malting

Sir Geoff's academic work saw him invent the barley abrasion process - which involves deliberately damaging the protective husk of grains to speed up the process of malting.

Mr Biddulph said now they are "recognised as malting ovens, used to heat partially germinated grain to produce malt".

Those shipments sometimes accounted for more than half of Chinese malting barley demand, depending on the year.

Additionally, its small size means it falls through the perforations at the bottoms of malting kettles designed to accommodate larger barley kernels.

Established in 1868, it is the oldest malting plant in the country and one of the oldest in the world.