Shopping and other things back in the seventies !

[Norman Bell]

On the fantastic " Wolves on ceefax/ oracle / teletext " a contributor mentioned Gratton home shopping catalogues. That name brought back memories of my Mum being an agent for Kays catalogue. I am curious if anyone else had such a method of shopping where you paid for it over a number of weeks ( seemed to be about ten years I recall correctly ! ) There was Littlewords, Marshall Ward, Grattons and Kays ( I seem to remember the Kays catalogue having a painting of Worcester Cathedral sometimes on the front cover or elsewhere in the book )

When I was a nipper it was straight to the toy section which in the summer issue ( that is another thing I remember there were two issues a year ) was not very good for toys but the when the autumn / winter book came out it had lots of pages of goodies. When I became a depraved teenager it was straight to the lingerie pages !

Then of course there were Green Shield or CO-OP stamps. My Uncle used to drive around on the absolute dregs of the fuel tank with the engine spluttering if he knew there was a garage near by that gave out Green Shields ! A book of CO-OP stamps were worth a £1 when full and were still going in the early nineties before the Members Card took over.

 

[Ginger Chimp]

My mom collected Green Shield stamps. I bought my first racing bike from the catalogue (Littlewoods, I think) paying £2.50 a week for 52 weeks I think. I remember, too, the lingerie pages .

Jeez ... how time flies.

Talking of shopping in the 70's ... I remember a frozen food shop opening in Oakengates (Oxford Street). It was called "The Icicle" and you could go in and buy pieces of frozen fish (separately) and frozen veg. They'd weigh it out and stick it in a bag for you. Obviously, ice cream and lollies were sold too. We bought all our frozen food (such as it was) from there (don't remember being able to get it in the supermarkets of the time) and I was fascinated by the place. This all took place after my mom had been to my dad's bank and cashed a cheque for cash and her bank and cashed a cheque for cash (no ATMs, kids).

You used to go to a garage for fuel and ask for five quid's worth or ten quid's worth (in effect, half a tank full or a tank full). And someone pumped it for you.

There was always candles in the house (under the sink in ours) for power cuts and I also remember phone numbers being extended from 4 digits to 6 digits. Imagine.

 

[Norman Bell]

My mom collected Green Shield stamps. I bought my first racing bike from the catalogue (Littlewoods, I think) paying £2.50 a week for 52 weeks I think. I remember, too, the lingerie pages .

Jeez ... how time flies.

Talking of shopping in the 70's ... I remember a frozen food shop opening in Oakengates (Oxford Street). It was called "The Icicle" and you could go in and buy pieces of frozen fish (separately) and frozen veg. They'd weigh it out and stick it in a bag for you. Obviously, ice cream and lollies were sold too. We bought all our frozen food (such as it was) from there (don't remember being able to get it in the supermarkets of the time) and I was fascinated by the place. This all took place after my mom had been to my dad's bank and cashed a cheque for cash and her bank and cashed a cheque for cash (no ATMs, kids).

You used to go to a garage for fuel and ask for five quid's worth or ten quid's worth (in effect, half a tank full or a tank full). And someone pumped it for you.

There was always candles in the house (under the sink in ours) for power cuts and I also remember phone numbers being extended from 4 digits to 6 digits. Imagine.

Some brilliant memories there. I remember when Freezer Centres starting opening up as people started to get fridges / freezers or if you had the cash and indeed the space a chest freezer ! My Uncle had one in the garage which had foam taped to the front as he was not the best driver and drove into it a couple of times hence the protection !

My Mum was in charge of finance and as you say it was prior ATMs and the credit / debit / contactless cards that people use to pay for goods totalling the value of £2.50 ! So it was quite a long drawn out process for her to get cash.

I also vividly recall the filling stations having attendants. Best ones for football fans was Esso, as they had the 1970 World Cup squad in collectable coins ( to get the full set meant using roughly the same amount of fuel as a Saturn 5 rocket ! ) and the 1972 FA Cup centenary collection. My Mum also had a full set of Margueritte Patten cook books that came with so many gallons of fuel.

Loved your reference to power cuts and candles. The local paper used to print what time the power would go off lets say 17.00 hrs and at that exact time off it would indeed go. I can remember spending the Christmas period of 1973 with my Granny in Birmingham. We travelled up in an Austin Maxi 1750cc at no more than 50 mph as 70 mph was banned to save fuel. Went shopping in Birmingham and the shops were in candlelight using wooden tills !

 

[Ginger Chimp]

Some brilliant memories there. I remember when Freezer Centres starting opening up as people started to get fridges / freezers or if you had the cash and indeed the space a chest freezer ! My Uncle had one in the garage which had foam taped to the front as he was not the best driver and drove into it a couple of times hence the protection !

My Mum was in charge of finance and as you say it was prior ATMs and the credit / debit / contactless cards that people use to pay for goods totalling the value of £2.50 ! So it was quite a long drawn out process for her to get cash.

I also vividly recall the filling stations having attendants. Best ones for football fans was Esso, as they had the 1970 World Cup squad in collectable coins ( to get the full set meant using roughly the same amount of fuel as a Saturn 5 rocket ! ) and the 1972 FA Cup centenary collection. My Mum also had a full set of Margueritte Patten cook books that came with so many gallons of fuel.

Loved your reference to power cuts and candles. The local paper used to print what time the power would go off lets say 17.00 hrs and at that exact time off it would indeed go. I can remember spending the Christmas period of 1973 with my Granny in Birmingham. We travelled up in an Austin Maxi 1750cc at no more than 50 mph as 70 mph was banned to save fuel. Went shopping in Birmingham and the shops were in candlelight using wooden tills !

Austin maxi!!! In 1973 my father bought a brand new (!!) Soviet made estate car called a Moskvitch. It was dark blue ... for a few weeks before it turned to rust. We kept it for 11 years. At the same time, his dad was so impressed that he bought a bright orange version in the saloon style. Google them.

Also, when you went out you often had some change in your pocket in case you needed to make a phone call - either to speak to someone or to find out the time (although that might have been free to be fair). I remember calling up the Operator and saying "Get off the line, there's atrain coming!". It was funny at the time.

Those were the days my friends ...

 

[Ginger Chimp]

Moskvitch, 1972 (Estate Shape, Orange)

 

[Pagey]

My mom collected Green Shield stamps. I bought my first racing bike from the catalogue (Littlewoods, I think) paying £2.50 a week for 52 weeks I think. I remember, too, the lingerie pages .

Jeez ... how time flies.

Talking of shopping in the 70's ... I remember a frozen food shop opening in Oakengates (Oxford Street). It was called "The Icicle" and you could go in and buy pieces of frozen fish (separately) and frozen veg. They'd weigh it out and stick it in a bag for you. Obviously, ice cream and lollies were sold too. We bought all our frozen food (such as it was) from there (don't remember being able to get it in the supermarkets of the time) and I was fascinated by the place. This all took place after my mom had been to my dad's bank and cashed a cheque for cash and her bank and cashed a cheque for cash (no ATMs, kids).

You used to go to a garage for fuel and ask for five quid's worth or ten quid's worth (in effect, half a tank full or a tank full). And someone pumped it for you.

There was always candles in the house (under the sink in ours) for power cuts and I also remember phone numbers being extended from 4 digits to 6 digits. Imagine.

Used to think my mother was the best ever, letting me put my 50p pocket money into the special money box under the stairs

 

[Ginger Chimp]

Went shopping in Birmingham and the shops were in candlelight using wooden tills !

In the days when shop assistants could add and subtract without recourse to a computerised key pad.

 

[Norman Bell]

I believe that wonderful Glaswegian sage Rab C Nesbitt came out with a classic about worrying about Soviet and Eastern block tanks rampaging over Western European soil until he bought a Lada and then knew no matter how ****e NATO gear was it would be better than the Soviets !

 

[Pagey]

Think it was 79 or 80 me mom brought our 1st video recorder, cost about £450, at the time was a hell of a lot of cash.
I Had all me mates round different nights paying £1 each to watch Smokey and the Bandit, then Rocky. Made a fortune

 

[Norman Bell]

Think it was 79 or 80 me mom brought our 1st video recorder, cost about £450, at the time was a hell of a lot of cash.
I Had all me mates round different nights paying £1 each to watch Smokey and the Bandit, then Rocky. Made a fortune

My Mates family got one around the early eighties. It was some size and if I recall the VHS tape cassette was fed in from the top and at that time I was a civilian worker in the Royal Navy and a 4.5" Mark 8 gun turret loaded a shell quieter than this would a tape !

 

[Netherton Wolf]

I still remember the day we had a colour telly i was in my 2nd yr of senior school so1972/3 i walked in with me satchel and there it was, i screamed at the top of my voice, colour telly with 3 channels, and the remote was connected with a wire, my mate had one u had to put money in the top for it to work, and all our stuff was rented !!

 

[Ginger Chimp]

I still remember the day we had a colour telly i was in my 2nd yr of senior school so1972/3 i walked in with me satchel and there it was, i screamed at the top of my voice, colour telly with 3 channels

Very similar. 1973 for us. Push buttons for the channels. It was a rented one. Remember that?

@Pagey those £1s were probably green folding ones too.

 

[Jonzy54]

On the fantastic " Wolves on ceefax/ oracle / teletext " a contributor mentioned Gratton home shopping catalogues. That name brought back memories of my Mum being an agent for Kays catalogue. I am curious if anyone else had such a method of shopping where you paid for it over a number of weeks ( seemed to be about ten years I recall correctly ! ) There was Littlewords, Marshall Ward, Grattons and Kays ( I seem to remember the Kays catalogue having a painting of Worcester Cathedral sometimes on the front cover or elsewhere in the book )

When I was a nipper it was straight to the toy section which in the summer issue ( that is another thing I remember there were two issues a year ) was not very good for toys but the when the autumn / winter book came out it had lots of pages of goodies. When I became a depraved teenager it was straight to the lingerie pages !

Then of course there were Green Shield or CO-OP stamps. My Uncle used to drive around on the absolute dregs of the fuel tank with the engine spluttering if he knew there was a garage near by that gave out Green Shields ! A book of CO-OP stamps were worth a £1 when full and were still going in the early nineties before the Members Card took over.

Toy section ?More like bras,panties and girdles

 

[Jonzy54]

We used to have our tele from Granada and I used to go with my Mom on a Friday once a month to make the payment.
The days of George Mason ,Home and Colonial,The Maypole,Zissman’s,The Red House,The Army and Navy Stores, Timothy White’s,Midland Educational,Brentford Nylons ,Woolies,Dunn and Co,John Collier,Foster Brothers,C&A,Macfisheries,Wimbush,Taylor’s and Barret’s of Fakenham to name but several.
Salad days

 

[Norman Bell]

John Colier John Collier the window to watch !

 

[Norman Bell]

Renting a television what a memory that is, there was Domestic Electrical Rentals, DER for short and Redifusion. It was catastrophic if it broke down and the television repair man would be treated like an Allied soldier liberating Europe in World War 2 when he showed up !

 

[Netherton Wolf]

My mom had an upright Hoover, bought in 1958, with a material blue bag u zipped the dust bag inside, when it broke my dad just kept mending it, it lasted 42years, when my dad passed away & she had to upgrade it

 

[Jonzy54]

Do you remember Midland’s Parade during half time of Star Soccer on a Sunday?
The Bridal Suite -Kersley Coventry
Don Amott’s for Caravans
Beer at Home means Davenports.
All followed by the Golden Shot or Bullseye,

 

[Jonzy54]

Does anyone else remember those money tubes in shops like George Mason ?You bought your stuff and then the Assistant put your money and the receipt in a vaccum tube and by a series of wires it was transported across the ceiling to the cashier’s bit before it came back with your change.
I remember them in the mid sixties as a small child.

 

[Norman Bell]

Does anyone else remember those money tubes in shops like George Mason ?You bought your stuff and then the Assistant put your money and the receipt in a vaccum tube and by a series of wires it was transported across the ceiling to the cashier’s bit before it came back with your change.
I remember them in the mid sixties as a small child.

Blimey that must have been fantastic like something out of Thunderbirds !

 

[Netherton Wolf]

Does anyone else remember those money tubes in shops like George Mason ?You bought your stuff and then the Assistant put your money and the receipt in a vaccum tube and by a series of wires it was transported across the ceiling to the cashier’s bit before it came back with your change.
I remember them in the mid sixties as a small child.

I remember it well, think was either Beatties or Cooks in Dudley did that

 

[Norman Bell]

My mom had an upright Hoover, bought in 1958, with a material blue bag u zipped the dust bag inside, when it broke my dad just kept mending it, it lasted 42years, when my dad passed away & she had to upgrade it

What a brilliant invention the bagless vacuum cleaner is, as I can remember opening the bag to empty out the dust was a nightmare. I would think the two most types of people who ran the risk of silicosis were coal miners and people who had Hoover vacuums !

I remember we had a Web Eubank carpet sweeper, worked by you pushing it along. What I remember about it was if you pushed too hard the damn thing would flip over and discharge its inner contents on the carpet.

I am on a role now ! I bet a few can remember the Twin tub washing machine. I still see my Mum somewhere in the steam filled kitchen wrestling with the blessed thing. Huge great set of wooden prongs in her hand lifting the laundry out of the washer and into the spinner ! The damn thing would be moving all round the kitchen and then when it came to the pumping out of the water Mum would have to hold the rubber pipe in the sink or else the water would go everywhere ! I remember the day when the automatic washing arrived and changed wash days forever, so much so that wash days could be any day not just a designated one !

 

[Netherton Wolf]

What a brilliant invention the bagless vacuum cleaner is, as I can remember opening the bag to empty out the dust was a nightmare. I would think the two most types of people who ran the risk of silicosis were coal miners and people who had Hoover vacuums !

I remember we had a Web Eubank carpet sweeper, worked by you pushing it along. What I remember about it was if you pushed too hard the damn thing would flip over and discharge its inner contents on the carpet.

I am on a role now ! I bet a few can remember the Twin tub washing machine. I still see my Mum somewhere in the steam filled kitchen wrestling with the blessed thing. Huge great set of wooden prongs in her hand lifting the laundry out of the washer and into the spinner ! The damn thing would be moving all round the kitchen and then when it came to the pumping out of the water Mum would have to hold the rubber pipe in the sink or else the water would go everywhere ! I remember the day when the automatic washing arrived and changed wash days forever, so much so that wash days could be any day not just a designated one !

My 82yr old mom still does all her washing by the twin tub/spin dryer method, shes had no mains water for 4 weeks - underground leak - hasnt moaned once, just fills up empty pop bottles up at the neighbours, boils it up to av a wash/cook etc she has a 10 tub waterbut system to collect rainwater to water her enormous garden, and she used this to wash her hair, when we were young we only had an outside toilet too, and that was in tbe garden, steptoe & son springs to mind, i loved my china poe under me bed

 

[VancouverWolf]

Does anyone else remember those money tubes in shops like George Mason ?You bought your stuff and then the Assistant put your money and the receipt in a vaccum tube and by a series of wires it was transported across the ceiling to the cashier’s bit before it came back with your change.
I remember them in the mid sixties as a small child.

Me too in Dublin. Surprisingly, my Canadian wife remembers them out here.....thought they were only European.

 

[VancouverWolf]

Do you remember Midland’s Parade during half time of Star Soccer on a Sunday?
The Bridal Suite -Kersley Coventry
Don Amott’s for Caravans
Beer at Home means Davenports.
All followed by the Golden Shot or Bullseye,

Sunday afternoons Bernie the Bolt and The Big Match.

 

[Big Nosed Wolf]

1970 -72

Decimalisation training at work prior to its roll out in 1971, Getting paid weekly in a brown envelope (£4 11s 6d in 1970). GoIng to the Molineux and not seeing a ****ing bit of corporate graffitti or having to listen to yelling that here comes 'Wolverhampton Wanderrers' or enduring a 'matchday experience' built on choreography and hysteria. Watching the local copper's and trying to decide who was watching the match and who was doing his job whilst patrolling the pitch.

Taking back pop bottles to get back the 'deposit' paid. Smoke you could write your name in filling pubs and clubs. Going to the 'Wolves Club' disco on Friday nights ( in the social club next to Molineux alley and South Bank) where much Motown and Soul classics were played whilst I (mainly) propped up the bar while my mates tried their luck on the dance floor. My reply when asked why I didn't bother was 'Because I've seen what you lot look like when dancing and it's not pretty'

 

[Lofty wolf]

On the fantastic " Wolves on ceefax/ oracle / teletext " a contributor mentioned Gratton home shopping catalogues. That name brought back memories of my Mum being an agent for Kays catalogue. I am curious if anyone else had such a method of shopping where you paid for it over a number of weeks ( seemed to be about ten years I recall correctly ! ) There was Littlewords, Marshall Ward, Grattons and Kays ( I seem to remember the Kays catalogue having a painting of Worcester Cathedral sometimes on the front cover or elsewhere in the book )

My Mom worked for Gratton back in the seventies.
I remember that the shop was on Cleveland St and when I was a nipper during the school holidays , I used to get in the back of a little Ford Escort Van and help to deliver the parcels all round Wolves.

 

[Deleted member 4309]

I use littlewoods to this day.

 

[Highlandwolf2]

Co-Op opposite the Grand Theatre was a great place to buy items on credit (in fact you had a card which they stamped every week when you paid in store). Used them for electrical goods such as a hi-fi (ask your Dad....) which. I couldn’t otherwise afford early 70s, pre credit cards. Would this have been “higher purchase”?

 

[nimrod]

Do you remember Midland’s Parade during half time of Star Soccer on a Sunday?
The Bridal Suite -Kersley Coventry
Don Amott’s for Caravans
Beer at Home means Davenports.
All followed by the Golden Shot or Bullseye,

i can still remember all the words. nearly the same for the hoseasons boating brochure
the finest malt with hops and yeast
turns your snack into a feast

phone cradley heath 65 1 double 1 now

the catalogues were essential for christmas toy lists for santa. i still have one of my old ones featuring stock car smash up, which i was never given.

 

[Norman Bell]

Did anyone here have one of those Polariod cameras where you took a photo and the camera would " instantly" print out a picture, or at least it would after a few minutes if I recall correctly. The reason I ask is apparently there is a new digital version out.

 

[Netherton Wolf]

Did anyone here have one of those Polariod cameras where you took a photo and the camera would " instantly" print out a picture, or at least it would after a few minutes if I recall correctly. The reason I ask is apparently there is a new digital version out.

Certainly did, my very first picture of my 1st born was taken with one of those

 

[Deleted at request of member 4337]

Yes had Polaroid camera the films were expensive iirc.
Had a cassette tape recorder with a mic that you cellotaped to the tv to record top of the pops.

I walked to school so I could spend my 10p bus fare on a curly wurly and a packet of crisps

 

[Norman Bell]

Channel 5 recently had an excellent show about best ever chocolate bars and in it they mentioned the Texan bar. They were excellent and I was very peed off when for some reason Rowntree decided to stop them.

Another fact that came out of that show was Yorkies were far bigger when they first came out as were of course Wagon Wheels !

 

[paulhick]

Channel 5 recently had an excellent show about best ever chocolate bars and in it they mentioned the Texan bar. They were excellent and I was very peed off when for some reason Rowntree decided to stop them.

Another fact that came out of that show was Yorkies were far bigger when they first came out as were of course Wagon Wheels !

Very popular myth about shrinking wagon wheels. There is actually a display at the factory showing the original size and it’s exactly the same as now.

 

[Norman Bell]

Very popular myth about shrinking wagon wheels. There is actually a display at the factory showing the original size and it’s exactly the same as now.

I picked up a packet at Farm Foods this week so tonight and if they survive into tomorrow I shall prove you are correct !

 

[Ginger Chimp]

Channel 5 recently had an excellent show about best ever chocolate bars and in it they mentioned the Texan bar. They were excellent and I was very peed off when for some reason Rowntree decided to stop them.

Another fact that came out of that show was Yorkies were far bigger when they first came out as were of course Wagon Wheels !

Texan bars were my favourite.

“A man’s gotta chew what a man’s gotta chew”

 

[Pagey]

Channel 5 recently had an excellent show about best ever chocolate bars and in it they mentioned the Texan bar. They were excellent and I was very peed off when for some reason Rowntree decided to stop them.

Another fact that came out of that show was Yorkies were far bigger when they first came out as were of course Wagon Wheels !

Curly wurlies have got to have shrunk, or my gob is 3x the size it was

 

[Boss Hogg]

Golden Nuggets were my favourite breakfast cereal as a kid, I’m convinced the current ones are smaller too - unless when you are a kid you can’t judge sizes!

 

[Frank Lincoln]

I still remember the day we had a colour telly i was in my 2nd yr of senior school so1972/3 i walked in with me satchel and there it was, i screamed at the top of my voice, colour telly with 3 channels, and the remote was connected with a wire, my mate had one u had to put money in the top for it to work, and all our stuff was rented !!

Our first colour to was rented from Redifusion, I think most folk rented back then. Three channels with buttons on the tv to change channels and volume control. And not many repeats back then, apart from the test card every night...