gingerfold:
^^^^^^^^
It could have been tinned food and other non-perishables. As you know USAF Lakenheath / Mildenhall is a massive base and I did loads to several of the USAF bases. The larger bases really are home-from-home with the facilities they have for the Americans stationed there. McDonalds, and other fast food places, even bowling alleys on some of them. The commissary at Lakenheath is bigger than many UK supermarkets and is stocked with American brands and products. They would let drivers use any of the cafes for a coffee and a burger if you wanted one. They accepted British currency, but obviously the default currency was USD. I nighted out at both Fairford and Menwith Hill.
I was stationed at RAF Feltwell from 1960-63 and went to both Lakenheath and Mildenhall whilst there. On Thursdays it was “ten cent night”,any drink was 10c in Airman’s Club plus you could get the usual burgers and doughnuts.We would go to either - usually Lakenheath as it was nearer,change money into USD,use the 12 lane 10 pin alley and then have a drink.I also went to Mildenhall on RAF duties when the RAF were shipping all the Thor missiles back to the States when the squadrons were disbanded in 1963,I did all the paperwork for the “Hi-Valu” items and accompanied the RAF MT driver with them.Mildenhall was MATS then - Military Air Transport Service.
The photo was taken at RAF Scampton which was the airhead for RAF Hemswell Thor squadrons but it gives you some idea of the way they were shipped back from the UK,including Mildenhall which was the airhead for Feltwell.
One haulier that had a big presence with market deliveries was, of course, BRS. Below are a series of photos taken by photographer John Slater of Newmarket. He recorded the activities of loading flowers at BRS Fordham one summer night. In those years of the early 1950s when the photos were taken the area around Fordham and Chippenham, (Cambs) and stretching over the county border into Suffolk was a massive flower growing area, ranging from smallholdings that would send 5 or 6 boxes of flowers to market nightly, to massive nurseries and market ardens. This is now an industry that has virtually disappeared in this area, undercut by the Dutch and African growers.
Turners bought Fordham depot from BRS at partial de-nationalisation in 1953.
Some names of the wholesalers discernible on the boxes that may stir memories for some are:
Covent Garden: - John Austin, A W Carey, J & E Page, E W Bainbridge, J H Pardoe, A Goodchild, Thos. Leonard, David Busey, Baker & ■■, J H Reece.
Birmingham Market: Francis Nicholls, R Pryke
A happy looking group of drivers ready to depart. The driver second left back row is Dennis Clark who married the young lady pouring the tea in the previous photo.
I worked for Alan Firmin in the 70s, fruit to all the wholesale markets and whatever we could get (usually fertiliser) back. Once had a load of Kentish cobnuts onboard, running alive with earwigs, thousands of them. Took weeks to get them out of the sheets.
Then went OD and a regular job every April was loading Egyptian new potatoes from Rochester dock to Manchester market, then up the road to Heysham and loaded Egyptian new potatoes off a different boat back to Safeway in Aylesford! What a waste of fuel. It took most of the day to load at each end as it was all handball off the ship’s pallets onto our own 4-ways, home for a bite to eat and then off to market for 4 or 5am delivery. After you’d reloaded you could get your head down for a bit as delivery was always next day, but by then you’d been working for 30+ hours without any real break. Good old days? Don’t think so.
Then there were the arguments over exchange pallets at every stall. Without a set of pallets you couldn’t get a reload and I remember one stall was particularly bad at exchanging so one morning I got there before they opened and handballed 20T of spuds onto the crappiest old broken pallets I could find lying around. When they turned up, “sign here mate” and I was away. I’d have loved to have seen their faces when they picked the first one up 
Does anyone remember the (I think?) Bedfords of W. Emmett and Sons, farmers from Holyport, Berkshire? They had dark blue lorries with the high caged sides and presumably delivered to Covent Garden. They are still in business today.
Pete.
Here’s a firm that Ray will remember - L O Jeffs Liverpool.Littlewoods bought a lot of produce off them which MFS collected daily.
This was the last lorry I drove into the London Markets occasionally for a couple of years. Formerly with Alan Firmin, PKP 335M saw out its days until about 1995 with Tragett Bros doing Summer season only journeys to mainly the London Markets, although the odd slightly longer adventure occured occasionally. I took it to Romsey once. I wish I could recall the name of the Firmin’s driver who had it new, but although I can picture him the name has disappeared into the mists of time. The grille is clearly off a Henley AEC, but it was not off ex Henley Mercury HKP 927 D another other member of Ben Tragett’s lorries.
The name Francis Nicholls certainly rings a bell as does T J Poupart, both had a stall in quite a few markets. I think apart from Birmingham they were in Wolverhampton, Wigan, Spitalfields, Manchester, Glasgow & Sheffield.
Market contact numbers as issued by Percy Powell Horndean. my dad Tony Stevens was a Percy Powells driver in the 60s they did a lot of market work of the Camber Flathouse and the Albert johnson quay Portsmouth the covered from the old covent garden up as far as gates head most of the time he drove an AEC marshal GPH395C in 1969-70 they sold out to Robert Baillie who operated a night trunk to there other depots up in the north.
There was a wholesaler in a back street in Leek which I used to deliver to regularly, does anyone recall their name and whereabouts by any chance please?
Lawrence Dunbar:
Well in the late 50s Early 60s I used to load fruit from London docks, I used to get my return load from Wilfred White based at Tow Law , They had a London office hten, The problem was it took a long time to get loaded , Then the load had to be in the Newcastle fruit market by 6.00am the next day, It was a tiring trip, But the firm I worked for then Smiles for Miles allways paid good money, The good old days 
,Regards Larry.
In later years I used to back load from the fruit market in Glasgow, Block Airn I think it was called, The load was for the T V T E Market Gateshead, I had to pay £2.00. At the gatehouse before being allowed in to off load, I dont know if this still applies at present, Of course this £2.00 was just added to the haulage invoice,Long gone days,Regards Larry.
This is Queen Square in the centre of Liverpool, the site of one of the Wholesale
Fruit & Vegetable markets, before the " New Wholesale Market " was built at Edge Lane.
Just 200 yards from here is the Mersey Tunnel. Pictures from Bootle History Forum.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Well in the late 50s Early 60s I used to load fruit from London docks, I used to get my return load from Wilfred White based at Tow Law , They had a London office hten, The problem was it took a long time to get loaded , Then the load had to be in the Newcastle fruit market by 6.00am the next day, It was a tiring trip, But the firm I worked for then Smiles for Miles allways paid good money, The good old days ,Regards Larry.
In later years I used to back load from the fruit market in Glasgow, Block Airn I think it was called, The load was for the T V T E Market Gateshead, I had to pay £2.00. At the gatehouse before being allowed in to off load, I dont know if this still applies at present, Of course this £2.00 was just added to the haulage invoice,Long gone days,Regards Larry.
It’s a slow day so I thought a piece of industrial history might be of interest. The site of the Blochairn fruit market that you would have loaded out of was formerly a foundry and it was here that the “Grand Slam” bombs of WW2 were made. I wonder if there are any pics of them being delivered to the airfields?
cav551:
The name Francis Nicholls certainly rings a bell as does T J Poupart, both had a stall in quite a few markets. I think apart from Birmingham they were in Wolverhampton, Wigan, Spitalfields, Manchester, Glasgow & Sheffield.
When I worked for Mitchell & Robertson from Staplehurst in the early to mid 70’s T J Poupart were always important customers of ours especially their Southampton and Covent Garden branches but not far behind were Bristol and Cardiff. However, in about 75 the business increased substantially when a contract was won to handle Pouparts Cape fruit requirements from collection at the ports, mainly the Castle Line ships in Southampton to cold stores dotted around southern England. For me personally it was the best time I had in the six years I was on market work. It often involved loading one thousand cases of apples by mid afternoon at some cold store in Kent then trundling off down the M4 to Bristol or Cardiff. Parking up in the market by mid evening ready for a six am start next morning was much better than leaving in the middle of the night.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Well in the late 50s Early 60s I used to load fruit from London docks, I used to get my return load from Wilfred White based at Tow Law , They had a London office hten, The problem was it took a long time to get loaded , Then the load had to be in the Newcastle fruit market by 6.00am the next day, It was a tiring trip, But the firm I worked for then Smiles for Miles allways paid good money, The good old days ,Regards Larry.
In later years I used to back load from the fruit market in Glasgow, Block Airn I think it was called, The load was for the T V T E Market Gateshead, I had to pay £2.00. At the gatehouse before being allowed in to off load, I dont know if this still applies at present, Of course this £2.00 was just added to the haulage invoice,Long gone days,Regards Larry.
In the late 80’s early 90’s they wanted £5.00 off the driver this was to pay for the casual labour they used at Team Valley. I just used to refuse saying either had no money on me, or argue that as i was usually going in with 20 ton of Polish onions that i had to handball on my own onto their pallets with no help from anyone, that they should be paying me!!
I’d forgotten Southampton Market, I used to like going there, but I often got lost in the town on the way in. During the summer If I hadn’t got Brighton on 1st then I’d stop on Brighton sea front and go for a quick swim in the sea.
dailyecho.co.uk/news/149890 … in-the-uk/
Another wholesale fruit & veg market in Liverpool was at Cazneau Street,
about 1 mile from the city centre. Pictures from Bootle History Forum.
