As part of The Manufacturers’ August Road trip, Joe Bush and Molly Cooper stopped to visit spring water manufacturer, Wenlock Spring, to find out how the business began and what sustainability initiatives it has in place…
As we sat in what appeared to be an ordinary office with two desks and the hum of the coffee machine, we turned around to look out the window to see the evergreen landscape of the Shropshire Hills, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
We were joined by Matthew Orme, Director at Wenlock Spring on his farm and bottled water manufacturing plant, to find out how a farm diversification project by his parents, Robert and Sue, in the late 1980s, turned into a company that is now one of the last and most established independent water companies in the UK.
A cool start
“Wenlock has a history stretching back to the 11th century, with reference to the location being documented in the Doomsday Book in 1086,” said Matthew.
But now, the second-generation family-owned business is seeking new ways to be sustainable, protect its environment and innovate its processes.
This began 35 years ago, when the market for bottled water didn’t exist. However, with the natural spring already on-site and receiving plenty of compliments from friends who had tried it, it got Matthew thinking. “While my parents had been at home on the farm, I had been working in the US and seen the rise in the market for water coolers. When I came back to the farm, we still had a lot of sheep and I realised, sheep were hard work; selling water might be easier,” Matthew added.
In the early 1990s, when water coolers also began appearing in offices and public buildings in the UK, Wenlock Spring received a call from a local hospital asking if they provided this service. It was only after Matthew’s father had agreed to the request, that he put down the phone, turned to Matthew and asked what a water cooler was!
“That’s where it really began. For the next 20 years, Wenlock Spring has been in the water cooler industry and that’s where we have evolved from. In 2024, we still have the water cooler business, which is in growth, but we have since expanded into plastic and glass bottling and more recently, the canning of water,” he said.
Plants for power
The Wenlock Spring site is still an active farm and one of its main challenges has always been its power supply. “In this location, we’re at the end of the power line meaning up until around ten years ago, we were still running on single-phase electricity. While most businesses have the benefit of three-phase, we struggled to have enough electricity to power everything on the farm and in the factory,” said Matthew.
In the past Wenlock Spring had run generators to combat this issue. However, due to the obvious environmental implications, it is something that the business is actively reducing reliance on.
The water cooler market requires lots of heating and cooling due to the re-use and washing of the bottles. “We had to look at our options in this process to see what the most efficient use of energy was. We used gas for a while, which took a load off the electric, however, the downside was that it wasn’t the best use of money,” he added.
A dedicated focus for Wenlock during Matthew’s time has been on how it can use renewable energies. An obvious win for a large factory building is of course to install solar panels on the roof; a project the business undertook over a decade ago. “In more recent times, we have also placed heat recovery on the compressors, saving us about 45kW an hour. We have also moved to electric forklifts and are utilising surplus solar energy at the weekends to charge them.”
However, Wenlock’s main source of renewable energy is now miscanthus (a plant similar in appearance to pampas grass) which is being used in Wenlock’s biomass boilers. “This seemed the best idea as we have woodlands and forestry surrounding us that we can make use of and the government were pushing renewables,” explained Matthew.
The plant takes two years to establish, but by its third year, it generates a decent yield. Once the plant has shed its leaves, what remains is a bamboo-like cane which makes for a very solid biomass fuel.
“Miscanthus is ideal because once it is in the ground it requires no fertilisers or sprays, and once burned creates very little waste in ash. Once you fill up the bunker with the plant, the boiler feeds itself and only needs topping up every few weeks,” said Matthew. One huge environmental benefit is the level of soil carbon sequestration means that each acre of plant returns around a tonne of carbon back into the soil. Each year (from the plant being grown to being burned for energy) represents a full cycle of carbon replacement and removal.
“By using this method for fuel, we are helping local wildlife and stopping the use of fossil fuels, all adding to our net zero goal. Right now, around 40-45% of the energy we use on-site is generated from renewable sources,” he said.
Independent challenges
Internally, Wenlock is looking to embrace different channels of digital technologies. “We are currently looking at how order processing works from a customer point of view and how we can speed it up and make it easier,” explained Matthew.
As an independent manufacturer one challenge can, be the resistance to introducing new technology. “Although new digital technology additions can seem great on the surface, the time and money involved can also slow you down and flexibility in the business can be lost. We want to embrace technology where we can and make things better for our customers.” Staying true to itself, Wenlock takes pride in the fact it is a business that customers can call, discuss challenges with and always speak to a person.
Another challenge Wenlock has been experiencing, along with the wider sector, is shortage of labour. Being in a very rural location, Wenlock struggles to find staff willing to travel, with no public transport links within easy reach of the farm. “We are trying to find good people to come and work with the team, and like a lot of businesses, we want to improve what we currently have to ensure our people stay with us and make us appealing to new recruits,” explained Matthew.
Linked to the skills issue Wenlock has embraced camera technology and robotics. “Thirty years ago the world was a different place. We used to fill bottles and seal them by hand; you would usually get more glue on your hands than on the bottles,” Matthew laughed. “Now we supervise the robots and the machines, as opposed to doing those jobs manually.” Automation has also made the skill shortage easier for Wenlock due to requiring less people on-site to perform certain roles.
The water business
Even though it’s a bottled water company, you won’t find Wenlock Spring on the supermarket shelves. Over the last 30 years, it has built a solid reputation for providing premium quality spring water to the hospitality and specialist retail sectors, with its products available exclusively from wine merchants, drinks wholesalers and food service distributors.
In more recent years, Wenlock has moved from plastic bottles into glass and now cans. “The younger generation like cans; it’s what they prefer drinking from, so we followed that trend. Over the last four or five years, plastics have come under the spotlight and there has been a concerted focus on educating the public on what to do with them and how to recycle them,” he explained.
Matthew believes that DRS (deposit return schemes) will enter the UK which will be available to pick up cans, glass and plastic in the coming years. “Every business wants to know how they can improve their carbon footprint, whether that is through new technologies in production n or the packaging we use for our products.”
What’s next?
As a business, Wenlock plans to expand its portfolio of drinks that it supplies and continue to venture into still flavoured drinks as it has begun to do. “This will open new avenues and opportunities to existing customers, wholesalers and all the people we deal with. Expanding the portfolio will be the key over the next year as I’m continuing to make the environment better for everyone that works here,” he said.
The water business has always complemented the farm and vice-versa. “The farm has always helped with the water as it was always a smaller business. Right now, the farm supplies energy for the water business. But ultimately, we are fortunate that we are on limestone so the water here flows freely and can be used throughout the farm and as a product,” said Matthew.
As Wenlock moves through an exciting time of growth, it wants to ensure that it continues to have as little impact on the world around them as possible. “While we may be leading the charge for a greener future, it’s something that we strongly believe should be a top priority for all British businesses, regardless of sector or industry,” he said.
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