The gentle whirring of an electric milk float, accompanied by crates of bottles clinking, were once early morning sounds across the nation. And there was nothing better than being the first member of the family to pierce the foil lid and get the cream at the top – provided any cheeky birds hadn’t got there first and pecked open the top for a drink!
For decades this was part of the morning routine across the nation as almost 99 per cent of milk was door-delivered. Of course all this changed in the early Nineties with the rise of plastic cartons of milk sold in supermarkets. The result was that the number of traditional milk rounds took a nosedive and by 2016 were serving just three per cent of the population.
However, that’s now all changing again as doorstep deliveries enjoy a surge in popularity with an increasing number of people searching for milkman delivery services in their local area.
The biggest national milk delivery company, Milk & More, has reported a record 75,000 new customers signed up in the last 12 months, meaning they now deliver more than 110 million one-pint bottles of milk to the UK every year.
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Ian Beardwell, a milkman for 28 years who now works for Milk & More, says he’s seen his round go from 600 to 700 customers in the last year and believes the main reason is to do with concerns about plastic.
“Programmes such as Blue Planet and War on Plastic have made people want to change their lifestyles and cut back on it,” says Ian. “And getting milk delivered in a glass bottle is an easy switch people can make towards being greener as they leave out their empty bottles that I then take back and recycle.”
How to get fresh milk delivered to your door
Visit Milk&More and set up your own account to start ordering fresh milk plus other delicious food to your door.
Milk deliveries have also now caught up with modern times, embracing the different way we live today.
First of all, there’s no more need to arrange a time to be in to pay the bill. Instead with Milk & More anyone can order and pay for their milk delivery online before 9pm and milk will be delivered on their doorstep by 7am.
“Back in the Seventies when I used to help with my dad’s milk round, many women were housewives so we’d deliver from the early morning up until midday, because people were in to collect the milk,” says Ian. “But now we deliver from midnight to 7am so it’s on people’s doorsteps even if they are leaving the house in the early hours.”
As the name suggests, with Milk & More – which is owned by Muller – you can also order more than just a bottle of milk. From eggs to veg, you can have a whole range of locally sourced, organic farm-shop style goodies, delivered in eco-friendly packaging along with your milk before breakfast – saving you a trip to the shops later in the day.
Prices at Milk&More
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Milk starts from 81p per pint
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A 200g block of cheddar cheese can be ordered for £3.50
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A 250g block of salted butter can be ordered for £2.39
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6 medium free range eggs can be ordered for £1.89
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A loaf of Kingsmill soft white can be ordered for £1.05
You can also order a huge range of meats, juices, fruits, vegetables, cakes, pastries and pantry essentials including cereals, preserves and biscuits.
For all that’s changed about the milk round, Ian says the heart of the milkman’s job is still the same. For a start, he still has a milk float. Yes, it’s a zero-emission battery-powered electric vehicle that can reach a top speed of 53mph but it’s still a milk float that bears the hallmark sound of tinkling bottles as it goes around.
There’s also the fact, like all the milkmen that went before him, that he’s at the centre of the community, delivering to a wide range of places from pre-schools to regular customers, one of which has just turned 100.
“I obviously don’t physically meet as many of my customers today as I deliver through the night but you do have the odd encounter with people in their face masks and pyjamas taking the bins out,” he laughs. “You also build up what I call a ‘shadow’ relationship with the people as you get to know their cars and their cats.”
In fact, last year Ian became Milk & More’s Milkman of the Year for being a community hero, after he helped reunite several pets with their owners and foiled two burglaries after he spotted something wasn’t right on his milk round.
He was completing his milk round at 4am when he noticed the front door of a house wide open and all the lights on. Concerned, he rang the doorbell and was greeted by a visibly shaken local resident. She told him she had woken up when she heard someone break into her home. He offered to wait at her door while she phoned the police, reassuring and calming her at the same time.
“Mine’s not an unusual story as up and down the country other milkmen are doing amazing things, stepping in to help at a time of night when no one else is around. We’re just there trying to do our best for our community,” he says. And long may the milk round continue!
Did you know? Milk deliveries first emerged in the 1860s when the boom in the railways meant milk could be carried freely and cheaply from farms into towns and cities. It was first delivered round the streets on a horse-drawn cart, until the Fifties when the first electric milk floats came in
To find out more about Milk & More deliveries, call 0345 6063606 or visit www.milk andmore.co.uk
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