Joseph Rank Ltd opened the Premier Mill in 1904. Rank had built his first mill at Holderness in Yorkshire in 1875 and his first roller mill at Hull in 1886. The mill was enlarged with new concrete buildings in the 1930s.
The company (known as Ranks Ltd after 1933) built many other famous mills, notably the Baltic Flour Mills in Gateshead. The silo has survived as the Baltic Arts Centre.
The Millennium Mills were founded by William Vernon and Sons in 1905. They later became part of Spillers Milling. Spillers built large mills in several cities, including Liverpool, Cardiff and Cambridge. Spillers' Tyne Mill in Newcastle, built in 1936, was Europe’s largest flour mill at that time.
Like all the other mills at the Victoria Dock, the Millennium Mills were rebuilt as the scale of operations grew. Before World War II, Scandinavian barques like the Grace Harwar were still common visitors. By the 1950s, far larger vessels unloaded at the mills.
All three flour mills survived the end of the Royal Docks and still stood in 1990. Sadly, the Empire and CWS mills were demolished in the following decade. Only the granary of the Millennium Mills still stands. It is likely to be converted into housing once the area is redeveloped.
Grain elevators, Ranks and Spillers Mills, Royal Victoria Dock. © NMM
