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The Milk Marketing Board, originally founded in 1933, established a creamery in the late 1960’s at Somercotes on the developing Cotes Park Industrial Estate.

The creamery was one of the first major companies to build on the new industrial estate. When it was first erected on the site of the old Cotes Park Colliery the area had not been fully cleared. The colliery tip had still to be removed and various parts of the colliery infrastructure were still in place.

PHOTO: The newly constructed Milk Marketing Board with the Colliery Tip in the background

The Birmingham Daily Post published an article relating to the award of building contracts on 4 January 1968 which read: “£1½m contracts awarded - Two contracts worth nearly £1½m for a new Milk Marketing Board creamery at Alfreton. Derbyshire were announced yesterday. Costain Construction Ltd have won the £468,000 contract to erect the building to house dairy plant worth nearly £1m, which will be supplied by A P V Ltd of Crawley, Sussex.”

The creamery was quickly erected. The main building was a large tower which dominated the landscape at the time. The Birmingham Daily Post published the following article on 20 July 1968: “The top of the milk - ONLY seven months after construction began, the topping-out ceremony took place on Thursday at the Milk Marketing Board's new creamery at Alfreton, Derbyshire. This creamery is one of the most advanced in the world and at peak production times will be able to process 100,000 gallons of milk into 20 tons of butter and 40 tons of skim milk powder each day. It is being built because the present upward trend of milk production in England and Wales is expected to continue. Present at the topping out ceremony was the Dairy Princess of the Midlands, Miss Julia Holt of Penkridge, Staffs.” After the installation of the plant was complete, the creamery in March 1969, producing butter and milk powder.

PHOTO: A view of the Milk Marketing Board taken from the tower of Watchorn Memorial Church, Alfreton c.1970.

In an effort to streamline its business, the Milk Marketing Board split the milk processing operations into a separate division called Dairy Crest in 1981, which then purchased surplus milk from milk producers.

In 1987, Dairy Crest was incorporated into a Limited Company, a significant change in circumstances which subjected it to more financial scrutiny. In 1990, the company announced a rationalisation programme that entailed the closure of several of its processing plants, including the Alfreton Creamery, which closed at the end of December 1990, with the loss of 153 jobs. A local newspaper reported on the announcement of its closure on 29 March 1990: “CREAMERY SHOCK – An award-winning Alfreton creamery is being forced to close because of people’s healthy eating habits. The Dairy Crest Creamery on the Somercotes industrial estate will shut down in December causing 153 redundancies. Gradual changes in milk use and production has meant less milk is available for butter and skimmed milk powder made at the factory. Later in the year special job shops will assist staff in their search for alternative work. The creamery won an award for its quality administration and production late last year.”