John and Martha Sandham began Lancashire cheese making at their Barton Dairy.
JJ Sandham Ltd is a family owned and run business with 3rd generation, Chris Sandham currently at the helm.
The business started before the Milk Marketing Board existed, so contracts were taken out with local farmers to establish a continuous supply of milk, but did not allow for times when the demand for cheese fell.
As a consequence, production had to carry on using the milk, even though sales were nowhere near production levels. When the store rooms were full, the adjacent family home was used as additional storage. The cheese were often stacked two high on both sides of the stairs in the house and the living room was fitted with extra shelving to accommodate unsold cheese.
During World War II, the supply of milk was taken from us for milk powder. This had to be put into hard cheese, suitable for rationing. It wasn’t until the early 1950’s that milk supplies were resumed and we re-established the manufacture of our fine Lancashire cheese, using the same traditional 1929 recipe.
Over the last 30 years we have significantly re-invested back into our production facilities, giving us a facility that we are immensely proud of today.