Burtonwood Brewery lorry & trailer.
Handily whoever owned this old snapshot of Victoria Road in Cleveleys, pencilled a few notes on its reverse. They confirm the location of this shot, and that it was taken in August 1939, just a few weeks before the outbreak of WW2. The two young ladies were named Florence and Renee, the former being 11 years old, the latter 22.
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A scene such as this would have been commonplace in most towns across the country in the late 1930s. The bicycle, propped up at the kerbside, has been fitted with lamps, two rear panniers, and a bell, and was no doubt unlocked while the owner nipped in to a local shop. The brewer's dray and trailer is parked just beyond the bicycle, while a chap (in flat cap) unloads the barrels of beer from the trailer. One barrel is already on the pavement, leaning against a lamp post. The lorry itself is also well loaded, with both barrels and wooden crates piled up.
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The trailer is signwritten with its owner's details - Burtonwood Brewery - while the lorry's registration plate attached to it, CTJ 648, can also be seen. As the CTJ registration series was first issued in Lancashire during March 1938, the lorry was only a year or so old at the time of this photograph. A pressed metal "T" (trailer) plate, with circular reflectors set within it, has been mounted just above the registration.
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In the distance a small 1930's car, possibly a Morris Minor, is parked up. To its left, a sign for a garage can clearly be seen.
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Walkie Snaps.
The photograph was taken and developed by someone from "Walkie Snaps". A street photographer working for a business such as this - often at seaside resorts - would snap away at passers by, then present a card to the lucky subject(s), inviting them to purchase a copy of the snapshot. A photo of the Walkie Snaps kiosk at Cleethorpes for example can be found on the flickr photo site.
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By and large the practice has disappeared, not least because people perhaps aren't as keen on being photographed by strangers as they once were. The increasing availability of digital cameras, and mobile phones incorporating cameras, rendered the service all-but obsolete too. However attend some classic car shows, and it's not unknown for photographers to take digital photos of cars entering the display field, then offer to print them up on mugs for their owners during the day, a business not unlike that of the 1930's street photographers.
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Return to Page 16 in the photograph gallery.
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