Milk bottle collector doesn’t drink milk

By Charlie Fenton

A man who owns the UK's largest milk bottle collection has revealed he “hates” milk and hasn’t drunk a glass in 65 years.

Steve Wheeler, 76, has collected over 26,000 bottles since the 1980s and travels all across the UK to find them.

Around 23,000 bottles are from the UK, which Steve says is approximately 20 percent of the total amount of different types that have ever been manufactured in Britain.

He also has 3,000 bottles from overseas - that includes at least one from every European country.

Steve has told how his prized collection could be worth up to $250,000 but to him it is "priceless" - it also weighs up to 16 tonnes.

The collector stores the bottles in a self-made 1,440 square foot museum in his back garden - this also includes three 18ft by 16ft storage sheds which hold the 10,000 that aren't on show.

Steve revealed how he hasn’t drunk a glass of milk since he was a lad, revealing he was put off the white stuff after being a milk monitor back in primary school in the 1950s.

Steve said: "I'll have it in a cup of tea or coffee but I could never have a glass by itself - I hate the stuff."

Steve, of Malvern, Worcestershire, collection began 40 years ago, when he came across a milk bottle while walking in the Brecon Beacons, in Wales.

He said: “I was walking in the Brecon Beacons in the mid 80s and I found a bottle on the walk and I took an interest in it.

"When I got home, I found out that the dairy where the milk was produced was closing and it all grew from there."

But surprisingly, Steve has revealed how he hasn't drunk a glass of milk since he was a school boy.

The collector said: "As the milk monitor every morning I would have to have to go out into the yard and drag in a metal crate containing the milk for morning break.

"But during the winter, as it had been dropped off really in the early morning, it would freeze with an inch of ice sticking out the top, so by the time it was warmed and being handed out, it had mixed with the water.

"The flavor was awful and so was the color - I was completely put off by it and I have had a glass since."

To build out his hoard, Steve has travelled all across the UK picking up new bottles one by one.

The collector says he “knows” if he has found a new bottle as he "remembers" all of his glasses by memory.

He said: "Once I have found the bottle and cleaned it, then logged it into the database, and then put it on display, I've spent enough time with it to remember it."

Steve searches for new bottles how ever many times a new lead, mail, or call comes in.

Once chooses a location he mainly stops by dairy farms to ask if they have any antiques going - he also visits the houses of retired farmers if given the directions.

He says he doesn't always get any bottles but he has met some great people over the years and has certainly drunk many gallons of tea.

Steve said: "I usually set off early morning around 3 am and arrive at the farms between 6 am and 9 am.

"When I get there, the farmer is usually on his way back inside to have his breakfast after milking the cows

"I tell them what I'm doing and he normally says to me, 'I'm busy lad but come inside and have some breakfast with me'.

"They then tell me the history of their farm and I normally leave with a few new bottles tucked in my hands.

"The most farms I have been to in a day is 26 - I was searching in the Ribble Valley in Lancashire at the time, and I got bottles from nearly all of them.

"I have also spent 10 hours going from farm to farm before and come away without a single new one - that day I did drink a lot of tea though.

“It's a hobby that sometimes holds no guarantees.

Steve has a log containing leads for over 3,000 bottles from across Britain, which he is actively chasing.

His oldest bottle is from the 1850s - a Grimwades Patent Milk flask, British, but found by a diver in Sydney Harbor, Australia, which held powdered milk.

He also owns the UK's first reusable (doorstep delivery) glass bottle from the 1880s which were used by the Express Dairy Company.

Though Steve's favorite bottle fronts an image of '50s silver screen star Zoe Newton - she features on the bottle as part of the Drinka Pinta Milka Day campaign.

Steve has glasses from all across the world, including Africa, South America, North America, the Middle East, and South Asia.

He said, "I find it easier to say where I don't have them from rather than all the places I do."

He even has bottles with King's approval from the Royal Dairy Farm EIIR at Windsor.

Steve has previously sold bottles from his friends who had smaller collections after they passed to raise money for charity.

He has told how he gets first dibs on any new ones but sells those he already has - some have sold for upwards of $40, raising money for "good causes."

He said: "I have plenty of rare bottles - depending on how you look at it the collection could be worth a quarter of a million pounds.

"But to me they are priceless - I'll never part ways with them until I'm forced to."

His collection also includes antique cardboard milk bottle caps and retro milk crates which were once used during deliveries.

Steve is currently on the lookout for any bottles which come in pints, half and third pints - he is also chasing two pint quart bottles from the 1900s to 50s.

Though he really wants to find more bottles from Ross's Dairies in Glasgow, a very progressive dairy in its time, with many innovative ideas and designs.

He said: "They made the only cream top bottles in the UK - they are designed to let the cream from the milk sit at the top before you find the milk below."

He is also looking for original Associated Dairies bottles from Leeds, before the brand became Asda in 1965.

One day, Steve hopes to open a museum where he can officially show his huge collection to the public.

He said: "I'll look after it until I can no longer - the collection is my pride and joy, it would be nice if it had an official home."