Hi all
Got thinking the other day back to when i usd to do the fruit/flower markets and what happened to some of the high profile hauliers that were around then and what happened to them. Some i rember are R&T transport woolwich (often used to load from there) Wheatgrove (had some top gear) Wood from kent had several depots at one time.
Can’t Think of any others at the moment but expect some of you can.
B+R (Blundell + Rimmer) used to be a regular at the fruit markets back in the 80’s and 90’s.
Ross.
hiya,
Bowkers of Blackburn pulled a lot of fruit and veg at one time, i’ve handballed quite a few loads in my early years, do they still do any??.
thanks harry long retired.
Dont remember bowkers on the markets me self could have been before my time. Think a lot of the produce hauliers have been swallowed up by the likes of fowler welch etc.Not sure how it works now but we used to have to go around all the growers and load up then if it was the london markets we would head up to stratford.spits,borough, covent garden and finish up at weston international. Then if you were really lucky you got a reload out of the airport all handball on your own from one of them aircraft palletts. Makes me ache just thinking about it now. 
hiya,
You can be sure Bowker’s was in the fruit/veg game there was a photo in the bosses office showing them associated with the largest shipment of oranges ever moved from Liverpool to the UK markets i think it was just post WW2 when the fruit was getting back into Liverpool docks, but 240 Gardner will know all about it and i’ll bet the photo is still there albeit in new surroundings, but i was still doing the odd load in the 60s to early 70s maybe still do some i left that firm/area in 1972.
thanks harry long retired.
It could well be harry i tipped in there yard at preston last week. But of course you dont get in the office building. OH NO warehouse office for you drive.
What about Mainland Markets (MMD) Of Portsmouth.Must have done all the major markets in the country as well as most major wholesalers.Did a few nights (and days) for them.Makes me feel tired to think about it.There must be afew out there who backloaded from them over the years.Regards Charlie 
hiya,
Was’nt Yardley’s of Leeds big fruit haulers did’nt they carry a lot of tomato’s.
thanks harry long retired.
charlie one:
What about Mainland Markets (MMD) Of Portsmouth.Must have done all the major markets in the country as well as most major wholesalers.Did a few nights (and days) for them.Makes me feel tired to think about it.There must be afew out there who backloaded from them over the years.Regards Charlie
Aye,guilty Charlie.Hampshire Terrace Portsmouth was the office.Rang them one morning from Southampton “Yeah,one drop Sheffield market” turned out to be one in Manchester and two in Liverpool
I did the job (eyes like racing dog’s boll**** when I’d done and got back to Sheffield) with t’gaffer’s sons name on a throwaway log sheet,never again,they could shove their CI produce up their punnets.
any one remmember lt carriers out of bishops stortford used to load cucumbers out of the lea valley by hand rope and sheet then top out with flowers on top
for the wholesale markets london bristol cardiff lancs liverpool etc
then reload lettuce celery out of warrington for london mkts
or soft fruit out of r&t candu distrubution ditch burn st poplar
apples out of east anglia but do not mix them with flowers the apple scenty turns them black
I rember some guy from colchester way think he only had a couple of motors but used to load out of foxash growers manningtree as did we. Oh and definatly never mix the fruit and the flowers . Spiers and hartwell did a lot of market work along with numerous others from around the evesham area.
harry_gill:
hiya,
You can be sure Bowker’s was in the fruit/veg game there was a photo in the bosses office showing them associated with the largest shipment of oranges ever moved from Liverpool to the UK markets i think it was just post WW2 when the fruit was getting back into Liverpool docks, but 240 Gardner will know all about it and i’ll bet the photo is still there albeit in new surroundings, but i was still doing the odd load in the 60s to early 70s maybe still do some i left that firm/area in 1972.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry, the photo you’re thinking about was one of a sequence featured in an article in the Leyland Journal in, I think, 1937. There are some examples at paulanderson.fotopic.net/c1725443.html
Bowker finished with fruit in the early 70s, although they had been one of the largest hauliers in Covent Garden for many years. It all started with an overnight trunk service in 1926, during the General Strike, when fruit was moved to Covent Garden from Liverpool and nothing was moving on the railways.
This was reckoned to be the first example of what became the classic trunk operation, down one night and back the next, with a shunter in London. Some night’s work though, Liverpool to London overnight in 1926, in something like an RAF-type Leyland.
Reputedly, the Lancashire drivers were put up overnight in the Strand Palace Hotel!
hiya,
Thanks for that 240 G can you remember how Bill and Ken referred to the old gold leaf paint jobs on the retiring motors such as my old motor, as Dad’s colours there was actually a model, in Bill’s office,i think it was an Atki, in the Hollins Bridge St depot and i remember Bill saying that he preferred that paint job to the later white stripe job a la Scania Vabis but i suppose it was cost and time taken to do them the old way you’ve only to look at John Hemylricks old Atki to see how well they used to look.
thanks harry long retired.
hi
i remember in the early eighties a company called DARLOWS delivering to spitalfields market every night,i think they came from the sandy area in bedfordshire,one of the drivers was a nice looking girl called andrea. it was love at first sight,not only was she a cracker she even drove a VOLVO 
happy days.it must have been love as i still remembered her name after nearly thirty years.
cheers diesel
harry_gill:
hiya,
Thanks for that 240 G can you remember how Bill and Ken referred to the old gold leaf paint jobs on the retiring motors such as my old motor, as Dad’s colours there was actually a model, in Bill’s office,i think it was an Atki, in the Hollins Bridge St depot and i remember Bill saying that he preferred that paint job to the later white stripe job a la Scania Vabis but i suppose it was cost and time taken to do them the old way you’ve only to look at John Hemylricks old Atki to see how well they used to look.
thanks harry long retired.
The model you’re referring to, Harry, was of a Leyland Octopus, and that model is still in the office today. Bill also had a large-scale model built of an RAF-type Leyland like the one in the photo above. The blue with the white strip was first used in 1966, and I believe that the AEC Mandator, no.44, was the first to carry it. John Hemelryk’s Atki, no.47, carried the old gold leaf lettering right through to the end of its shunting days in 1985, and was then restored in the same scheme.
In 1982, they started with the plain white factory-finish motors - the first few were actually signwritten, but of course they’ve been vinyl decals ever since. Back in 1982, a plain factory-finish cab saved £1,000 when putting a motor on the road and added £500 to its residual value. Also, there was a problem when the vehicles started to come through in a proper gloss finish instead of primer, and when the first corrosion warranties were introduced: if the factory paint was rubbed down properly to apply a livery, then the corrosion warranty was invalidated and if it wasn’t, then the paint came off again. These were all factors in the move to plain white cabs, sadly.
Is it me or am I missing something? All these threads start off on a subject and then veer away into technical detail.I do like information but how about more on MARKETS! Sorry if I sound grumpy but I have turned into a miserable old git.Regards Charlie
hiya,
Sorry Charlie one, but does it really matter??, it’s easy enough to get back on track just add something relevant.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Sorry Charlie one, but does it really matter??, it’s easy enough to get back on track just add something relevant.
thanks harry long retired.
Yes Harry.You are correct.To get back on track I was in our local market today and bought a cabbage.I feel better now Many thanks.Regards Charlie
hiya,
Ha Ha Ha well done Charlie, like it.
thanks harry long retired.
Yeah remeber darlows dont remember the girl though somewhat unusual for me.Another one i remeber was ferryfast i think they may even still be around.