Milk vending machine installed outside Tarrington Arms

The machine is run by Showle Dairy and is stocked with milk, milkshakes, cheese, chocolate, and hot chocolate sachets.

It has been installed outside the Tarrington Arms, near Ledbury, which is currently being renovated.

Plans for the machine, which is housed in a wooden shed and is accessible 24 hours a day, were approved by Herefordshire Council in August.

The machine is available 24 hours a day (Image: Lesley Cole)

The plans also included a rejig of the layout around the pub, turning the old car park behind the pub into a garden area for customers and creating a new car park to the west of the building, replacing the old garden and play area.

A local representative for the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) had expressed concern over the plans, as had one resident who called the vending machine “wholly inappropriate”.

But Tarrington Parish Council gave its backing to the proposals and a number of villagers also said they were in support.

Rebecca Tully of Ledbury said the vending machine would “enable a local organic farm to increase their outlets” and Hannah West said a beer garden set further back from the road would be “safer and more pleasant”, and also welcomed “being able to buy milk in a village with no shop”.

Milk vending machines can now be found at several rural Herefordshire spots including at the Red Lion in Pembridge, Saffron’s Cross Garage in Bodenham, Merrivale Farm in Little Birch and Llangrove village hall, as well as in Bromyard, Ledbury, Leominster and Hereford.

It was reported this week that the milk vending machine in Holme Lacy Road, Hereford, which is run by Whole Moo World, was being moved due to “repeated vandalism” in its current location.

The Tarrington Arms changed hands in October 2022 after nearly a year on the market.

The Grade II listed building sits on the main road between Ledbury and Hereford and was the subject of a campaign to save it following its closure.