Express Dairies is a former brand of

Dairy Crest Saputo Dairy UK Limited is a holding company for Dairy Crest Limited, a British dairy products company. It was created in 2019 when the Canadian company Saputo Inc bought Dairy Crest. Dairy Crest itself was created in 1981 as a spin-off of the ...

, that specialised almost entirely in home deliveries of milk, and other dairy products.

History

The company was founded by

George Barham Sir George Barham (22 November 1836 – 16 November 1913) was an English businessman and founder of the Express County Milk Company, later to become Express Dairies. He is sometimes described as the father of the British dairying industry. Barh ...

in 1864 as the 'Express County Milk Supply Company,' so named as they only used express trains to get their milk to London. The major

creamery A creamery is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has had some cream ret ...

and milk bottling plant was located just south of South Acton railway station on the

North London Line The North London line (NLL) is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of west, north-west, north, and east London, England between Richmond in the south-west and Stratford in the east, avoiding central London. Its route is a ro ...

. This gave easy and equal access for milk trains from both the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

and the Southern Railway. The company was purchased by

Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to for ...

in 1969, and sold in November 1991 to

Northern Foods Northern Foods is a British food manufacturer headquartered in Wakefield, England. It was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the original FTSE 100 Index. The company is credited, together with Marks & Spencer, ...

. It was demerged from Northern Foods in 1998, and purchased a 51% controlling stake in Claymore Dairies Ltd of Scotland, for £2.2 million. Express Dairies acquired Star Dairies Food Service Ltd. and certain assets of Star Dairies International Ltd for £3.5 million in February 1999. In June 1999, the liquid milk operations of the United Kingdom of Glanbia plc were acquired for £100 million, and the share capital of Blakes Chilled Distribution Ltd. was purchased in August for £3 million. Express Dairies announced a joint venture in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

with Golden Vale plc in November 2000, that created Dale Farm Dairies Ltd, although that was sold in October 2001. Express Dairies disposed of its UHT business and

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

creamery in July 2002. Following a period of poor profitability, the business was acquired in March 2003 by

Arla Foods , industry = Dairy , predecessor = ArlaMD Foods , founded = , founder = , location_city = Viby , location_country = Denmark , area_served = Worldwide , key_people = Peder Tub ...

, who in turn sold it on to

in July 2006. Dairy Crest sold its deliveries business to Creamline Dairies in July 2013, and its milk processing business to Germany's Müller in December 2015.

Premier Supermarkets

Post war, Britain was changing. The chairman's new son in law,

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

citizen and ex sailor of the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, Patrick Galvani, had been studying retailing before coming to the United Kingdom, particularly

supermarkets A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more l ...

. Galvani made a pitch to the board, which resulted in Britain's first supermarket opening in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the boroughs, in whole or in part, of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond, Southwark, Sut ...

in 1951 under the Premier Supermarket brand. In 1960, in an attempt to expand nationwide, Galvani made a pitch to the board to buy Irwin's 212 stores, but they refused to back him; Jack Cohen of

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

subsequently bought the chain. In 1964, the chain was sold to

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

's Mac Fisheries chain for £1million. The cash income allowed Express to develop and launch marketing for long-life milk.

References

{{Defunct UK grocers Dairy products companies of the United Kingdom Northern Foods British companies established in 1864 1864 establishments in England Supermarkets of the United Kingdom Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 1864