Company History - Six Generations Of Milling Experience

Now the only independent, family-controlled mill in the northwest of England and Scotland, the company was founded in 1820 by 19-year-old William Nelstrop, who set up a corn dealing business on Lancashire Hill, where the Nelstrop mill stands today. The site's association with milling goes back even further. When excavations were being carried out recently for a new office complex, a large millstone was unearthed - evidence of a windmill that had stood on the site for centuries.

William Nelstrop moved into the steam-powered Albion Mills on Lancashire Hill a year after it was built. He became an important local figure, served as mayor of Stockport and was offered a knighthood by Queen Victoria for his part in defusing the anti-Corn Law riots in the 1840s. Nelstrop refused the honour, partly because he had sympathy with the poor who were starving because they could not afford to buy bread and partly because lower wheat prices would benefit his own business.

William Nelstrop died in 1877. Through an unbroken line of family control, the business is now run by fifth-generation Conrad Nelstrop, who succeeded his late father, Francis, as Chairman.

Over the years, Nelstrops has had its share of problems and crises. The original mill was destroyed by fire in 1893, but rebuilding provided the opportunity to replace all but one of the stone grinding mills with the newly developed Henry Simon steel rollermills.

During World War II, all the central Manchester flour mills were destroyed in air raids. The remaining family mills in the suburbs stepped up production to meet the urgent demand for flour. Nelstrops introduced three-shift work schedules while family members and staff stood by with sand buckets on the roof to douse incendiary bombs. The mill escaped damage but, having survived the war, Nelstrops faced a difficult time in the 1950s and 60s as the industry began a period of restructuring and consolidation, when many family businesses were taken over by the national millers.

Nelstrops, however, resolutely retained its independence, and in the next decades, began to see new opportunities as customers started to look for new tastes and textures. In the 1960s, Nelstrops were the first to implement Simon's new Entoleter milling system, which enabled much higher levels of water absorption control. This in turn enabled the introduction of the Chorleywood bread process when entry to the EEC forced the use of increased amounts of lower protein domestic wheats, due to prohibitive tariffs on supplies of high protein types from traditional sources such as Canada.

In the past, as now, most of the Nelstrop family have been assigned for extended training and commissioning periods to the technical activity of Henry Simon and its successor Satake, to gain a sound background in technology. Some have returned to the family business whilst others have made their careers abroad. Patrick, Conrad's brother, has managed a milling engineering operation in Canada for 40 years and nephew William, after a spell with the Wheat Board in Australia, is now technical head of a leading milling company in South East Asia.