Fodder in Harrogate has become the first food hall in North Yorkshire to install a fresh milk vending machine, offering customers pasteurised milk and milkshakes direct from dairy farm Milk from the Hills.
The vending machine, inside the Great Yorkshire Showground outlet, dispenses non-homogenised milk and four core milkshake flavours — chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and banana — plus weekly specials. Customers can buy reusable glass bottles, wash them at home, and refill on return visits.
Similar machines have been appearing in other parts of the UK as demand grows for fresher, local produce and more sustainable packaging.
Vanessa Pitt, general manager at Fodder, said the collaboration adds something new for customers. “Our link up with Milk from the Hills is a first for the Harrogate area and adds a whole new dimension to a visit to Fodder. The milk and milkshakes are fresh, and we’re confident customers will enjoy them.”
The vending machine also features a live ‘cow cam’, giving shoppers a glimpse of the Hills’ robotic milking parlour in Hoylandswaine, near Barnsley, where the family has farmed for four generations.
Milk from the Hills was launched in 2022 by James Hill and his wife Alex, alongside his parents John and Val. The family focuses on sustainability, low food miles and high animal-welfare standards, combining time-honoured farming with modern technology.
Mr Hill said: “We were blown away by the reception we received at the Great Yorkshire Show and are proud to be part of a food hall that supports local farmers.”
Fodder works with more than 400 regional suppliers, with profits going back to the Yorkshire Agricultural Society to support farming. The vending machine is the latest addition following a major refurbishment earlier this year.
The outlet was recently named among the UK’s top 21 food halls by Speciality Food magazine and won Retail/Leisure Business of the Year at the Harrogate Business Awards.
