Bayford Thrust Leeds Storage Terminal – 1919 – Bayford & Co founded
Bayford & Co was founded in 1919, by four survivors of the First World War, who decided to pool their resources to establish a coal agents business in Leeds. Whilst searching for a suitable title for their enterprise, they hit on the idea of using the name of the Hertfordshire village of Bayford where they had been demobbed at the end of the war.
In 1999 the Transport Minister, Glenda Jackson, officially opened the refurbished storage depot, at Woodlesford, near Leeds. Bulk fuel supplies were now delivered to the depot by barge from East coast refineries, using the Aire and Calder canal. This would save an estimated 16,000 road tanker journeys over the next five years – a fact which helped Bayford to secure a Freight Facilities Grant (FFG). Total investment in the site was over £300,000.