There’s much been said in the recent two editions of the Free Press on Welsh milk. The Co-op comes in for criticism for not stocking it, and it’s seen not to be supporting indigenous agriculture (even though in other food sectors it has a high minded ethical trading policy).
Around the corner, Tesco has always stocked Welsh milk. This had probably less to do with former AM Alyn Pugh’s campaign and more to do with commercial good sense. But does this make Tesco better than the Co-op? And, is Tesco’s Welsh milk actually local to one of the most fertile of arable areas of Wales—Dyffryn Clwyd?If you want local milk, the best thing might be to buy from either Bargeinion B ac M or Duke’s Stores. Both stock milk from a dairy some 13 miles away: Tomlinson’s Dairies, Minera, near Wrexham, fronting the Minera Old Road. Its milk comes in 500ml plastic containers, selling at the equivalent of 46p per pint at B & M and 61p at Duke’s. B & M’s is the self-same price as a Co-op British pinta and a Welsh one at Tesco.
It says on the Tomlinson’s bottles, “All of our milk comes from local Welsh farms…” We know that Tesco seems to treat Wales as a “region” and anything within is deemed “local”. Like at Tesco, there’s a dilemma with Tomlinson’s. Just how local is “local”?In spite of Rhuthun’s agricultural legacy and fertility, there are precious few locally produced or processed foods available for sale here. With the closure of Llandyrnog creamery, there are even fewer. Since throughout Britain we choose to support supermarket discount prices rather than champion local producers, we only have ourselves to blame if a supermarket fails to stock what it feels is “local” milk. No matter the product, we prefer cheap products that have been trucked or flown long distances.
Time was when you could still just about buy locally sourced and bottled milk. Maclean's of Bontuchel used to sell green top raw milk to the villages around it, and to Duke Stores on Mwrog Street. Judging by Duke’s prices, Maclean struggled to compete against supermarket prices. Environmental health pressures impelled Maclean's to opt for a pasteurising unit via an EU grant. It’s said that Maclean’s delivered seven days a week (in reusable glass bottles, too) but when the pasteurising unit failed, there was no grant for its replacement. The area’s last milk producer/processor abruptly closed and so ended rural home deliveries, glass bottles and really locally sourced milk, all in one go. This was as late as the early to mid 1990s.We’ve made our bed of straw and we’d better lie in it.