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British ice cream manufacturer, Northern Bloc, has acquired two artisan ice cream businesses, Criterion Ices and Marine Ices. Marine Ices is a long-standing British scooping parlour and Criterion supplies its ice cream to UK theatres and restaurants. Northern Bloc expects to deliver an additional turnover of over £2 million through the acquisitions. The purchases come after the company’s move into a new 30,000-square-foot Leeds facility. According to Northern Bloc, the new premises increases its production capacity by 300% and is 200% more efficient than its previous manufacturing site. Northern Bloc's co-founder and director, Dirk Mischendahl, said: “The acquisition of two well-established, heritage brands in dairy ice cream (Criterion was founded in 1920 and Marine in the 1930s) will allow us to continue to explore, innovate and develop Northern Bloc’s product offer, something which we’ve always been passionate about". He continued: “For some time we’ve been looking for new partners to work with as a way to grow our business. With our new production facility and the capacity that brings, now is the perfect time to take that step.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed.