I remember well the day that Corona drinks came upon the scene. One day a salesman came knocking on the door and told us that he would be delivery Corona Drinks on a regular weekly delivery. He would leave four bottles in a wooden crate on the doorstep by swapping over the empty bottles. The charge was 3d per bottle.

However the big layout of money was that we had to pay 3d deposit on the bottles and 1/- for the crate. Thus after the first week a straight swap was 4 bottles of drink (Ginger Beer,  Orange Lemon, Dandilion and Burdock) all for 1/-. However they didn't last long as when the war came all Lemonade etc had to be pooled like they did with petrol. So it all went under one brand name.

They caused quite a row in the trade after the wall as the shops boycotted them for selling direct to the houses. It's all changed now of course.

1930 Potatoes

Greengrocers used to sell potatoes at 1d a lb, and as an incentive to buy more they were 7lb for 6d. Apples half a pence each.

There used to be a chap who had a horse and cart who would turn up on Fridays at Church Street, Twickenham, Middlesex, and all he had was bananas (this was before the war of course as bananas were like gold).

This chap sold his bananas by the 24's. He would hold up a great bunch of them and knock them out at 1/3d or thereabouts. Even then it was a slow hard work for him to clear the lot.

We used to have the Hygenic Bakeries call every day with bread. But as kids we all looked forward to saturdays as this was the day that most of the cakes were on his van. The fresh cream puff pastry Sandwich  was the "bees knees".