St Cuthbert's

Cooperative Association Ltd

Delivery Vans

St Cuthbert's Cooperative Association Ltd delivery van  -  Registration No SC 4860 ©

SC 4860

Detail from a St Cuthbert's Cooperative Association Ltd delivery van  -  Registration No SC 4860 ©

SC 4860:  zoom-in

St Cuthbert's Cooperative Association Ltd delivery van  -  Registration No SC 4860 ©

SC4860 back

Detail from a St Cuthbert's Cooperative Association Ltd delivery van  -  Registration No SC 4860 ©

SC 4860back:  zoom-in

St Cuthbert's Cooperative Association Ltd delivery van  -  Registration No FS 9828 ©

FS 9828

Detail from a St Cuthbert's Cooperative Association Ltd delivery van  -  Registration No FS 9828 ©

FS 9828:  zoom-in

Photograph taken by Charles W Cushman in 1961 -  Blackfriars Street, Edinburgh Old Town ©

1961

Blackfriars Street

 

Delivery Vans

Recollections

Thank you to Bryan Gourlay, Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland for his memories of St Cuthbert's Coop delivery vans.

Bryan wrote:

St Cuthbert's Vans

"St Cuthbert's still had grocery vans around 1950 and for some years afterwards.

The ones I recall were Bedford, or maybe Austin, articulated ones where the van-type trailer was dropped off in the morning with its supplies and a grocer assistant, then collected again later in the afternoon.

I'm sure they were a maroon colour.

There was one that used to come to the then new corporation housing scheme at Southhouse, near Burdiehouse, where my grandmother moved to from Craigmillar.

There were no shops anywhere near these new schemes to start with, so the St Cuthbert's grocery van was a bit of a lifeline."

Fish & Chip Vans

"However, the St Cuthbert's vans were very posh compared to the old fish and chip vans that used to come to the same area.

I'm sure they would be viewed as absolute death-traps today. I don't know what  fuel was used to boil up the big lumps of white fat thrown in to the vat from time to time, but there was certainly enough black smoke belching out the chimney to suggest it was coal.

I was always fearful of approaching the van for a poke of chips and brown sauce, and certainly made sure I ran well out the way afterwards - totally convinced the petrol tank was about to explode in flames."

 

 

  

 

 

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