Many people will remember one of Wolverhampton’s most famous southerly landmarks, the Midland Counties Dairy that was situated at the junction of Penn Road and Lea Road. It was a unique and distinctive building that was sadly missed after demolition in 1988.


George Cartwright

Little has been written about the dairy or the people that worked there, but thanks to the efforts of the late George Cartwright, we have the photographs and most of the details in this article. George worked at the dairy for many years as vehicle maintenance foreman and it became an important part of his life. He collected photographs and cuttings from the dairy company’s newsletter “Midcount Mail” with the intention of writing up his recollections of the dairy, but it was not to be.

George was a member of the dairy’s social club committee and he and his wife never missed a social club evening. He greatly enjoyed his garden and model railway and played a good game of snooker and table tennis. In 1949 he took up flying and obtained a pilot’s ‘A’ certificate.


The story of the dairy is told in the following parts:
1 The Early Years
2 The New Dairy
3 Penn Road Dairy
4 Wolverhampton Personalities
5 The Later Years
6 A Company Magazine

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Lawson Cartwright (no relative of George) and Kitt Ballinger for the loan of George’s scrapbook and photograph album. Also Derek Beddows for the loan of two Midland Counties Dairy booklets: the 21st birthday souvenir; and the souvenir of the official opening of the new dairy at Wolverhampton.


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