Milk Link was a large

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

company in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was the UK's largest dairy

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

and the UK's largest producer of

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During product ...

. In 2012 the company merged with

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

History

It was formed in April 2000 as one of three successor co-operatives to

Milk Marque Milk Marque was a British dairy industry co-operative that was the successor to the Milk Marketing Board. At one point, Milk Marque controlled over half of the UK market for raw milk. In 2000, Milk Marque's activities were split into three separa ...

. Milk Marque was broken up after the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under ...

queried how it set milk prices. In July 2002, the company bought the

Crediton Crediton is a town and civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon in England. It stands on the A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, about north west of Exeter and around from the M5 motorwa ...

and

Kirkcudbright Kirkcudbright ( ; sco, Kirkcoubrie; gd, Cille Chùithbeirt) is a town, parish and a Royal Burgh from 1455 in Kirkcudbrightshire, of which it is traditionally the county town, within Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The town lies southwest of ...

creameries from

Express Dairies Express Dairies is a former brand of Dairy Crest, that specialised almost entirely in home deliveries of milk, and other dairy products. History The company was founded by George Barham in 1864 as the 'Express County Milk Supply Company,' so nam ...

for £33.1 million, both of which make

UHT milk Ultra-high temperature processing (UHT), ultra-heat treatment, or ultra-pasteurization is a food processing technology that sterilizes liquid food by heating it above – the temperature required to kill bacterial endospores – for 2 t ...

. It also bought out the 50% of joint-venture partner Express Dairies in the creamery at

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 ...

. The Crediton operations were later sold in a management buyout. In February 2004 it set up The Cheese Company with Kilkenny-based

Glanbia Glanbia plc ( ) is an Irish global nutrition group with operations in 32 countries. It has leading market positions in sports nutrition, cheese, dairy ingredients, speciality non-dairy ingredients and vitamin and mineral premixes. Glanbia produc ...

, which had four cheese production sites and a packing facility supplying major retailers in the UK, in which it took a 75% stake. In December 2006 it bought out Glanbia for £47.2 million. In July 2005 it closed a site at

Sible Hedingham Sible Hedingham ( ) is a large village and civil parish in the Colne Valley in the Braintree District of Essex, in England. It has a population of 3,994 according to the 2011 census. Sible Hedingham lies in the northern corner of Essex, close to ...

. From October 2007 to February 2008 there were talks to merge with First Milk. In August 2011 it split into two divisions named 'Milk Link, Cheese' and 'Milk Link, Milk'. In September 2011 it announced that it would increase the size of the Lockerbie creamery by 50% to produce 37,000 tonnes of cheese a year, into a UK market which consumes 600,000 tonnes of cheese a year. In 2012 the company merged with Arla Foods.

Products

Each year it handles around 1.5 billion litres of milk. It makes the chocolate-flavoured milk under licence for the ''

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

'' and ''

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...

'' brand.

Cheeses

* Cheddar * Stilton * Cheshire * Red Leicester * Cheshire * Double Gloucester * Lancashire * Wensleydale * Caerphilly * Cornish Brie * Cornish Camembert * Shropshire Blue It exports cheese to 19 countries.

Structure

Creameries

Dairy - sold April 2013 in a management buyout which trades as Crediton Dairy Limited. *

Llandyrnog Llandyrnog is a large village and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales lying in the valley of the River Clwyd, about from Denbigh and from Ruthin. The village has good road links to Denbigh and the main A541 road at Bodfari, and ...

, north Wales (Now mothballed) * Lockerbie (cheddar cheese) - the largest dairy plant in Scotland, off the A709 near the

River Annan The River Annan (''Abhainn Anann'' in Gaelic) is a river in south-west Scotland. It rises on Annanhead Hill and flows through the Devil's Beef Tub, Moffat and Lockerbie, reaching the sea at Annan, Dumfries and Galloway after about 40 miles ...

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes pro ...

* Taw Valley CreameryTaw Valley Creamery
/ref> *

Trevarrian Trevarrian pronounced (Tre-Varrion) is a hamlet south of Mawgan Porth, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Cheese ''St. Endellion'' is a brie style cheese, made at Trevarrian, cream enriched and hand-made using only Cornish milk and cream. The c ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Milk Link Foodservice

British Cheese Board

Video clips

Milk Link YouTube channel

Corporate video

News items

Lockerbie plant in November 2011

Lockerbie expansion in September 2011

North Wales cheese plant in October 2009

Buying north Wales cheese plant in June 2009

Plans to close Scottish dairy in May 2009
Dairy products companies of the United Kingdom Co-operatives in the United Kingdom Food and drink companies established in 2000 2000 establishments in the United Kingdom South Gloucestershire District Companies based in Gloucestershire