Flour power: secrets of city's hidden mill

None of the firm’s 48 employees bat an eyelid at the expert driving of the man behind the wheel since it is an almost hourly occurrence at the flour mill which has been boxed in by the growing city around it over the past 150 years.

Neill’s Flour is one of Belfast’s oldest businesses and one of the hardest to find buildings in Northern Ireland’s capital.

Still located at its original premises in College Place North, the company built on family values continues to lead the way in supplying products to the baking trade across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Due to its tucked-away location accessibility should be an issue but it is not something that has hindered the company too much judging by its 150th birthday year.

Miller Nigel McLoughlin said: “When I came for the interview the taxi driver had never heard of the place. He didn’t know there were any factories this close to the city centre.”

Sales manager Karl McCrum said: “Most mills of this size would have two weighbridges on the way in and out. We have one way in and out and one weighbridge.

“When the mill was set up 150 years ago it was surrounded by fields. Since Belfast has grown up around it, the mill has become tucked away.

“It’s something you don’t even think about after you’ve been here for a week or two.

“The lorry drivers make the three-point turn in the yard look easy. There’s markings on the ground to show them where to park to make their deliveries.”

Mr McCrum said a job at Neill’s was a job for life.

“There are a large amount of our employees who would have 30-years-plus service which is really a lot in this day and age,” he said.

“When I started here I instantly got that real family feel where everyone pulls together. You can see that milling is in their blood.”

One such employee is Suzanne Gordon, who has worked in the same department at Neill’s for the past 35 years.

She said: “I’m a quality assurance technician, making sure the flour the millers are making is to the right specifications for the bakeries.”

Her job involves carrying out test bakes in the lab, testing wheat that has been delivered for protein and quality.

Asked why employees tend to stay so long, the company’s longest-serving employee said: “It’s a good company to work for and you can be comfortable in your job. Everyone gets on well together.”

Neill’s deals in bulk sales of flour by the lorry load to the likes of Allied Bakeries, Pat The Baker, Brennan’s and Gallagher’s. They also supply 16kg bags to bakeries around Northern Ireland including Asher’s, McColgan’s and Kirk’s.

Finally, and probably the most familiar with readers, are the retail packs seen in most supermarkets in the Province.

Mr McCrum said: “Before you can sell this product, you need to know about how wheat is grown, how it gets here, the different types of wheat, how it’s actually milled and bagged.”

The job title of miller conjures romanticised notions of a flour-dusted man or woman toiling away amidst whizzing and clanking machinery.

While the heavy machinery is very much in place, it was surprising to learn how much time a miller spends basked in the glare of a computer monitor.

Nigel McLoughlin, a 45-year-old miller from Portadown, said roughly two-thirds of his day at Neill’s Flour was spent keeping an eye on digital feedback of the mill’s machinery and processes.

He said: “It was quite daunting to begin with to see all the different components on the monitor and see the number of different screens for all the processes.

“You get used to it very quickly and it becomes second nature.

“I’d be around the mill a lot as well checking on things manually and looking at lab results. It’s got to the stage where I know how well the machines are running just based on the sound they’re making.”

Mr McLoughlin explained that millers like himself work off grists, or recipes, each of which will produce a slightly different flour.

“When I started I thought there were only about two types of flour.

“I quickly learned there are so many different grists, each one subtly different to the next.

“Different customers will have different grists, for example a company who ask for a high percentage of Canadian wheat tends to produce more premium breads.”

Mr McLoughlin had worked as a printer setter in Portadown, but having been educated as a food technologist, his dream job was in the food industry.

He is thought to be the only miller in Northern Ireland to hold a gold medal from the National Association of British and Irish Millers.

He attained the award after posting the highest score in his seven examinations and submitting a thesis on the optimum time to replace rollermills used in making flour.

Sales manager Mr McCrum said that programmes like the Great British Bake Off have a positive impact on the business.

“There’s normally a rise in supermarket sales when the Bake Off is on and people want to try what they’ve seen on TV,” he said.

“We try to tap into that as much as possible.

“I think newer bakers are probably price driven, but people who would have used our product over the years are willing to pay a bit more for the product based on the quality. When it comes to baking for special occasions its not something you want to take a chance with.

“With Neill’s over the years, the quality has always shone through.

“You’ll see that in the mill. Even though it’s pipes and machines it’s absolutely spotless and the attention to detail is fantastic.”

One of those machines demands more awe than most.

The enormous vibrating bran sifter runs all day long, all year round, including Christmas Day. As does the entire factory.

Inside the sifter is a series of industrial sieves of differing porosity, vibrating at high speeds.

This juggernaut of machinery is hypnotic to watch and, untethered, could be utilised as a weapon of mass destruction.

Despite its blusterous persona, its output could not be more harmless ... flour.