Dairy Crest Milk Processing Factory

United Kingdom / England / Chard /
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This large Dairy Crest Plant owes its rural position to the fact that it lies alongside the London Waterloo / S. West main line, and was once at the junction on the now closed branch to Chard / Taunton - which provided a well-served hinterland for the ready collection of milk supplies, before treatment and onward transmission.

It is believed to have been established in the 1930s by the Wilts United Dairies, and then became part of United Dairies when it was formed. After that, it became part of the amalgamation with Cow & Gate; and hence a key part of the Unigate Group.

A modest butter factory had been established here much earlier. A measure of the importance of milk traffic to the income of the London & South West Railway (Southern Railway) is that in 1957, for example, some 18 million gallons were transported from Chard Junction, Seaton Junction, Sherborne & Semley (in Wiltshire).

The plant has faced the threat of closure on several occasions over the past 20 years or so, but now seems a little more secure as there has been some considerable capital expenditure and modernisation of the plant.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   50°50'17"N   2°56'13"W

Comments

  • "now seems secure" As I pass on the London train, I see it destroyed, week by week. From a thriving mini-town with its own sewage works, employing up to 800 people... to piles of bricks and concrete. I only worked there for 7 months before uni in 1979, but I feel very sad about its demise.
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This article was last modified 9 years ago