for cola which was then bottled at the old brewery.
The Late Dr James Lodge (co-founder of the Civic Society) for many years had lived in Wetherby House alongside Wharfedale Brewery.
He told how one summer the local bees found there way into the discarded cans which had contained the delicious concentrated cola from which the drink was made.
He assured us that for a year afterwards the local honey tasted of cola.
Dr Lodge certainly had many other local tales to tell, including his boyhood memories of the Market Place being used as a venue for a travelling Circus and watching the horses and elephants being paraded down to the river for washing.
