Buying ice cream and frozen fruit juice in North
Laine in the 1920s and 30s
The Hokey-Pokey man stood here
The first
ice cream I ever tasted was over 80 years ago and my father bought it from the
Hokey Pokey Man, a dark-haired Italian who used to stand beside a brightly
painted handcart outside the public house at the north end of Kensington
Gardens. There was a paved courtyard outside the closed door, with a
recess into which he fitted his handcart. He sold only one variety, in little
cardboard cups. It was cream in colour and tasted rather like frozen custard.
We just
licked it - there were no refinements such as spoons. I do not remember what we
did with the empty cup. I just remember the coldness and the deliciousness of
the experience on a hot summer's day. The ice cream cups were lifted out of the
cold recesses of the square box, into which I would peer to see the lumps of
ice. The Hokey Pokey Man had only a small stock because freezing-time must have
been limited. He used to push the handcart away into some unknown back street
to replenish the stock.
The 'Stop Me and Buy One' Man
In my
memory the reign of the Hokey Pokey Man was short-lived and he was succeeded by
the 'Stop Me and Buy One' man selling triangular sticks of frozen fruit juice
(with a choice of flavours) for Eldorado Ices. He travelled around on his pedal
bike and I presumed that his pedalling fired the dynamo which kept the cabinet
refrigerated.
But cream
ices persisted, with the Gizzi Brothers opening their first Ice Cream Parlour
later on...
By Ruby Dunn
[Previously published
in the 'North Laine Runner', no.181, July/August 2006]