BUSINESSMAN Derek Miles, who founded Porlock-based Miles Tea and Coffee more than 60 years ago, died this week, aged 93.

Derek started the business after moving to the village in 1961, having first worked in the tea trade in London in the early 1950s.

Co-owner John Halls said Derek had been the firm’s ‘guiding light’ since starting to blend tea in the front room of his home, The Anchorage.

Mr Halls said Derek continued to attend company meetings in the firm’s Minehead offices right into his 90s.

He said: “He kept it going until the last three to six months.

“He was everything to this business.

The late Derek Miles, who founded Porlock's tea and coffee blending business DJ Miles and Co.
The late Derek Miles, who founded Porlock's tea and coffee blending business DJ Miles and Co. ( )

“When you work in the business you do not quite realise the legacy that you are building, and we have seen that in the outpouring of lovely comments about Derek.

“He was a quiet man, he did not laud it about, but he was really highly thought of in the tea trade and for a small company to be really regarded in that way, meant something to him.

“Our central thought was always ‘would Derek like what we are doing here?’

“If the answer was ‘no’, we did not do it, it was a guiding principle for us.”

Tea blending ran through the Miles family with Derek’s grandfather Henry Miles founding a business in Birmingham in 1888 which Derek eventually bought in 1974 to merge with DJ Miles and Co.

Derek had been working as a tea inspector in Avonmouth, examining and sniffing every case which was landed at the docks for any uneven leaf appearance or ‘taint’.

He began buying some of the old chests of tea which proved difficult to sell and took them home to make his own blend, until the enterprise became too large for the house.

Derek moved from one house in Doverhay, Porlock, to another before settling in Cape’s Yard, where he blended and packed tea for 25 years.

The blender holding 1,000 lbs stood upstairs directly above a table of packers and the chests of tea were hauled up to the first floor using a block and tackle.

Tributes have been pouring in from villagers in Porlock to the late Derek Miles, founder of DJ Miles and Co.
Tributes have been pouring in from villagers in Porlock to the late Derek Miles, founder of DJ Miles and Co. ( )

Later, a move was made to the company’s current head offices in the village’s Vale Yard, part of an old tannery site where earlier this month a community hub was opened in a collaboration with Porlock Information Centre.

The hub includes a Miles retail outlet, a locally-produced craft centre, a ladies’ pre-loved boutique, and hot desk office space, and will eventually feature an interactive Miles museum, a community café and social hub, and bunk house style accommodation for walkers.

Derek had been due to cut a ribbon and unveil a plaque for the community hub’s official opening ceremony but was unable to do so.

Mr Halls said at the time the hub would be a legacy in the name of Derek Miles.

Dozens of Porlock area residents posted tributes to Derek on social media this week after learning of his death, praising him as a ‘highly respected member of the community’ and a ‘lovely gentleman’.