Following on from the school meals, we are now looking at Bradford and it’s MILK history.
THE BRADFORD MODEL MILK COMPANY
The Bradford Model Milk dairy was the brainchild of Wilfred Lowe, who is recognized as a key pioneer of the milk industry which developed its prominent operations and milk processing footprint in Bradford during the 1930s. As many dairies went completely over to pasteurized milk, which became the normal daily doorstep delivery across most of Britain, the Bradford Model Dairy became famous for its sterilised milk, which it continued to process. In a time when most back-to-back houses would not have had fridges, sterilised milk, was preferred because it lasted longer.
Bradford Model Milk Dairy, Laisterdyke, Bradford. With it’s famous chimney.
The famous chimney with the word ‘MODEL’ painted down the side is all that is left at the site now.
1957 map of the Laisterdyke Dairy site next to the mills and the sidings yard.
The Bradford Model Milk Co. Ltd (later known as the Bradford Model Dairy) opened its Laisterdyke milk bottling plant at the Argonaut Mill site in Laisterdyke in 1926. The company operated from this location until 1952, when it moved to a new, larger dairy plant on White Abbey Road.
The Bradford Model Dairy operated separate industrial processing lines to cater to different market needs:
- The Pasteurisation Line: Raw milk arrived by rail tanks like the one in the picture above, via Bowling Back Lane/ Laisterdyke rail was pasteurised—heated to roughly 72°C for 15 seconds—to destroy immediate pathogenic bacteria while preserving a natural cream line and fresh taste. It still required continuous refrigeration.
- The Sterilisation Line: For “Model Milk”, the dairy took processing a step further. The milk was homogenised so the cream would not separate, sealed in airtight glass bottles with distinct swing-tops (and later crown caps), and heated intensely in excess of 100°C
In the 1930s, the rail line running via the viaduct above Bowling Back Lane in Bradford connected Bowling Junction to Laisterdyke. 2,000-gallon milk tank trucks were removed from train wagons, and these were sent to local facilities like the Bradford Model Dairy, which was built alongside the Laisterdyke Sidings yard.
In the late 1930s or early 1940s, Craven bought out Wilfred Lowes business and immediately started looking at expanding. He required a new location, so work started on the new dairy on White Abbey Road. Shown below.
In 1949, after talks with Express dairies, a deal was made between the two and Express became the new owners and sole milk delivery company in the immediate area, delivering milk in cartons to hospitals during the 1962 Bradford smallpox outbreak.
White Abbey Road Dairy , after opening in 1952.
The dairy has undergone a few transitions:
1969: Express Dairies was acquired by Grand Metropolitan, the hotel group, who in 1969 diversified into fresh food.
1991: Sold on to Northern Foods, who began as an East Yorkshire dairy, called Northern Dairies in 1937. In post war Britain, they diversified and eventually became the ready meal company that partnered with Marks and Spencer.
2003–2006: Following restructuring, the business was bought by Arla Foods in 2003 and later transferred to Dairy Crest in 2006.
Thank you to https://expressdairytales.uk/ed-bradford for letting me use some of their images and history. Please head over to their website to learn more about the fascinating history of Express Dairies.
