The return of the milkman: millennials behind growth of a time-honoured, more eco-friendly tradition

Across Britain and Northern Ireland, a swelling number of milkmen and women are rising at the crack of dawn to deliver fresh milk and other produce directly to people’s doorsteps, as their age-old modus operandi grows in popularity with the environmentally conscious.

The milkman is back

As ecologically conscious households around the UK attempt to consume less plastic, the British milkmen and women who deliver directly to homes with recyclable and reusable glass bottles in electric vehicles are enjoying an increase in trade.  

Reusing, recycling and electric vehicles are nothing new to the milkman

Doorstep milk deliveries from local dairies were a normal part of the daily routine for most UK households throughout the 1960s and ’70s. 

During the 1980s, some 90% of the milk consumed by Britons was delivered to their doorsteps.

But as it became cheaper and more convenient to buy milk from the shops and supermarkets, the milkman began to disappear, and as recently as three years ago, that number had dropped to just 3%. 

These days however, as many Millennials are shifting towards more sustainable ways of living, avoiding unnecessary plastic and waste, the milkmen and women of London and the wider UK are making a comeback.

London-based Milk&More mas Parker Dairies have both seen a huge increase in their demand for glass bottles since 2018. It’s claimed that Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II series is the catalyst for the resurgence in popularity. 

A glass milk bottle can be reused 25 times before it is recycled. 

Milk “floats” were ahead of their time, too – electric vehicles were used because they are cheap to run and virtually silent as they glide around the streets in the early hours, but now acclaimed for their eco-credentials and credibility.

Milk & More– England’s biggest milk delivery company – has gained 85,000 new customers since the beginning of 2019

20,000 of those were in June, and another 10,000 in July. Of these new customers, 90% asked for glass.

In the battle against packaging, the milkman is back. But this time he – or she – is 21st Century-ready: online, on social media, and bearing oat milk, too.

Source: Telegraph

Dairies that deliver

• Parker Dairies, London — Delivers milk in East and Central London. Other local produce available includes sourdough bread, Bee17 honey and coffee roasted in Leyton.
• County Dairies, Kent — Run by husband and wife team, Humphrey and Cathy White. Based near Maidstone and delivering to a growing number of areas within Kent.
• Milk & More, Nationwide —England’s largest milk delivery company. Its growing team of 1100 milkmen and women make the rounds to 500K customers in the South East, South West, London, East Anglia, the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West.
• Luckett’s Dairy, W Midlands—This family-run firm has been making the rounds in Coventry for decades. Milk is fresh from Cotteswold Dairy in Tewksbury. Manage your account online and amend your order up to 11.59pm the night before.
• Creamline, Manchester and Cheshire—Creamline began life as a horse-and-cart milk delivery service in 1945. These days its vans ferry milk plus produce from Greater Manchester’s independent shops – including meat, coffee, fish and fruit and veg – to homes in Manchester and Cheshire.
• Thomson Dairies, Scotland—Thomson Dairies delivers milk, juice and other fridge essentials within Central Scotland. Founded in 2007, this family-run business has embraced the online world: contact them via their Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
• Jones Dairies, Wales—Jones Dairies sources its milk from family-run farms where the cattle graze on pasture for most of the year. Delivers to Barry and the surrounding area, including parts of Cardiff.
• Hanover Dairies, North East—Trevor Hanover started his milk business with one round in 1976, and has since grown the business to cover most of the North East, as well as parts of the North West and Scotland.
• MooFresh, West Midlands—MooFresh was formed in May 2010 by Phil Mitchell and originally traded as Sutton Coldfield Dairies. The family firm deliver local farm fresh milk straight to their customers front doors all over the Midlands.
• The Calf at Foot Dairy – Overnight UK-wide courier delivery of raw milk from a Suffolk Jersey herd
• The Dartmouth Dairy – Glass-bottle deliveries in south Devon – it also does goat’s milk 
• Farmdrop – Daily deliveries of organic Jersey milk in glass bottles within the M25, plus groceries
• And lastly, if you don’t see a dairy near you, try Find Me a Milkman – Dairy UK’s official service linking buyers to their local milk-delivery service.