we had the best days , cafes everywhere whichever way we were going . for example leaving buxton going north there were 6 cafes by the time we reached hazel grove , a good breakfast to set you up for the day in any one of them , and they all stayed open until late at night so the night men could get a meal . nowadays they are planned , micro managed and pushed to the last minute , no time to stop . i think if it had been like that in the 50s and 60s we would never have started driving .dave
Hi does anyone remember the name of the transport cafe as you entered the isle of Dog called Silver something back in the Sixties Seventies ■■?
rigsby:
we had the best days , cafes everywhere whichever way we were going . for example leaving buxton going north there were 6 cafes by the time we reached hazel grove , a good breakfast to set you up for the day in any one of them , and they all stayed open until late at night so the night men could get a meal . nowadays they are planned , micro managed and pushed to the last minute , no time to stop . i think if it had been like that in the 50s and 60s we would never have started driving .dave
Couple of points here.
First, my memories of ‘lorries’ are travelling in the cabs of Dads removals vans, wrapped in blankets, then usually sitting on the engine of Uncle Jack’s Leyland Beaver, (I was the younger brother, Andy got the seat) travelling to Wigan or Keighley, delivering timber for George C Croasdale.
‘Insurance’ won’t allow it nowadays, so that thread of continuity is lost.
When I first left school I worked in the tax office and later in the labs at Glaxo. These were jobs for life, but for me they were prison!
I would have a handsome pension now if I’d stayed in either job. However, I’ve had a life in between!
I remember that sense of ‘Freedom’ driving my Leyland Comet to Wigan. I can remember thinking that my school friends were in the bank, dying for 5 o’clock to come!
I worry that that sense of freedom has gone. I have a friend who has a lovely Volvo rig with a half pipe tipping trailer. He spends his days worrying about micro - seconds! No chance of making a false entry anywhere!
The gear is wonderful, but there’s not much incentive to drive it any more.
John
John West:
rigsby:
we had the best days , cafes everywhere whichever way we were going . for example leaving buxton going north there were 6 cafes by the time we reached hazel grove , a good breakfast to set you up for the day in any one of them , and they all stayed open until late at night so the night men could get a meal . nowadays they are planned , micro managed and pushed to the last minute , no time to stop . i think if it had been like that in the 50s and 60s we would never have started driving .daveCouple of points here.
First, my memories of ‘lorries’ are travelling in the cabs of Dads removals vans, wrapped in blankets, then usually sitting on the engine of Uncle Jack’s Leyland Beaver, (I was the younger brother, Andy got the seat) travelling to Wigan or Keighley, delivering timber for George C Croasdale.
‘Insurance’ won’t allow it nowadays, so that thread of continuity is lost.
When I first left school I worked in the tax office and later in the labs at Glaxo. These were jobs for life, but for me they were prison!
I would have a handsome pension now if I’d stayed in either job. However, I’ve had a life in between!
I remember that sense of ‘Freedom’ driving my Leyland Comet to Wigan. I can remember thinking that my school friends were in the bank, dying for 5 o’clock to come!
I worry that that sense of freedom has gone. I have a friend who has a lovely Volvo rig with a half pipe tipping trailer. He spends his days worrying about micro - seconds! No chance of making a false entry anywhere!
The gear is wonderful, but there’s not much incentive to drive it any more.
John
Sorry to sound like an old ■■■■ 
, but what a perfect summing up of the situation 
. My experience echoes these observations. I severely interrupted the ‘prison’ of a teaching career to do long-haul trucking, and eventually finished up in schools before retirement. That feeling of freedom you describe, John, has I think gone. Over-regulation and the controlling tactics of the big companies has killed the spirit of the merchant adventurer in an ocean-going artic stone-dead, I fear 
. Thank God we had the good times, eh? Robert 
robert1952:
John West:
rigsby:
we had the best days , cafes everywhere whichever way we were going . for example leaving buxton going north there were 6 cafes by the time we reached hazel grove , a good breakfast to set you up for the day in any one of them , and they all stayed open until late at night so the night men could get a meal . nowadays they are planned , micro managed and pushed to the last minute , no time to stop . i think if it had been like that in the 50s and 60s we would never have started driving .daveCouple of points here.
First, my memories of ‘lorries’ are travelling in the cabs of Dads removals vans, wrapped in blankets, then usually sitting on the engine of Uncle Jack’s Leyland Beaver, (I was the younger brother, Andy got the seat) travelling to Wigan or Keighley, delivering timber for George C Croasdale.
‘Insurance’ won’t allow it nowadays, so that thread of continuity is lost.
When I first left school I worked in the tax office and later in the labs at Glaxo. These were jobs for life, but for me they were prison!
I would have a handsome pension now if I’d stayed in either job. However, I’ve had a life in between!
I remember that sense of ‘Freedom’ driving my Leyland Comet to Wigan. I can remember thinking that my school friends were in the bank, dying for 5 o’clock to come!
I worry that that sense of freedom has gone. I have a friend who has a lovely Volvo rig with a half pipe tipping trailer. He spends his days worrying about micro - seconds! No chance of making a false entry anywhere!
The gear is wonderful, but there’s not much incentive to drive it any more.
John
Sorry to sound like an old ■■■■
Went out with my wife today and visited a Garden Centre at Bolton le Sands. Had a ‘full English’ which was very similar to what we used to get all those years ago at the transport cafes. (Julie had a scone - that’s why I’m fat and she isn’t - well maybe the white wine doesn’t help either!)
As we made our way home, we remembered the Lancaster bridge before the motorway opened - this could be an hour’s stop start. No electric fans then - how many cars did you see with the bonnet open and steam pouring from the radiator!
But our biggest giggle was memories of the ‘TEMPORARY BEND’ sign on the M6 at Carnforth!
I think the M6 stopped there in about 1959 or 60. It took another 10 years before the ‘temporary bend’ sign finally disappeared in 1970 and you could go straight on.
John.
Bewick:
The best little Cafe when I was up and down the road to London was The Avairy on the A5 just south of Hinckley Knight,it was open 24hrs when the A5 was a busy road,great l’al place breakfasts a “speciality” I know there were many other very good Cafe’s but everyone had their favourites and The Avairy was mine ! Not just sure when it closed.Cheers Bewick.
A lot of us lads from Stoke used to call there for breakfast on the way down to the Smoke.
[/quote]
Sorry to sound like an old ■■■■ , but what a perfect summing up of the situation . My experience echoes these observations. I severely interrupted the ‘prison’ of a teaching career to do long-haul trucking, and eventually finished up in schools before retirement. That feeling of freedom you describe, John, has I think gone. Over-regulation and the controlling tactics of the big companies has killed the spirit of the merchant adventurer in an ocean-going artic stone-dead, I fear . Thank God we had the good times, eh? Robert
[/quote]
You don’t hear the phrase, “The freedom of the open road” much these days. I, and a few more on this site, I guess, are grateful to have known the good times before it all went pear-shaped.
Retired Old ■■■■:
Sorry to sound like an old ■■■■ , but what a perfect summing up of the situation . My experience echoes these observations. I severely interrupted the ‘prison’ of a teaching career to do long-haul trucking, and eventually finished up in schools before retirement. That feeling of freedom you describe, John, has I think gone. Over-regulation and the controlling tactics of the big companies has killed the spirit of the merchant adventurer in an ocean-going artic stone-dead, I fear . Thank God we had the good times, eh? Robert
[/quote]
You don’t hear the phrase, “The freedom of the open road” much these days. I, and a few more on this site, I guess, are grateful to have known the good times before it all went pear-shaped.
[/quote]
Hiya,
A pal of mine a lifetime driver, helped his son become a class 1 driver at great expense
he did a couple of months at the wheel told his dad he didn’t know how he’d stuck it all
those years chucked it and went back to his old better paid job stating “Dad I don’t how
you stuck that job for all those years” I wonder if he’d had a go during our halcyon years
would he have stuck it out, should I be starting over lorry driving wouldn’t be the career
I would want to follow, that is knowing what I know now of course.
thanks harry, long retired.
lczjs:
Hi does anyone remember the name of the transport cafe as you entered the isle of Dog called Silver something back in the Sixties Seventies ■■?
That would have been the Silvertown Motel.
Further down towards the ferry was Georges Diner.
That was run by two ex villains. When it first opened the RHA security officer went to check up on the parking. He was told, “Nothing will get nicked off here guv, they all know we will be round to break a leg or two!”
harry_gill:
Bewick:
The best little Cafe when I was up and down the road to London was The Avairy on the A5 just south of Hinckley Knight,it was open 24hrs when the A5 was a busy road,great l’al place breakfasts a “speciality” I know there were many other very good Cafe’s but everyone had their favourites and The Avairy was mine ! Not just sure when it closed.Cheers Bewick.Hiya
Dennis, I couldn’t ever make the Aviary but did stop at the Hinckley Knight for a
liquid breakfast there was always three or four Bowker’s lads in there for a pint
or two in the morning sort of Dutch courage to help you face London.
thanks harry, long retired.
Hiya “H”,well you defo rank as one of the “Prehistoric” drivers from yesteryear 
Those were the days on the old “A” roads when there were pubs that were frequented by drivers who just pulled up nice and tidy like and had a couple of pints or so then cracked on.When I started on my own those days were about over because of the B/liser But I recall as a lad growing up in Kendal the Victoria Tavern by the railway bridge usually had a Scotsman or two parked outside and there was motors from Penrith and Carlisle as well,another drivers drinker was the Plough Inn at Selside north of Kendal.I recall having a couple of Newcy browns at lunchtime on the Quay in Newcastle waiting to tip Libbys!! and when I was a mate on the Octopus I remember having a couple of sessions in the MB Club at Eagles Bush Newport while we had to wait for the 20ton of tin plate to be packed ! Those were the days “H” but I don’t think a pint or two caused any problems during those years in the 50’s/60’s.Cheers Dennis.
axletramp:
lczjs:
Hi does anyone remember the name of the transport cafe as you entered the isle of Dog called Silver something back in the Sixties Seventies ■■?That would have been the Silvertown Motel.
Further down towards the ferry was Georges Diner.
Stayed at Georges a few times in the 60s if I couldn’t make our usual stop in Tooley St. George would offer you a bed for 7/6 or you could share his for free! Before anyone asks, I never took him up on his kind offer. 
Despite that, he was a really nice chap and would go out of his way to help a driver who was miles from home.
Only parked at the Silvertown Motel once, then piled into my mate’s unit and bombed through the tunnel to Erith where we both “knew” a couple of young ladies who shared a flat. A good night was had by all, but when I returned to Silvertown the next morning some “Good buddie” had knicked my CB aeriel off the cab roof. 
who got the tug though ?
hiya,
Only stayed at the Silvertown Transmotel, (to give it it’s full title, It was quite new
but what a dump bloody noisy doors banging a freezer job starting and stopping by
my window all night long, it was supposed to be for drivers but some contractors
had sneaked in under the radar and they could make noise for England that was
my one and only night there back out to Hampstead for peace and quiet, and the
Headlight magazine sang it’s praises and didn’t have the decency to reply when I
complained about the place,
thanks harry, long retired.
It was supposed to be the bee’s knees when it first opened, the first of its kind for drivers and getting away from the old digs, many of which were a good reason why so many of us cabbed it.
Soon after it opened I booked ahead to stay there after several dock deliveries of whisky. I phoned the boss with only one drop left and he said, ‘no come on home we’ll transfer your load onto another wagon which is leaving at midnight’. So I never got to stop there. Years later I went in for a cup of tea and a sandwich, what a dump, but I don’t believe it started out like that from what I heard from other drivers.
Georges was a great café with a great man at the helm.Only prob was restricted parking.You could park on the ind. est. across the rd but I always managed to squeeze onto the café.A lot better than that silvertown dump.
regards dave.
26 yeas ago I took my wife, daughter and new granddaughter to a curtain shop in Old Ford. We went to George’s for dinner. My daughter breastfed the baby in the old fashioned napkin over the shoulder fashion. My daughter still recalls the old drive who said to her on his way out, “It was really lovely to see a baby fed properly”.
I popped into the aire de Marins this week for a café only to see a sad notice ’ Fermeture definite 05/06/2015 another good one gone
Was there a cafe/digs where the Mcdonalds is now ,here ?
google.com/maps/@51.529703, … icjrO4DQ!2
There was the Four Oaks just a bit further east.