• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Broken crisps & biscuits

izzy eckerslike

master brummie
Does anyone remember a little shop in Selly Oak somewhere near the baths
that used to sell bags of broken biscuits & also Smiths broken crisps ?

We used to walk from Weoley Castle in the 1950's to the shop & you would get quite a big bag of broken crisps, only drawback was no salt! but we used to pour a pile into our hand to eat them as they were too small to eat individually. I think it was before flavoured crisps began to appear also
 
This Tread reminded me of the little fish & chip shop in Cliffton Road ASTON run by MRS JACKSON ,she used to give us kids, what we knew as scratchings, they were the skimmed bits of the top of the fat frier which she kept in a wire basket on top of the frier. We would oft find a small bit of fish & was that not a treat.
We also used to get those broken crisps (smith) from the out door, just next door (VERY GREASY).
 
I remember a chap [who went out with my cousin] claiming there were more broken biscuits in a Lb's worth.
 
Our local shop in the village gets Broken and mishaped Biscuits from time to time pre packed now elf & safety. Don't know where they had been before they were packed
 
Izzy when I was a child there was a chip shop at the top of Holte road run by two sisters one named Sissy [can't remember the others] and they too gave us packets of bits of batter that had not attached to the fish. Oh Alf maybe they came off the floor?. Bye. Jean.
 
You think after watching them Alf you would never eat certain foods again but it has mad me more fussy about what you buy and where you buy it from.. Going on to broken biscuits for a couple of years before mom died her friend would bring her a box of broken biscuits and some of the boxes contained almost perfectly shaped ones. I used to hide them sometimes or she would have put too much weight on. When she did become imobile and was in a wheelchair it didn't matter so much and she did love them. Jean.
 
I might of eaten broken biscuits and crisps when i was a kid - but not now don't whether they have been swept up off the floor LOL
 
You think after watching them Alf you would never eat certain foods again but it has mad me more fussy about what you buy and where you buy it from.. Going on to broken biscuits for a couple of years before mom died her friend would bring her a box of broken biscuits and some of the boxes contained almost perfectly shaped ones. I used to hide them sometimes or she would have put too much weight on. When she did become imobile and was in a wheelchair it didn't matter so much and she did love them. Jean.

You get the chocolate ones mixed with the others from our shop and some are perfect. Our kids love them they buy them instead of sweets, I suppose its because they are in Kilos for 99p
 
I don't think I've ever seen broken biscuits for sale, must have had a misspent childhood!!!!

Broken crisps, yes. I used to take the jug to the the outdoor on the corner of Emscote Road and Witton Road, for dads beer, and if he was feeling in a good mood he let me buy a packet. I think they were 1d weren't they. I do recall that the bag was stuffed full, and you always got the blue paper twist of salt in the packet.
 
We had a shop by the school gate that sold broken crisps, I loved them. We were not allowed to eat them in class so we used to pretend to get something out of our desks and take a mouthful. Trouble was they were greasy so if we weren't careful there were tell tale fingerprints on our books. Sometimes the teacher would come along and slam the lid down, just as you got a mouth full of crisp bits. That then called for the ruler across your hand. Ouch!!! Mo
 
Maureen Did you get the ruler LOL - I got the cane for being a dreamer Ha! Ha!
 
Yes I did Beryl, I got into trouble for laughing as well. If I saw the funny side of something I would laugh until the tears ran down my face. Mo
 
Broken biscuits are subject to the same Food Health & Safety Regulations as whole biscuits so enjoy. Len.
 
There was a crisp factory in Westminster Road, Selly Park, no broken biscuits but lots of yummy freshly fried crisps that they used to sell in cornet shaped bags, still warm all you had to do was sprinkle some salt on them.
Broken biscuits are still available, when I was a child we used to get them from Woolworths, there was a huge biscuit counter and you could buy them by the pound,
I always bought the boxes of miss shapes and broken biscuits for my children when they were kids they prefered them just like I used to because of the selection.
 
I used to drive up to Nottingham regularly in the 1960s and and would pass the Burton's Biscuit Factory. They used to sell boxes of broken biscuits at the gates to passers by.

They were superb - fresh out of the factory and because of this, tasting better than any you bought in a shop. They were ridiculously cheap, too, and if you were lucky there were chocolate ones amongst them.

Whenever I went to buy some, there were always other people buying them as well which made me think that they had an awful lot of broken biscuits available. Either their workstaff were extremely clumsy in the way they handled the biscuits or they made broken biscuits purposely as very fast turnover line.

Perhaps they had a special production line that made broken biscuits !!!
 
Cadbury's used to sell (infact I think they still do?)the waste biscuits and chocolates in the chocolate shop but only to staff and day passes to people working on something there at the time. I used to love going with one of the family but usually come out with bruises with all the pushing and shoving incase someone missed out so they had to get there first!!
 
My mum used to buy boxes of broken biscuits off the milkman I am sure (in the late 60's and 70's) we had a milkman called Dennis for years - and it was really weird cause when we moved house and then got doorstep delivery of milk etc.. we had same milkman again - it was like he moved with us. Milkman used to do loads of stuff besides milk (bacon. bread, butter, juice, eggs, cheese, tea etc..)

I used to have a milkman till about 3 years ago when the milkman started selling milk in plastic jugs like the supermarkets I stopped having doorstep delivery cause the milk just isn't the same in these plastic jug things - milk in the bottles with cream at the top was far nicer. I can't pinch the cream off top of milk now for my cornflakes!!
 
At a shop called farmfoods when mom was alive they sold them for a £1 and a lot of the time the biscuits were almost perfect. Jean.
 
I would love to find out more about the crisp factory that was in Westminster Road Selly Park. Going back to broken biscuits I am sure Asda still sell them if not it has only been in the last few years they have stopped selling them.
 
There was a little shop just down from the "Tiverton Road " baths in Selly Oak, they sold an enormous bag of broken crisp's for 1d, and a bag of broken biscuits for 2d, would be in late 50's early 60's.
paul
 
There was quite a few shops in Ladywood that sold broken biscuits, unwrapped tins places around the floor of the shop. Also we had a pub outdoor in the same area that sold broken crisps, with the bag choc a bloc full, but by golly the grease in them was horrendous. Mind you, I used to buy a packet regularly, and was still as skinny as a rake.
 
My Gran got a job at Faccinos after my grandad died. must have been the mid 50s. Don´t remember seeing a whole biscuit until I was about 12.
 
Funny how the mind acts, I remember going down to the local shop down from Moat Lane. with my mates and running in and asking the lady " do you any broken biscuits?" Then saying "WELL FIX EM!" the running off. Ha Ha! John Crump OldBrit.Parker,Co USA
 
When, I lived in Duncroft Road Sheldon I used to go to the shops for broken biscuits I think it was George Masons. They were in a square metal tin and were lovely.
Also you could buy "specks" from the greengrocers, bruised apples, for 1d.
 
Cadbury's used to sell (infact I think they still do?)the waste biscuits and chocolates in the chocolate shop but only to staff and day passes to people working on something there at the time. I used to love going with one of the family but usually come out with bruises with all the pushing and shoving incase someone missed out so they had to get there first!!
Cadbury's misshapes in a brown bag a must at Christmas.

I had forgotten about Woolys selling broken biscuits use to be a treat after swimming lessons in Northfield Baths
 
Last edited:
When a school boy back in the late 50's we would go on school visit's to Cadbury's at Bournville, and we could go to the (Misshape and broken shop), where you could buy odd looking choc's, and bisc's for pennies. Paul
 
Back
Top