Tweet
Around 1989-1990 there were this mobile van going around various streets in our area, spending around five minutes in a certain street then moving onto the next one. They were like a portable version of Iceland or a bog-standard frozen food store, and sold things like ice cream (in a tub unlike the 99s that were sold by Mr Whippy vans); ice lollies and things like that. I suppose that as we now have online delivery of our groceries, especially by specialist supermarkets like Iceland, it almost similar concept, except that one purchased things in a similar way to the ice cream vans. Straight from van to freezer.
We had a monthly leaflet from Hemglas delivered through our letterboxes and it told us what sort of frozen food was available, and the dates and times and where the van would be - in our area, I think that it was fortnightly or every three weeks on Friday afternoons, a bit like a village bus timetable. I believe that in other areas, the times and days varied. I know that they served Nottingham inner-city areas, but did they exist in other areas? I can't be certain but I believed that Hemglas originated from Sweden (although they spelt it with two S at the end). I believe that their British base was in the North East or somewhere else up north.
The tune that the vans played were very familiar and you could hear it half a mile away - I believe that there was also a radio advertising campaign at that time (Gem and Trent had them) which used the same tune and had a jingle that sounded like a kids' nursery rhyme or something. A neighbour of mine used to spoil her son by buying half the contents of the van when it came around. As my parents almost always bought ice cream from the supermarket they often said that they didn't need Hemglas, but my father did get something from their vans once or twice.
Was Hemglas a Nottingham only thing, or did other parts of Great Britain have these vans in their area? I thought that it was odd that this service, (which I thought at the time was akin to a sub-Mr Whippy van), would provide us with times and streets of where they will be, considering the fact that they didn't always come at the same time on the same day of the week just like a bus service.
I am sure that they were national, but I cannot find out if they actually were...
We had a monthly leaflet from Hemglas delivered through our letterboxes and it told us what sort of frozen food was available, and the dates and times and where the van would be - in our area, I think that it was fortnightly or every three weeks on Friday afternoons, a bit like a village bus timetable. I believe that in other areas, the times and days varied. I know that they served Nottingham inner-city areas, but did they exist in other areas? I can't be certain but I believed that Hemglas originated from Sweden (although they spelt it with two S at the end). I believe that their British base was in the North East or somewhere else up north.
The tune that the vans played were very familiar and you could hear it half a mile away - I believe that there was also a radio advertising campaign at that time (Gem and Trent had them) which used the same tune and had a jingle that sounded like a kids' nursery rhyme or something. A neighbour of mine used to spoil her son by buying half the contents of the van when it came around. As my parents almost always bought ice cream from the supermarket they often said that they didn't need Hemglas, but my father did get something from their vans once or twice.
Was Hemglas a Nottingham only thing, or did other parts of Great Britain have these vans in their area? I thought that it was odd that this service, (which I thought at the time was akin to a sub-Mr Whippy van), would provide us with times and streets of where they will be, considering the fact that they didn't always come at the same time on the same day of the week just like a bus service.
I am sure that they were national, but I cannot find out if they actually were...
Comment