I have been reading a story about a mobile general grocery van that travels from village to village with groceries to buy.
It reminded me of my childhood, but also, when we moved here in 1973 we had several who came on different days. We didn’t have a close by shop, before the new estate was built behind our house, it was all fields then.
The vans we had calling here were bread, eggs, fish, meat, general, fish & chips. All came up our road most days, plus an ice cream van.
All have long ceased to call, except the ice cream van, one still comes here sometimes.
Did any of you have mobile shops & have you still got any that come to your street?
When I was in my early teens - the Co-op used to run a large mobile grocery shop that came around every Monday - sold almost everything including bread and cakes. Wednesday it was the Rington’s Tea man, and on Fridays a fishmonger. Long gone now since the advent of supermarkets and people owning cars. In Summer we do have an icecream van that comes on Saturdays and Sundays.
I believe the mobile shop has been replaced by the mobile delivery, most orders are placed online ,then delivered straight to your door, you have to view the items online now, which isn’t quite the same.
We had a mobile shop that came around, bringing sweets, cigarettes, etc, we lived in a village, so it was a great treat when he arrived, I remember him to this day, this thread brought back childhood memories, thanks Tiff.
I am in walking distance of all that I need now, which was a great help,when I was without a car.
I can remember a rag & bone man, the milkman & even a man who sharpened knives when I was a little kid & all had horse & carts. We were all very sad when the milkman went mechanical.
We now have a Co-op corner store within walking distance, which stopped the food vans & it’s also a P O & it’s a gold mine. Always busy never seen it empty of customers not even at slack times.
When my late OH was too ill to drive us to the supermarket, he used the on line delivery service, it gave him something to do, but I hated it, you couldn’t see or chose what to buy & often they’d substitute an item & I didn’t think they were fresh enough either. When he passed I went back to going to the store instead, Daughter took me & still takes me now.
I remember the mobile shop from my childhood. Mum didn’t use it often because she thought it was quite expensive, and she used to do her shopping daily when she walked sister and I to school, but occasionally she would ask us to go and get something from the van there would be a little group of women at the corner of the road waiting for the van to arrive.
We used to have a lemonade van that came round, Jaycons, it was for my Dad really, but every now and then Sis and I were allowed to have some.
The delivery I always waited for was the weekly visit from the Corona pop lorry we used to buy it a crate at a time (6) assorted and there was a penny back on the empty bottles and a shilling back on the crate …a grand total of 1/6d
We have a chap who comes round here every Friday to sell veggies from the back of his van.
Sometimes he parks a little bit across our drive. A couple of weeks ago my wife asked him to move back a bit (which he did without any issue) so she could get the car out and go to Asda to buy…yes, you guessed it…some veggies which he normally sells at a competitive price. How mad was that?
I grew up in a rural area & we had a butcher from a neighbouring village who drove round various villages including ours with a well stocked van selling road to road. The yellow HGV that sold Corona. A fish & chip / fresh fish van that visited one evening a week. A large mobile shop once a week & the local towns, newsagent who delivered papers 6 days a week, who also had a stock of comics & magazines available.
I can remember the Pie Man with his trays of goodies and his bell to announce his arrival. More recently, I lived in Iver South Bucks and in our Wood Lane was a large smallholding (now there’s an oxymoron) where veg etc was grown for the farm shop and their sales van. The van would travel to outlying areas where there did a good trade. This would have been around the 80’s and could still be in business via their children.
Oh, I’ve just checked the satellite view of Wood Lane and the smallholding is still growing
My mum used to have a greengrocer van that came every Thursday & he used to bring a supply of vegetables from his shop on his way home. We got to know him quite well, so he even offered me a Saturday job at his shop with a lift home!
In addition to the callers mentioned above, we used to have the umbrella man who would mend a broken spoke, and a blind man used to call offering to re-tune your piano.
…… and not forgetting the PDSA van which used to our street once a week to treat the pets.
Don’t know about you lot, but when someone knocks on the door nowadays to offer a service (clean your gutter, guv or wash your driveway mister) I’m immediately suspicious.
Maybe it is just me, but it does seem a shame that we are so untrusting nowadays. I’d honestly welcome being told off for my cynicism on this!!
