Mobile and Home Deliveries

This is a long shot, but does anyone remember Harry who used to sell all vegetables in the 60's. He used to park on the corner of Lincroft Crescent, Chapelfields on a Friday teatime come rain, shine or snow. He never let us down. When it rained we would all be huddled under a little awning he had for when it rained. Not sure where else he delivered but he was always on time and always seemed to be in a good mood no matter what the weather. His prices were reasonable too. He is what memories are all about.

Out shopping today, my wife remarked at the growing number of delivery vans from supermarkets. And it set me thinking! Up to the late 1950s, there were lots of deliveries to the door - ironic given the large number of corner shops - that ceased as supermarkets began to take off. I recall Mason's pop ('Corona') being delivered, in wooden crates that held 4 bottles. You just left the crate with the empties in it outside the front door, and the truck driver called. The bottles had porcelain stoppers with rubber seals and wire toggles, so they were recycled(!!!) The baker called twice a week. Our baker had a shop in Earlsdon (Albany Road, I think) and turned up in a small Bedford van, painted cream with brown wings and the ubiquitous black-edged gold signwriting, his name in script. He brought the bread and some rolls to the door in a large wickerwork basket, lovely crusty rounded loaves (dribble...) and trays of cakes. I loved the cream slices and buns. Then there was the butcher, similar van, different make. The fishmonger, a bigger van, a bit ancient, a Fordson, with a counter set in the side. A greengrocer, likewise, painted pea green, and with a much bigger counter. The grocer's van was different; you climbed the steps at the back into the inside, and picked your stuff, paying as you got out - almost a supermarket on wheels! Of course, the milkman, coalman, French onion sellers on bikes with strings of onions on the handlebars, dry cleaners, hardware for a while, almost everything available at the door, some things two or three times a week. Yet you could buy everything you needed at our local Co-op; greens, fish, meat, groceries, and the chemist's shop in the middle. And all those things and more available from about ten corner shops that I can recall. How strange, really, that we seem to be going back to universal deliveries now that supermarkets are everywhere, and everyone has a car!

When we lived in Bond Street between 1959 and 1960 our meat was delivered in the ubiquitous Bedford CA van. Unusually, it was driven by young blonde woman who then took our next order. She was always amused that I would only eat lamb chops if they had a lot of fat left on them. Picture of a similar Bedford CA of the period chosen at random: Earlsdon milkman Joe Taylor continued using a CA long after it was superceded by newer models as he found it easier to load and unload. The Telegraph of course had a vast fleet of Bedford CAs in their distinctive livery.

In the 70s I lived in Grange Road we used to have the milkman, which I could taste the difference between the plastic bottles we now have to the glass bottles from the milkman as they then started to inject the cows to make them produce more milk, put this in certain ones but wouldn't say which, also a breadman and a greengrocer who delivered to the door, recently early this year one from Holbrooks started to come around to deliver a mix of veg, toilet rolls etc but don't see him now. We used to get a chip van too.

British Railways (and the the private companies before the war) had three-wheel lorries for parcel deliveries. They always looked very unstable.

Thinking about how supermarkets are now all vying for our money with home deliveries, I was all set to say, "What goes around comes arou.." er, no-o-o...., "The wheel has gone almost full circ..." er, no, that won't do, either. "These things go in cycles...er, no, vans...." and then I gave up. And then I got it! "History has a habit of repeating itself." It does, doesn't it? And it just showed how much we talk in cliches these days!! But going back to being serious, it's curious that home deliveries seemed to be far more active in a large city like Coventry, especially when there were lots of corner shops, than in this rural area, where we have to drive at least 10 miles to go to a proper large supermarket. (I'm not counting our local Waitrose, which is 5 miles away.) Maybe city dwellers were/are simply more enterprising.

Exactly what I said the other day, history like fashion repeats itself . Perhaps it's because you're too far out and not viable for being cost effective (petrol) as even here in Coventry they will only deliver if you live so far out, like if I shopped in Bedworth and didn't live so close to Bedworth, Iceland wouldn't deliver if I lived on the other side of Coventry, they say it would have to be the Coventry branch I would have to go to.

It's okay if you can pick the food in person for delivery later. Internet sites such as Tesco reserve the right to substitute items which are not in stock at the time of ordering. I've heard some less-than-flattering tales of what the customer can eventually end up with. Likewise in the old days it was not unusual for a grocer to pack bags such that the frssh items were on top and the half-rotten stuff hidden underneath.

We (my wife & I) still receive a fortnightly delivery of tea, coffee & confectionery in a Ringtons van. Once a month we do receive an online order from Tesco, but it is limited to what we call the heavyweights, like cat food, tins & so on. I will record a picture of the Ringtons van next Friday. We received a Davenports 'beer at home' delivery right up to the week when they stopped the service, which must be thirty or more years ago. Remember the advert, 'Beer at home means Davenports'. We have ordered a new lounge suite & dining room suite from your neck-in-the-woods, Dutchman & I am sure that is being delivered!

As well as all the deliveries above, we used to have the coal delivered by horse and cart. There were scales on the cart so the 'Weights and Measures' could make spot checks that the weight in the bags was correct, if I remember right, each bag weighed 1 cwt. We had our coal from the co-op and used to order it from the co-op office in Corporation Street, opposite to where the co-op is now. The coalmen had to carry the bags down the entry round to our back garden and load it in the coalhouse.

Hi tricia Yes, coalmen had big muscles then, didn't they? Ours was delivered by lorry, two men, a driver and mate, and they heaved it round to the back of the house, and tipped the bags out into the coalhouse. The bags were sort of woven rope, and as you say, 1 cwt each, with two large handles, and the coalmen wore leather jerkins, with a sort of reinforced harness having a large pad on one shoulder, also a leather cap. I think we got it from a coal merchant in Kenilworth for the most part. We still get coal delivered here, but the bags are only 25 kg now.... and the coalmen don't have black faces any more (and I don't mean skin colour); with all the coal dust, the coalmen were absolutely filthy by the time they'd delivered to a few houses. What is it they say, the more things change the more they stay the same? Plus ca change... They delivered coke too. We supplemented coal with coke, partly because the coal was often as much dust or slack as lumps, and putting coke in with it aerated the dust and slack better, allowing it to burn, rather than go out.

Does anyone else remember the baker's van and the milk van being drawn by a horse. The milkman's horse up Whitmore Park way was called Bobby and he would always stop with his front hooves on the pavement at our house and refuse too budge till he had had his crust. It would have been up to the late 50's I think.

Yes, I remember both the Co-op milk van and the baker's being drawn by a horse! Might have been the same one, we lived in Burnaby Rd! My dad used to look out for any "deposits" and then yell quick get a shovel - for the roses!

Hi. I remember Laurals bakery who delivered stuff by horse in the Foleshill area in the fifties too.

The old greengrocery, shellfish, grocers, coalmen and bakers, so many on the streets in the old days and they all seemed to be such characters. Hubby remembers Eric Hackett with his greengrocery round based in Bedlam Lane. There was Kershaw's Fish used to come round to all the pubs on Sunday night selling all the shellfish. The Marlow brothers with the coal from Longford. There was the mobile blacksmith, Irish George that had a blacksmith's shop in Lythalls Lane but used to travel all round Corley and Fillongley. I know Dreamtime remembers 'Harry the veggie man'. There is hardly any evidence in photo form that I can find but such a part of daily life then, can anyone remember some more?