Their first major plant was in Porth in the Rhondda Valley, the heartland of the industrial coalfield in South Wales. Named the Welsh Hills Mineral Water Factory, the building opened during the 1890s and boasted state-of-the-art bottling machinery and a process to clean the glass bottles safely, allowing for the bottles to be reused after being returned by the customer for a small deposit. The bottles originally used Hiram Codd's globe-stopper with a wire-hinged top to keep in the pressure of the carbonated drinks. Initially the firm produced mineral water and ginger beer, under the brand Thomas & Evans' Welsh Hills Soft Drinks, in the hope they could gain a foothold in public houses as a non-alcoholic alternative. This was an unsuccessful venture, however, and Evans was forced to find an alternative market. He struck upon the idea of selling door-to-door using horse and wagon, and soon his venture became a success, with the company branching into other more child-friendly flavours, such as orangeade, dandelion and burdock, raspberryade and lemonade. By the turn of the century the company had over 200 salesmen delivering Corona drinks by horse-drawn delivery wagon across Wales, and two massive steam-driven vehicles.