Milk Deliveries

Milk deliveries

Many people on the estate would have had milk delivered daily to their homes. The milk was contained in glass bottles, usually with silver tops, and was transported in metal crates on a milk-float. This was a small and light open-sided vehicle that was electrically powered and had often had neither doors nor seat belts.  It was designed to allow the milkman to jump out quickly to do the deliveries and get back in. It had to be plugged in at the end of the round to allow the batteries to recharge. As such, it moved very quietly but relatively slowly.

For those who lived in the 1950s and 1960s, the sound of the chink of the bottles and the quiet sound of the whirring of the milk-float are now probably pleasant childhood memories – especially so for those awakened in the mornings before it was light.

The milkman often had a boy as a helper. On weekdays the boy might work from about 6.30am until it was time to go to school. At weekends and in the holidays, he could work longer if required. The money so earned added to the family coffers – in a similar way to boys who had paper rounds. Milk was delivered as ordered and left on the doorstep. Sometimes, in very cold weather, the milk would freeze and expand and blow off the silver top. On other occasions, magpies would peck at the milk tops. Rarely were bottles stolen or tampered with. Apart from routine deliveries, the milkman and his boy helper had to be on the lookout for messages tucked into the top of the empty bottles on the doorstep. Most would have read something like, ‘One extra pint, today, please’ or ‘No milk today, thank you.’ Incidentally, the return of ‘empties’ was probably the British public’s introduction to the concept of recycling.

With many households not yet having refrigeration, once delivered the bottles would probably have been kept in a cool place to prevent the milk from ‘going off’.

The milkman called for payment every week. He would put the money into a large leather shoulder bag which had separate pockets for the different denomination of coins. Rarely were milkman robbed even though they were openly carrying cash.

Some milkmen wore distinctive uniforms such as a black peaked hat, white overall, protective apron to protect his trousers, and leather shoulder bag for money.

There were a number of dairies in Manchester that might have served Fordbank residents, most notably Heald’s which was based in Didsbury behind the then Albert public house (now named the Fletcher Moss).

In the 1950s, reliable power refrigeration replaced iceboxes and milk delivery service went into decline. By the 1990s, the deregulation of the British milk industry and the decision by supermarkets to sell milk – cheaply – in plastic containers changed everything. It was never the same again.

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