During the 1920s only small amounts of specialised sugars were being imported to Britain as it was not economic for the larger refineries to manufacture these. In 1928 Charles established a specialist factory on the then new Slough Industrial Estate to produce those sugars, using raw materials from Martineau's, as well as producing cut candied peel and fruit drink cordials made from oranges and lemons. The company - Fruit Products Limited, with the brand 'Golden Shower' - is the longest established company on the estate, having been situated there from the very outset, on the site which it still occupies today - 193 Bedford Avenue.
A sister company Ragus was formed in 1930 to produce 'invert' sugars, mainly for bakers and confectioners. Two years later the companies merged to form Ragus Sugars. The word 'invert' refers to the way such sugar syrups rotate or invert light passed through them, in the same way that light is inverted as it passes through honey.
During this period the 'Golden Shower' brand of premium fruit cordials was a major innovation. The surplus fruit peel was mixed with liquid sugar to produce Cut Candy Peel.
Charles Eastick ran Fruit Products Limited alongside his work at the Martineaus Refinery and was joined at Slough by his youngest son Douglas. Here the product range remained virtually unchanged until the Second World War, when shortage of fruit caused the production of fruit drinks to be abandoned. During the war Ragus focused solely on cane sugars and syrups from Commonwealth countries.
