Tarvin History Revealed – Closure of Pool Bank Dairy

Northern Dairies Bottling plant – Pool Bank

It was a sad day for Tarvin and a very unpleasant new year shock for the 120 Northern Dairies workers at the Dale Farm glass bottle processing unit at Poole Bank in late December 1994 when the Wakefield-based company announced its closure in April. There was no warning of any threat of likely closure and it was a devastating blow for many Tarvin families.

With more people buying milk from the supermarket in cartons, there was less demand for milk in glass bottles awful or the workers but also a sad day for the environment as more milk than ever is being sold in plastic bottles and cartons.

The announcement was made to shop stewards at 10:20 and then to the rest of the staff at 10:45. Shop steward, Alan Bradley said: “It is the first meeting I have been to where questions are invited at the end and no one had any, they couldn’t take the news in” he said

Poole Bank is now home to several other businesses but it is a far cry from the days of the Dale Farm Dairy.

Ed: Were you or any Family or friends employed at the Dairy? Where did you go from there?