Three jobs go as Dairy Crest's Telford depot closes

Staff at the Halesfield plant were warned at the start of November that the firm planned to shut the depot, putting 20 jobs at risk. Following a consultation with staff, three jobs were lost in the closure, which took place on Saturday.

One former Dairy Crest milkman has issued a "use it or lose it" message to customers in the wake of the closure of the company's the depot.

Although the business is being continued from Wolverhampton, it means an end to over four decades of doorstep milk deliveries from the Halesfield site.

Paul Nicholls, of Shifnal, who first went to work on rounds at the depot as a nine-year-old schoolboy, says it is a sad day.

"It's a sign of the times," he said. "It's all supermarkets now. It's bad really – and I don't think it's going to turn round."

The Dairy Crest site at Halesfield officially closed on Saturday, although the firm is promising to ensure a high level of service to customers out of its Wolverhampton depot.

Paul said: "It's sad for the roundsmen who work at Halesfield. So the message is simple – keep your milkman on the doorstep and don't let him become a thing of the past."

He added: "Over the years Halesfield depot has supported many families and I had many happy days there."

When Paul, 51, started out with Midland Counties Dairy which was based at Station Road, Madeley and run by Cyril Baugh, milk rounds in Telford were flourishing. It later moved to Halesfield, to be taken over by Unigate, which Paul says later sold out to Dairy Crest.

"The new Unigate Dairy at Halesfield opened in 1971 to cope with the high demand for doorstep fresh milk delivery," he said. "The story had all started when in the 1950s and 1960s Midland Counties Dairy was buying out the small dairymen, like farms with small milk rounds, some of them with horse and carts.

"Midland Counties bought a large dairy, Foyes, which was in Oakengates, and Arleston Dairy, in Wellington. With Telford new town growing, electric milk floats were coming to Arleston and Halesfield brand new from the factory from 1971 until 1982, with a total of 19 rounds at Arleston, and 31 at Halesfield. When Halesfield first opened in 1971, 10 rounds had moved from Merry Hill to Halesfield – seven to do rounds in Bridgnorth, and three rounds in Highley."

Paul worked at the Halesfield depot until about 1984 and then moved to Whitecroft Dairy in Newport, before finishing as a milkman and becoming an HGV driver collecting milk from farms, a job he still does.

Dairy Crest has said that it closed the Halesfield plant to cut operating costs.