Going down the milk bar may soon be a thing of the past; COFFEE SHOPS AND DECLINE OF HIGH STREET DECIMATE A NATIONAL CHAIN
0 Comments | Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales), August 28, 2010
Byline: LISA JONES
THEY were once a common feature across Welsh towns and a popular hangout for young people despite the name.
But milk bars, with their signature black-and-white chequered floors, bar stools, jukeboxes and gleaming chrome, could soon be a thing of the past, as the last remaining few close down.
As tastes for skinny latts and frappuccinos increase in line with the domination of the high street by coffee shop chains, the fortunes of the firm National Milk Bars appear to be in decline.
Its Aberystwyth branch, which has been open in the town since the 1950s, is to close in October, followed by its shop in Welshpool at a later date.
Its Llanidloes and Machynlleth branches have closed in the last two years.
What was a chain of up to 17 shops in Wales has been reduced to four – with many now KFC franchises.
Managing director of the Welshpool-based company, John Frost, who is married to the granddaughter of founder Willie Griffiths, said it was reviewing its high street activity in line with changes in the market.
He said: “We seem to be suffering from a general decline in the economy and the high street generally.
“There’s a lot of competition. It’s a trend and we are looking to review all our high street activity.
“Tesco has moved into Newtown, Machynlleth and Welshpool and it tends to suck up trade in the high street.”
Mr Frost said a lot of the towns where its bars have been situated have been slower to resist the effects of chain domination, but are now falling prey as they arrive on their doorsteps.
In the 1960s, the National Milk Bar was the only eatery in Welshpool but it now faces competition from 25 other food outlets in a town with a population of only 8,000.
National Milk Bars was founded in 1933 by Mid Wales dairy farmer Mr Griffiths as a way to market his produce.
He opened the first National Milk Bar in Colwyn Bay with the idea of selling the milk and cream from his farm at Forden, near Welshpool, directly to the public.
The farm also supplied the eggs, cheese, butter, bacon, sausages, potatoes and other vegetables sold in following cafes, modelling his bars on those being opened up in London by Charles Forte.
The National Milk Bar chain spread across Mid and North Wales and into Birmingham, Shrewsbury and Liverpool, all with the signature features also prevalent in American diners.
In the post-war days of the 1950s and 1960s, milk was strongly promoted as a healthy, and trendy, beverage and the bars became the fashionable haunt of teenagers.
They later drifted into providing traditional British food.
Lynne Pritchard, 62, a credit controller, of Fairwater, Cardiff, said milk and coffee bars were a feature of her teens.
She added: “My cousin and I used to go out for coffee and milkshakes.
“We’d sit drinking espressos, smoking and talking at around 8pm.
“They used to have the milk in great big plastic containers, all swishing round.
“It was very dark and dingy and all people did was stand around, drinking and talking. It was very hip.”
Mr Frost added: “Our Liverpool branch is mentioned in a biography of the Beatles. They talked about going down to the milk bar in 1964. We’re glad to have this claim to fame.”
Peter Midmore, professor of economics at Aberystwyth University, said rural communities’ affinity with the milk bar faded away as agriculture became a less important feature in their lives.
“The power of the coffee shop chain is such that they have become much more fashionable,” he said.
“Eating habits have also changed. People are less interested in the traditional food that milk bars provide
frappuccino coffee
