Food Industry

The windmill at Burnham Overy Staithe was built in 1816 for miller Edmund Savory. It worked until 1919 and in 1926 was sold to Hugh Hughes, an architect from Grantchester, Cambridgeshire. Hughes who had the mill converted to holiday accommodation. After significant repairs in 1957 it passed to the National Trust. It is listed Grade II*.

A couple of barges have made the trip over the Wash from Boston to Wells-Next-The-Sea harbour. The old granary in the background has now been converted to holiday flats.

Fishermen's stores are usually merssy places with plenty of kit strewn and stacked around. This example is at Wells-Next-The-Sea where crabs, lobster and scallops seem to be the main things landed.

Tanks outside the Buxton Water bottling plant. This Nestlé owned operation uses water piped from St Ann's Well in the town.

These reinforced concrete silos adjacent to the Scheldt at Tournai were originally built to hold locally produced cement. The first four were constructed in 1922 and the second four during World War II. After the cement works closed they were converted for grain storage, but are currently empty and derelict.

The New Cheshire Salt Works, Lower Wincham, was the third largest salt manufacturer in the UK in the 1980s. The company extracted brine from a borehole under the works and produced salt using the vacuum method. The company was founded by Alfred Stubbs in the 1920s and was producing over 1,000 tons of salt per week, of which 25% was sold under the brand name of "Selva". The business was taken over by British Salt in 2005 and the works was soon closed down, demolished, with the land sold to developers.

It's amazing what turns up under a hedge. I spotted this bottle whilst out walking. It appears to have contained the product of T W Lawson, Rochdale Road, Manchester. The moon and star on the bottle are particularly atractive.

Not many tall chimneys in use these days. Brains Brewery in Cardiff was clearly busy when I spotted it.

Large tins of beer at the Brains brewery in the centre of Cardiff.

The Rank Hovis Mill at Trafford Park is the sole survivor of three that were once on this huge industrial estate. RHM plc, formerly Ranks Hovis McDougall, was a United Kingdom food business, but was acquired by Premier Foods in March 2007. The site has three milling units producing 4,500 tonnes of flour per week. The grain was formerly brought up the Manchester Ship Canal but is now fetched from Liverpool by lorry.

Thanks to the Landlord of the George & Dragon in Holmes Chapel for Tweeting that he still had some mild after he read Tom Kitching's blog about the demise of Robinson's wonderful brew yesterday. I rang them up this afternoon and they said that there was still a bit left, so off I went to Holmes Chapel, and when I got there - a miracle - they had the rare and scrumptious Dark variety. The photo shows my last ever pub pint of 1892 (mild) in a moment of reverence after it was set down on the bar for me in a proper handle glass ....................... 35 minutes later the barrel ran out. Luckily I had the foresight to take two containers with me which were filled on arrival, so it will be mild for me tonight as well. Oh yes, one more thing, this lovely pub gave me a pump clip as a souvenir too. Thanks guys. The Wizard pump clip is for the so-called replacement for 1892. It may be called an amber ale but it isn't amber. Farewell Robbies Mild, you were a good pal for so many years.

The Rank Hovis Mill at Trafford Park is the sole survivor of three that were once on this huge industrial estate. RHM plc, formerly Ranks Hovis McDougall, was a United Kingdom food business, but was acquired by Premier Foods in March 2007. The site has three milling units producing 4,500 tonnes of flour per week. The grain was formerly brought up the Manchester Ship Canal but is now fetched from Liverpool by lorry.

In 2002 Cargill UK acquired its Trafford Park site from Cerestar who had taken it over from Corn Products in 1987. The site processes wheat for its UK sweeteners, industrial starches and texturant businesses. The plant and offices produces sweeteners and wheat proteins for food customers in the confectionery, brewing, beverage, dairy and bakery sectors. In addition to the food sector, the Manchester plant also serves the needs of the farming and aquaculture sectors with animal feed products and vital wheat gluten.

This distillery was founded in 1927 by Seager Evans and Co. with the first spirit produced in 1928. The company was acquired by Schenley Industries of New York in 1956, who invested heavily in the site, including the addition of a Single malt whisky branded Kinclaith, which started producing in 1958. The Kinclaith still was closed in 1975 after the site was acquired by Whitbread. Today the distillery is part of the Pernod Ricard group. The water required for the production comes from Loch Katrine.

The Halifax Flour Society was formed on 1st May 1847 to provide a co-operative corn mill following discontent against the Corn Laws, corn dealers' prices, and because much flour was adulterated. The Society sold to the public through agents. Initially 2,800 people bought £1 shares, and the Society bought a mill at Bailey Hall from where the first batch of cheap flour was sold in 1848. When the Bailey Hall mill became too small, a new 6-storey Bailey Hall was built in 1862. This was one of the most modern grain mills at the time and was opened with a party for 1,400 people on April 7, 1863. Later the Society bought more land at Bailey Hall and a new mill was opened in 1880. This is the building seen here. The Society was sold to the Co-operative Wholesale Society in 1915 and the Bailey Hall mill was sold to Paton & Baldwin. This mill eventually closed for flour production in the 1930s.

A recent open day at DRS in Crewe provided opportunities to see the Mornflake oats factory which is normally hidden from view. The milling company is Britain's 4th oldest family owned business having begun in 1675. The adjacent Brush type 4 is rather younger having been built in the 1960s.

A copper in the old version of Robinsons brewery in Stockport. This has now been replaced with new plant supplied from Germany which allows for production of more smaller batches of beer.

I was unsure what this business was when I first saw the works, but I now know that this is basically a rendering plant which produces fertiliser and pet food amongst other things.