Dad was the record icecream seller

des. Melville Lawry
61 - 63 Edgeware road, St. Albans
seating 571
22 Feb 1940 - 1968

Nana and Grandad's Supervalue supermarket on Edgeware Rd has been demolished.
When we were little (and we stayed at their house every weekend) they would take us to the supermarket to get stuff and Grandad would sit in the car (where it was nice and warm and there were no chattering grandkids) and we would go into the shop with Nana... I always thought of that every time I went past...
This morning I was talking to Dad about how it is now gone and he told me all about when he used to work there as "an icecream boy" when it was the Century Cinema. He had the record for selling 3 trays of chocolate coated icecreams during intermission (they started off at 9pence and then went up to a shilling each). He always worked upstairs and would have his regular customers picked out... Before intermission he would fill up his tray and go and bob down at the middle aisle, with his back to the circle, so as soon as the lights came on he would pop up and start shifting those icecreams! (How cute is that!) As soon as his first tray was gone he would race back downstairs for more and then be back up and selling within minutes. No one else could sell more than 2 trays but Dad could do 3. He worked there from when he was about 12 years old, to 15 years (and he had other part time jobs too) on Friday nights and Saturdays.
(sorry Dad, the only picture I could fine was of an icecream usherette...)