MALVERN water is going global after a business deal that will see thousands of crates of the historic brand shipped to the other side of the world.

Holywell Water director Rhys Humm has signed a five-year deal with a distribution firm in China, which will market the product there.

This week the first shipment of 40,000 bottles of Holywell Malvern Spring Water set off on the 5,000- mile trip to Beijing.

The deal is the latest success for the Malvern Wells-based firm, which last month saw its water appear on the shelves of top department store Selfridges for the first time.

But Mr Humm said going global was a huge boost for the business and the Malvern brand.

“The Government is telling businesses large and small that, for the UK to climb out of the economic doldrums, we must export,” he said. “China has a strong appetite for quality British brands and Malvern Water is as British as they come.”

He added: “This is an important step in sustaining the production of Malvern’s wonderful water for the future.

“There are vast quantities of empty containers being returned to China as they export so much to the West.

“While shipping a natural resource from one side of the planet does seem a little crazy, shipping something rather than nothing perhaps makes a little more sense.”

Malvern water – a favourite of the Queen herself – temporarily disappeared from the shelves after Coca Cola shut down the historic bottling plant at Colwall in 2010.

But the Malvern brand returned last year after Mr Humm and his father and fellow director Mike successfully battled Coca-Cola for the right to use the Malvern trade name.