Lipton's Tea 2-wheelers

May 29, 2007 21 Replies

A little off topic, but I'm looking for a picture or photo of the kind of Lipton's Tea 2-wheeler that I'd see as a young lad ie. in the 40's and



50's in northern England. It resembled a hansom cab in many ways, painted a light green and would come around the back streets selling teas. Any help gratefully accepted. Mike in BC, Canada

Mike

You might check out the following link:-

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Then click to play "Your Tea Madam"

Hope the info is relevant to your enquiry.

Geoff Newcastle upon Tyne. UK

What I have on this general area . . .

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and

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Ther may also be bits of interest in

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HTH

Mike

Mike

Further to my earlier note I've done a little more digging on the internet into Ringtons Tea who used horse drawn vans for local deliveries here in Newcastle upon Tyne and found the following photos:-

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?ItemID=993&MainCatID=7&SubCatID=32Die-castmodels of the above can be found on ebay.My apologies but I have no info on the Lipton's version of the van but yourquery prompted a bout of reminiscing.Best of luck with your search.Geoff

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?ItemID=993&MainCatID=7&SubCatID=32Die-cast

Are Ringtons still going? I remember them from our days in Sandyford/Jesmond almost twenty years ago. Didn't they use to have a warehouse by the site of the old Heaton station? Brian

thank you all for your help. Especially to Geoff and Mike, terrific. Mike in BC

Guess what? I've just photographed a modern Rington's Tea van outside my shop in Hull. If anyon'e's interested I'll post a picture on my website later.

John.

"John Turner" wrote

Here it is!

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John.

A Ford Transit with a picture of the original horse-drawn two-wheeler on the side!

Didnt they used to be Dark Green

Does anyone remember a few years ago, trading standards busted a counterfeit ring selling fake packets of Tetley's tea? Laboratory analysis showed the offending substance contained rat s*it and sawdust. The fraud only came to light when a member of the public noticed the fake tea tasted considerably better than the real Tetley's :o)

(kim)

Now you have all had time to eat breakfast it might be worth noting that all bread contains a quantity of rat poo as the poo is so similar in size, density eyc to grain it is well nigh impossible to filter it out. After baking it is totally safe, and the quantities are very small.

It was common practice up till WW2 at least for local grocers to sell their own brand of tea which was often adulterated. The local railway arches for example carried a poster for "Mason's Tea" which was sold by George Mason whose corner shop was nearby. The same was true for milk and flour. Hence the popularity of the Co-op on those days which at least sold unadulterated tea, milk and flour. Post-war TV advertising changed all that with nationally recognised brands sold in self-service stores coming to the fore.

(kim)

Very true, my own great grandmother had a shop and was warned that soap would become scarce during WW1 so filled the cellar of the shop with the stuff. She sold it as usual (cut from a big block) but also sold similar off-cuts wrapped in paper at a large mark up. Bit like the Ford Jaguar.

The last independent grocer around here closed a couple of years ago, shortly after the nearby post office. It has since been replaced by an Afro-Caribbean convenience store cum internet café but is really a glorified off-license selling cans of alcopops to underage binge drinkers with no questions asked. The same is true for every similar business within a two mile walking radius :o(

There are few tears being shed for Jaguar around here since they already moved their manufacturing base elsewhere. Highly trained and once highly paid fitters can be seen sweeping the forecourt outside of Morrison's which itself is built on the site of the former Alvis factory. Much of the London Taxis International site opposite is now a distribution depot for imported BMW vehicles. There are fears for the remaining jobs at LTI since manufacture has now begun in China. The bosses at LTI say this is no threat to jobs in Britain. Now where have we heard that one before?

(kim)

"kim" wrote

I think your two miles extends to Hull and beyond, although you need to replace 'Afro-Caribbean' with 'Asian' in our location.

Of course the local police do not intervene in this illegal practice of fear of being accused of racism or harassment.

John.

Rubbish. The ownership is irrelevant.

Our "very white Anglo-Saxon"-managed village shop sells booze to just-of-age similarly-very-white young men and women who then pass it on to the underage tykes waiting outside the shop.

The chain of which it is a part was taken over by Tesco, who (without giving away their ownership of it by rebranding it) promptly stacked 24s of cheap lager near the counter with the till.

Encouraging increased consumption, or what?

"Brian Watson" wrote

That's not what one of our local coppers told me today!

John.

The point I was trying to make was that traditional businesses like newsagents and grocers have been largely replaced by glorified off-licenses. I'm sorry if it was interpreted as a comment on the race of its owners. Three of my five neighbours are African and infinitely better behaved than the white families which lived here before.

(kim)

"John Turner" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.supernews.com:

Police officers will say a lot of things when they're sure the tape isn't running, indeed it is during such times that one can rely on them to be honest, at least when expressing their opinion :-)

You should hear some of them in the south east when discussing housing (lack off), water rationing (now yearly), state benefits (corrupt payment thereof) and such like. You'd be surprised at the common themes mentioned as being causal to these difficulties. You?d be perhaps even more surprised that they believe that there is a simple solution to these problems that would also surprisingly enough reduce crime by around two thirds and reduce prison populations. What is most surprising though is that chief constables, commissioners and the like have issued instructions that any officer naming the cause of the problem let alone offering the solution will be instantly dismissed.

It?s a strange world.

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