E B Bradshaw, Driffield, Yorkshire

E B Bradshaws can trace their milling heritage back to William Bradshaw, who was apprenticed to a miller in the 1790's.

When he died in 1824, he left the freehold to three windmills and all his five sons were master millers. In June 1949 a disastrous fire completely destroyed Bell Mills.

However, literally out of the ashes’ John and Alfred Bradshaw built a completely modern mill and installed all the latest milling equipment that was available in the 1950's. It became a flagship mill for the mill engineers, Henry Simon, of Manchester. The mill was further modernised in 1970. By 1990, with the onset of the Food Safety Act the directors decided to undergo a major remodel, taking out all the machinery and replacing it with a new mill. Continual plant investment has always been a policy of the company and the site has developed over the last two decades to encompass enhanced bulk outloading, modern hygienic flour packing and a second specialist flour mill, dedicated to a range of bread flours.

“C” mill, featured in the video, was commissioned in the Summer of 2018 and is one of the most technically advanced mills in Northern Europe, manufactured by Italian Millers OMAS srl who are based in Padua. Parameters such a food safety, flour purity and energy consumption were all taken into account in its design. Continual monitoring of a number of milling parameters will ensure superb consistency of the resulting flour.

The business is now run  by John and Alfred’s grandsons, who are 6th generation Bradshaw millers.