Gavin's Mill

About Gavin’s Mill

About Gavin's Mill

We opened in March 2017, primarily as a fair trade shop and café, selling food products, teas, coffees and artisan crafts from around the world.

Our Shop

Today, in response to a growing awareness and of our need to live more sustainably, reduce food miles and plastic waste, and to support local and Scottish business, our shop now also stocks:

  • Zero waste dry goods, pulses, nuts, flours all sold by the weight
  • Natural cleaning and personal care products
  • A refill station for cleaning products, shampoos, shower gels and more
  • Ethically produced homewares and gifts
  • Seasonal, organically grown fruit and vegetables
  • Locally sourced free-range farm eggs
  • Sourdough bread from Glasgow social enterprise, Freedom Bakery
  • A great selection of Scottish interest and children’s books
Our Café

Our café offers fair trade coffee and teas and a delicious array of cakes, lovingly made by our volunteer bakers, with a batch of signature scones baked fresh every morning.

Our vegetarian light lunch menu includes homemade soups and stews changing daily and served with Freedom Bakery breads. Gluten free and vegan options are often available.

Most of our dishes are made in the Mill kitchen by volunteers, using locally sourced and fair trade ingredients where possible.

Gavin’s Mill is an ancient Corn Mill on the banks of the Allander Water in the small town of Milngavie just north of Glasgow.

It is home to Gavin’s Mill Community Project (GMCP), a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, which aims to look after Gavin’s Mill as a community resource, and to work with local community groups to develop it into a centre for sustainable food and crafts, building on the heritage of the Mill and its surroundings. GMCP also supports development projects in the UK and overseas.

@ Gavin’s Mill is a fair trade shop and café, owned by Gavin’s Mill Community Project, staffed almost entirely by volunteers and covenanting all its profits to GMCP. We stock a huge variety of foods and crafts, including fairly traded goods from around the world and quality local produce. The café serves fair trade teas, coffees and hot chocolate, along with delicious homemade cakes baked by our volunteers, some of which are made here at Gavin’s Mill. We also serve light lunches: homemade soup and bread, or cheese and oatcakes with chutney. We can also provide sale-or-return fair trade stalls – please contact us for details.

Gavin’s Mill Community Project is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) Scottish Charity number SC047198  

The present structure of Gavin’s Mill is estimated to date to the 1700’s, making it one of the oldest buildings in Milngavie.  Located on the banks of the Allander, the building began it’s life as a corn mill milling mainly oats but also barley.  This iconic building was at one point a central focus of life in Milngavie with local farmers required to mill their grain here.

Burt Morris’ reconstruction of the Old Mill structure
Burt Morris’ reconstruction of the Old Mill structure

It is likely the building underwent reconstruction in the early 19th century when grain drying services began to be offered. This meant installing kilns (located where the toilets are in the present structure) and expanding to three stories with space for storing the dried grain. The building remained a working water mill until the 1960s, laying derelict for a number of years after suffering severe damage in a fire.

John Kennedy, an architecture student, drew the Mill in the 1960s. The second image represents the inner workings of the Mill including the kiln and gears
John Kennedy, an architecture student, drew the Mill in the 1960s. The second image represents the inner workings of the Mill including the kiln and gears

That was until the 1970’s when the architect, Bert Morris, bought the roofless building and converted it into his studio. The rescue efforts included building a second floor, a mezzanine and a small garret.  His careful work gave the building a new lease of life, providing much of the structure we see today. The building once again became a hub of activity in Milngavie with many local residents remembering the tea rooms, boutiques and restaurants that occupied the space until 2014.

Gavin’s Mill Community Project revived the building in 2017, after it lay empty and derelict for three years and continues to make improvements to the iconic structure. Reestablishing the Mill as a pivotal part of Milngavie and restoring it as a hub of community activity.

A postcard with a photograph of the  Mill and the river in the early 19th century
A postcard with a photograph of the Mill and the river in the early 19th century

This project aims to to turn around the fortunes of Gavin’s Mill and transform it into a centre for community activity involving many local residents in a multitude of ways.

Currently, it’s a centre for Fairtrade produce and crafts, with a shop and a much-loved café and sale-or-return facilities for organisations throughout the area. However, we have ambitious plans including the following:

  • Fairtrade café-restaurant
  • Healthy food centre selling locally produced vegetables
  • Heritage centre with local, relevant exhibitions
  • A working mill wheel to generate electricity for the centre
  • Other projects which may come on board as we develop this community resource

Although Gavin’s Mill was initially leased by GMCP it was purchased in the summer of 2020 after a massive fundraising effort which involved local community fundraising activities as well as contributions from more traditional funders and a very special legacy. Being owners of Gavin’s Mill will give GMCP greater freedom to develop its future plans for refurbishing it to create a centre for community activity unparalleled in Scotland.  

Gavin’s Mill Community Project works with Milngavie Community Development Trust, Milngavie Heritage Centre and the Balmore Trust.

Gavin’s Mill Community Project supports development projects in the UK and overseas through our virtual gift catalogue, Gavin’s Mill Gifts, available online or as a printed brochure from Gavin’s Mill. 

Gavin’s Mill Community Project has an ambitious vision for the future of Gavin’s Mill as a focus for the local community. We understand that realising this vision very much depends on the help of our friends and partners in the community. Before this vision can be realised, there’s a challenge which must be met. At this time the Mill is not fit for the range of community purposes that underpin our vision. It’s an old building that needs extensive refurbishment and adaptation.

You can help us by making a donation.

You can do this at Gavin’s Mill, or by post – please make cheques payable to “Gavin’s Mill Community Project” or you can donate online via our TotalGiving page https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/gavinsmillvision or by Bank Transfer:

Account Name: Gavin’s Mill Community Project
Sort Code: 82-69-32
Account Number: 50104737

Meet Our Board Members

Meet the people who help make Gavin’s Mill possible.

Gavin's Mill Board

John Riches

On both boards

John is an Episcopalian priest who taught New Testament at Glasgow University and, occasionally, in South Africa. In 1980, after two periods when his wife Nena worked in a hospital in the Transkei, he joined with a group of Baldernock friends to open a shop and café, The Coach House, and start the Balmore Trust. The shop became the first fair trade shop in the UK and closed in 2017. It also raised over £1 million for small projects in Scotland and overseas. In 2009, he started JTS, a fair trade importer based in Paisley whose products you can find in Gavin’s Mill.

Sue Milne

Chair of GMCP - On both boards

Sue has been an active supporter of fair trade for many years and is a member of the East Dunbartonshire Fair Trade Steering Group and the Bearsden and Milngavie Fair Trade Group. She is one of the founding members of Gavin's Mill Community Project and remains a trustee of the charity and a director of the trading company. She often helps in the shop and office at the Mill. Her other interests include hill walking, wildlife watching and gardening. She is married with 3 children and 6 grandchildren.

Julie Hall

Chair of At Gavin's Mill Ltd

Julie is a semi-retired business owner, specialising in business support and developing people. She also supports self-reliant groups in Scotland and Manchester. Past-President of the Association of Scottish Businesswomen and previously board member of Scottish Women’s Convention. She has recently joined the mill board and is helping with volunteer recruitment and support.

Christopher Riches

Board Member

Christopher Riches has worked in publishing since 1973, for Penguin, Oxford University Press and HarperCollins (where he was an Editorial Director, based at Bishopbriggs). He served on the Board of Publishing Scotland. Since 2006, he has been a freelance editor and author. He lives in Killearn, where he has been on the Community Council, was Chair of the Killearn Primary School Board, and was actively involved in the recently launched Killearn Heritage Trail. He has been on the Board of At Gavin’s Mill since 2020.

Gavin's Mill Community Project (GMCP) Board

Liz Ibbotson

Board Member

Elizabeth (Liz) Ibbotson is one of the founding trustees of the Gavin’s Mill Community Project and has a working background in both private and public sectors in sales, marketing, and international trade. Since stopping work she has been a serial volunteer in a number of areas and participates in Fair Trade groups within East Dunbartonshire. Liz is also a trustee of EDVA (East Dunbartonshire Voluntary Action) with a particular interest in the Befriending Service. She is volunteer manager in the Gavin’s Mill shop most Saturdays.

Rhondda Geekie

Board Member

My three grown up children have given me five wonderful grandchildren who help keep me up to date on what matters to young people today. I was privileged to be an elected Councillor for over twenty years and was one of the very few female Council Leaders in Scotland. Volunteering for many organisations over thirty years has been so rewarding and allowed me to meet and work with amazing people improving people’s lives.

Wilson Blakey

Board Member

Wilson retired a few years ago as a secondary headteacher and now volunteers as: chair of Milngavie Community Development Trust, including helping to organise Milngavie Week. Also trustee of Mugdock Castle; volunteer in a Cancer Research UK charity shop; and childminds three grandsons. I want to see Gavin’s Mill, the shop, cafe and building, prosper in the community.

Ruth Blakey

Board member

Retired Depute Headteacher in East Dunbartonshire Secondary school some years ago. Since then, involved in various Community initiatives – secretary of Milngavie Community Development Trust, helping to organise Milngavie Week among other events, Chair of East Dunbartonshire Arts Council, member of the Community Grants Advisory Committee. Gavin’s Mill is iconic in the history of Milngavie and deserves my efforts, as well as everyone else, to preserve it for future generations. A passion for textile art, I help run two embroidery groups and work hard to promote the artform. My grandsons are less impressed as they think ‘it is harder than it looks, Granny!’ But I am delighted that the lighting in the café is good enough for stitching.