Milk floats are a uniquely British sight, and an increasingly rare one, which is why the British photographer and cultural historian Maxine Beuret has spent 20 years documenting their use by dairies across England, as part of her project Two Pints Please.
Beuret, who calls herself a historian of the commonplace, has documented several quirks of British culture that are at risk of disappearing (or have since gone), including slam-door commuter trains, TfL’s Routemaster buses before they were decommissioned, and traditional shops in the Midlands including a sweet shop, a men’s outfitters and a hardware store.
Gotta lotta bottle: doing the rounds with Britain’s last milkmen – photo essay Their floats were once a regular sight, quietly whirring down the country’s streets, delivering daily pints.
As well as creating a record of the library, the hospital, the pub and other cherished places, she visited the local dairy, Kirby & West, and “instantly fell in love” with the milk floats, she says.
Photographer Maxine Beuret captures the vanishing world of electric milk floats (and their drivers).
