“Burgess & Son” was originally founded by Mark Burgess, a former Mayor of Beverley in the early 1920’s. Mark and his wife Muriel started a small grocery shop in North Bar Within, Beverley, making the ice cream on the shop’s kitchen stove. At first, the ice cream was sold only through the shop and the local cinema. As the business expanded Mark’s son Ian came into the business and had the idea of going mobile. A three-wheeler bicycle was purchased and the ice cream was sold around the local streets and markets.
In the late 1960s the general public began to buy home freezers and it was decided to manufacture take home freezer packs. The small factory was enlarged and new machines were purchased to cope with the increasing demand of the take-home products. As this side of the business expanded a new factory at Market Weighton was purchased in 1979, solely for the production of bulk ice cream.
In 2018 a new state of the art factory was built just outside of Market Weighton at Clay Lane Shiptonthorpe where the legendary Burgess Ice Cream continues to be made using the same recipe dating back to 1920s.