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City window cleaners

Was talking to a neighbour today and she asked did I remember the Hains family of window cleaners from a little grove off Aston Lane. Not sure if he did the Town though. Does anyone recollect them?. Jean.
 
HI JEAN ,
Yes I Can Recall The Haines Window Cleaing Bussines AND The City Cleaners
They Was Around For Years , Of Aston , And The City , I Think They Are Listed In The Old Kellys Directorys They Are Not Around To Day , I Can Personaly Recomend A Very Good Cleaning Company If You Want , At Alclean . co.uk.
Have A Nice Day Jean And Seasons Greeting To You All , Astonian , .
 
Does anyone have information about the different window cleaning companies that worked in the city in the late 50s through the 60s
I am interested in The City and District Company The Sunlight Company and the Elite company also I think there was a Commando Cleaning Company

Hi Nutter

I worked for commando cleaning for several years during the 70,s, the main contracts my gang were involved in were at Lucas Foremans Road, Radiation in Aston ( we always refered to it as Johnny Wrights ) & the Austin at longbridge. At the time our main "rivals" were, Midland Industrial cleaning (m.i.c.) and a new company called New Century, who for a while undercut our prices and did very well at first but I don,t think they survived for long.

Bob56
 
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Hi Nutter

I worked for commando cleaning for several years during the 70,s, the main contracts my gang were involved in were at Lucas Foremans Road, Radiation in Aston ( we always refered to it as Johnny Wrights ) & the Austin at longbridge. At the time our main "rivals" were, Midland Industrial cleaning (m.i.c.) and a new company called New Century, who for a while undercut our prices and did very well at first but I don,t think they survived for long.

Bob56

I worked for M.I.C from 1975 to 2003 also worked casual for commandos at the jaguar shut down period dusting down the girders for Tommy (brickie) cullen, he used to tap his pipe on the pub window every dinner time to get us back to work
 
Hi jonacs1

Ah yes, those liquid lunch " hours " were the best.
I remember Tommy Cullen but never actually worked on his gang. Our main dustdown was at the North engine works at Longbridge & Lucas. The lads i worked with were
Harry Kirby ( gaffer )
John Slattery,
" father " John Castle,
Kenny Clifton,
Terry Pickard ( my brother )& countless casuals.
 
A friend from school and I worked for Sheldon Window Cleaners in the early 60s. It was a weekend job and we were picked up by van at their place by the Camp Hill Flyover and taken to Triplex in West Brom. There we had to climb inside the aging furnaces which had cradles that were hinged and swung about. This didn't make the job any easier. We had industrial vacuums which were used to suck off all the soot which had built up. We were issued with masks but one of the older guys we worked with refused to wear them! I often wonder how long he lived breathing in all that soot.
We chose the Triplex job as it paid £5 a day (I think) which was much more than the usual pay for casuals. I well remember getting into the bath when I got home and scrubbing all the dirt off. Must have driven my Mom mad!
 
tommy burns then his sons mick and tommy jnr ran commando cleaning,eventually gino cardellie bought it and after reaching dizzy heights sold it off,they lost all the car fax contracts and are now called thyssen group,remember the wagons pulling up by the maypole and a big irish fella saying yes u today so up you jumped for a days cazzy...£11 for about 12 hours graft
 
HI SHAUN;
I Recall the commando cleaning company cleaning all the big companiesin time gone bye i aso recall the burns family
and when they done the rover and big jackie burns and tommy still worked there for years
the commando took over the midland city cleaners when they was based in summer hill of all there contracts
and there was the bullivants from bournville whom had taken over the most of the city cleaning they was still going right up until the eighties
and as gg said the haines cleaners had most of the out city cleaning contracts aroundthe aston and hockley and jewerly quarter for years
they cleaned ours after the rise and fall of all those cleaning companises the bullivats was the leaders they was all across the midlands
small time cleaners could not get a look in on the scene best wishes Astonian
 
Hi all.
My contact with City Window cleaners was working on the property in Salisbury Road Moseley were I carried out the building repairs and to us the lady there was known as "auntie" she was the aunt of the Boss of the firm I subcontracted to hence the name.The big Victorian house I think was their head office.
I remember we always refered to her as Miss Hossel but she was a wonderful generous lady to us and insisted that we always had a beer with our lunch and always called us "Old Chap" when giving us instructions.
The best day of all was Friday when she had paid her men and lunch time we were made to stop work and join her for a drink in the sitting room and at five o'clock we used to stagger home,what a great character she was.

Regards Acklam19
 
My dad worked as a window cleaner for 60 years. He loved that job. Unfortunately he’s no longer with us due to an accident. I took over the cleaning business and he would be amazed at the way we clean windows now. Everyone uses these long window cleaning poles from https://wfp.co.uk/ made from carbon fibre with brushes on the end. Makes cleaning windows 1000 times safer and no need to ever climb a ladder again.
 
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Not a window cleaner but a window repairer,does anyone remember:
SASHCORD KEN FROM BIRMINGHAM 10.
He repaired our office windows in Corporation Streeta few times.
Tojo.
 
Not a job for everyone. I worked in Alpha Tower for a few years, but can't remember the window cleaners being there

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Spirce : British Newspaper Archive
 
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