Lanchester Dairies Rises To The Top

Two North East farming brothers who gave up milking their own cows about five years ago to concentrate on their expanding milk processing business, have reason to feel pleased with their decision.

The news that Lanchester Dairies, of Lanchester, County Durham, has signed an agreement to supply Asda stores in the region with milk and cream products, is another step forward in the remarkable success story of the company set up Billy and Geoffrey Austin at Upper House Farm.

It began 14 years ago when the Austins, including Billy's wife Julie, Geoffrey's wife Sandra, backed by the brothers' parents Wally and Cissy Austin, decided to process the farm's own milk, using a small processing plant.

Today, the business is one of the largest, family-owned independent dairies in the North East. It can boast a turnover of £6.5. million with nearly 50 staff, 25 delivery trucks, three milk tankers, a large processing plant at Lanchester and depots at Sunderland, Jarrow, Hexham, Barnard Castle, and Team Valley, Gateshead. It has a growing army of customers within a 60-mile radius of its main plant.

Lanchester Dairies buys its milk from farms in Durham and Northumberland, paying them "premium prices," according to General Manager, Barry Peacock. It collects the milk from the farms seven days a week and processes and delivers it in a wide range of containers, from the doorstep pint to 1,000-litre bulk tanks of milk and cream for its larger manufacturing customers.

Barry Peacock, who was a corporate branding and marketing manager in the motor industry, joined Lanchester Dairies about eight years ago, and has helped steer the business into new and profitable markets.

"While the Austin brothers and their wives deserve most of the credit for the success of the business, the rest has to go to the dedicated team of staff at the dairy without whom all this would not have been possible," said Barry.