145 years of innovation and avian nutrition
We begin life as an agricultural seed, grain and pea merchant at 52 High Street, Hull.
The business was set up by George Gilchrist Johnston and Richard Hunter Jeff who, in the early days, specialised in selling peas to pigeon fanciers. However, George and Richard soon noticed that miners kept canaries too and spotted an opportunity to supply canary seed and millet seed.
During WWI, we continued to supply pulses and seeds, but due to the scarcity of food, this was turned over to human consumption.
However, this has left a legacy that underpins the superior quality of our products to this day. Since then, many of the raw ingredients we buy are human grade, meaning the feeds we create are among the most nutritious available.
In 1921, after 41 fantastic years of service, George Gilchrist Johnston retired and was succeeded by Alan, the second generation of Johnstons to run the business and the grandfather of our current managing director, Richard.
Richard Hunter Jeff had already retired before this and with no family interest in the business, he sold his shares to George, ending the involvement of the Jeff family in the business.
By WWII, we’d outgrown our original premises and now occupied 61-64 High Street. 61, 62, and 64 were the mills, and 63 the offices. However, disaster was soon to strike. Hull was heavily bombed during the war and we didn’t escape as our premises took a direct hit.
We moved to a temporary location and it wasn’t until 1952 that the rebuild of High Street was finished and we returned there.
Ian Johnston, the grandson of George, served in the Royal Navy during WWII but was demobbed in 1947 and joined the family business. His uncle, Howard, also worked for us and they ran the company together.
In 1964, we were incorporated as a limited company, and a year later, Ian succeeded his father, Alan, as managing director. Under Ian, we began a period of modernisation and innovation.
Under Ian’s leadership, we achieved a number of industry firsts. For example, in the mid-70s, we became the first company to ship peas and canary seed in bulk containers from New Zealand and Australia.
As part of Ian’s drive for innovation, we also invested in machinery to ensure our bird feed blends were the cleanest on the market.
1980 was our centenary – 100 magnificent years of producing the cleanest and most nutritious bird food on the market. In 1986, Alan’s son, Richard Johnston, joined the business to become the fourth generation of the Johnston family to do so.
13 years later, just before the turn of the century, Richard succeeded Alan as managing director.
In 2001, nearly 60 years after our High Street premises was bombed, tragedy befell us again. A huge fire tore through the offices and mills, all but destroying them. Luckily, however, the 1952 rebuild had been done to such a high standard, including a safe room for important documents, that everything we needed to continue trading survived.
And continue trading we did! By the afternoon of the day the fire broke out, we’d found temporary premises in Hessle and were up and running.
Production began again just three days after the fire, an unbelievable achievement given the severity of the situation, and one that will always remain testament to the hard work and loyalty of the Johnston & Jeff team.
Rather than rebuilding High Street for a second time, we decided to relocate instead and in 2002, moved to our present base in Gilberdyke.
We named the new buildings in honour of High Street, where we spent so much of our life, the Baltic Buildings.
In 2007, we began a long-term relationship with The Parrot Society UK to help to resurrect their flagship show, the National Exhibition Show.
The show closed down in 2001 when the Foot and Mouth epidemic stopped the movement of livestock and we wanted help breathe new life into the event with sponsorship deal. We’re immensely proud to say it continues to thrive to this day.
Since 2015, we have been making major investments in equipment to ensure we can meet market demand efficiently. These include:
Under Richard’s leadership, these investments enabled us to thrive and to grow and set the scene for our 140th year.
During this period, we also took steps to reduce our carbon footprint. In 2016, we stopped importing canary seed from Australia and Canada, and now source it from a grower less than quarter of a mile from the factory.
In 2017, Maddy Johnston, the fifth generation of the Johnston family to enter the business, began working for us full time.
2020 saw us celebrate a phenomenal 140 years of business! What an achievement, something we’re all incredibly proud of.
How did we celebrate? By investing £1m in expanding our factory and offices, including two new computer-controlled multi-head weighers, a new bagging line, and a palletising robot which loads sacks on to pallets.
So, that’s what the first 145 years held for Johnston & Jeff. Here’s to the next. Whatever happens, we’ll be updating you here!
Since our inception in 1880, Johnston & Jeff has put birds and wildlife firmly at the heart of everything we do.
Phone: 01430 449444
Email: enquiries@johnstonandjeff.co.uk
Operating Hours: Mon-Fri 9:00-17:00
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