Lightly Grilled Geoff Millington
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Lightly Grilled: Geoff Millington
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Geoff Millington is the owner of Millies - a long-term fixture in Kirkgate Market and York - which has recently moved into their third, flashier store on Vicar Lane. We talked to him about this new delectable delicatessen and health store, Millies Fresh and Organic.
Tell us a little bit about Millies
We’ve got two healthfood stores already, one in York and one in Leeds, next to the market. They’re both completely different to Millies - one specialises in nuts and dried food, the other one in supplements. We wanted to bring together all fresh foods, deli foods, everything that you can buy in the supermarket, but of a better quality. We thought Leeds needed an outlet like this.
It’s my daughter Natalie, my wife Cathy and I that do this, so we’re a family business. Generally there’s one of us in each shop, and we’ve got good staff that have been working for us for a long time, so there’s a real community feel, which is important to us. We’re bringing that classic Yorkshire life - knowing the providers of fresh, local produce by name - to the city, with a community-focused ethos.
Why are you so passionate about it?
I think nowadays, if you go to the supermarket and get a takeaway curry or sandwich and look at the ingredients, it’ll be 20, 30 things, and the bread has preservatives - they’re mass produced at a factory, and if you saw how they were made it’d put you off for life. But for us, everything’s hand-made. You’ve all seen Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on pigs and chickens: they’re living in terrible, inhumane conditions.
And it’s not just about being low-fat - we’ve got high fat cheeses and biscuits, cakes and chocolates - it’s about being healthy, and eating the best-quality food. It’s about spending your money on things that are enjoyable, as well as good for you and the environment.
How does Millies fit in to the current economic climate when people want to downsize their food bills?
It’s not always about cost. One of our farmers in Harrogate, his rib-eye steak is £16 a kilo, which is the same price as the supermarkets. And we know that the animals are given good lives, locally, and he looks after his livestock. His pork tastes incredible because it’s been left to mature more naturally and given a better life. And we use local, organic produce, the same stuff we sell in our takeaways and daytime menu. But people are surprised at how affordable the products are. You might pay more for certain things, but that’s because it’s the best, and not mass produced - it’s fresh.
What else do you have to offer apart from food and nutritional products?
We’ve got a yoga room, and we started our successful first session last week. There’s a 45-minute class every Wednesday starting at 12.15pm, and Pilates on Tuesdays at 12.30pm for 45 minutes, so you can fit both of them in your lunch hour. We’ve also got in-store days, where professional advisers come to inform our customers and our employees about specific natural products: these are posted on our website, http://www.milliesfreshandorganic.co.uk.
Posted on Wednesday 18th February 2009
Jessica Coppin
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Comment by Jessica Summers
Posted on Tue 9th Jun 09 2:44 pm
Exclusive Half Price beauty treatments!
Just got this email from their mailing list…...
To celebrate the launch of our gorgeous new Therapy Room at Millies, we would like to give you an exclusive HALF PRICE voucher to use on any treatment throughout the whole of June!
http://www.milliesfreshandorganic.co.uk/voucher/milliesHALFPRICEbeauty.pdf
For anyone lucky enough to be heading on holiday soon, why not take advantage of our Pre Holiday package - an amazing two and a half hours worth of pampering for just £30 to get you ready for the beach (half leg and bikini wax, eyebrow shape and eyelash tint, manicure and pedicure) - normally worth £60!
See our full list of treatments at http://www.milliesfreshandorganic.co.uk/beautiful/
Please feel free to forward the voucher onto friends and family, or anyone you feel deserves a treat!
Bookings can be made in person or by phone on 0113 2429 217. Just mention this voucher when booking or present it when paying.
