Francis Nicholls Market Trader

[dereklcg]

This thread has been created from posts on different markets threads

I remember when I worked at Francis Nicholls in Upper Dean Street when the demolition started all around that area and the streets were all closed off as the buildings went down one by one. I can still remember how it looked with buildings, many half demolished in street after street ...dreadful and unreal. It seemed to me to be a very over ambitous scheme which when finished had so many flaws.

hi ya see you worked for nicholls? i remember that name from when my best mate used to work for r,f. willis in dean street,started as a mate and worked his way up to a driver,we still knock about now over fourty years now,i used to go with him sometime on a saturday morning delivering to all saints hospital winson green scarey times with some of the people in there.. regards dereklcg..

 

[dereklcg]

Did you work the markets Nick ? I was a barrow boy at the age of 15.....at Daniels before that RF Willis
dont remember the arm bands as I did not sell but supplied the fruit and Veg to the traders..5 in the morning till midday.....
Rowan I will have a look to see if I have a pic as I often use to work in the Fish market after I finished to do a bit of fiddling (taking a fish out of a box and packing it with ice ) much like pumping the bacon up with water today

hi cromwell, is that right you worked fo r f willis?
my mate worked there way back when: started as a drivers mate then a driver,learnt to drive there as it goes.
drove a ford Thames van, then a trader he drove a continental trader name rice his mate when he drove was Brian and another,guy who i think my mate, mated was named Morgan there was also a michale mann they used to call him biff,can,t remember why at the mo,also the stanway brothers pete and again can,t think of the other one and also a pete jinnefer,
hope someone can remember be nice to know where they are? regards dereklcg.

 

[robert]

Jennyanne i had an uncle who worked all his life in the fruit and veg market even for Francis Nicholls. His name was Jack Nolan and he lived in Dean st.

 

[GEOFFREY]

The photograph showing Francis Nicholls flower ground in Smithfield Mkt had the following staff,my father Walter Lloyd,Len Twist,Arthur Beech (known as AB ) who became a director of the company and several more names not known.
I worked in the market for 42 years !!

Geoffrey.

 

[smiler]

Hi, Geoffrey,

Thanks for identifying the flower ground as Francis Nicholls, Len Twist certainly rings a bell with me, my mother B. T. Thorley bought flowers from there and other grounds in the wholesale market for over 50 years!!

Thanks for that information, I will be posting another much better photograph of lots of Flower sellers and Market Flower Salesman at a function at the Market Hotel, Station Street, in due course, I hope that you will have a look at it and let me know if you recognise anyone on it. The names that I know of people on this photograph are. Ernie French, Les Court, Bob Sherrett, it was taken in about 1945.

I believe there is so much history that has not yet been revealed about the Smithfield and Bull Ring markets and its 'characters' like Percy Moseley which we need to set down in writing now, before it all disappears.

Smiler

 

[Bernard67Arnold]

Hi Geoff, what time scale are we talking here? I can remember my Dad, Big Joe Arnold delivering to F Nicholls during
the war and just after, he retired in 1949, he was a GWR carter, Bernard

 

[GEOFFREY]

Hi Bernard,
The time scale here is,my father worked for FN from about 1930 to late 1940`s then went to work for F.E.Morris. I myself worked for A.R.Pillar from 1948 till about the 1970`s

,our carter was a fellow called Toddy who had a large white horse
Geoffrey.

 

[GEOFFREY]

Hi Smiler,
Two more names from the past Ernie French & Les Court, Les along with several more FN staff including my father and family were evacuated to Belbroughton during the war and travelled to work in one car,Belbroughton is the place FN himself lived, so he could keep a eye on his staff!
Will be pleased to try and recognise anyone in future photos,I knew the Moseleys (sons/daughters etc) I myself was more a fruit/veg salesman.

Geoffrey.

 

[Bernard67Arnold]

Hello again, it looks has if your Dad more than likely knew mine! I can remember my dad carring a cwt; sack of King
Edwards on each shoulder, he was a big man. He also served in The Coldstream Guards in the Great War, as he always
called it.The carters in those days spend a fair amount of time either in the cafe, but usually in the pubs which opened
early in the morning. Happy memories from all those years ago, I will be 81 in March, Cheers now Bernard

 

[ginettegisborne]

Hi Geoffrey,

My Grandad worked for Francis Nicholls for many years and became a director when they set up a branch in Leicester. After living in Bath and then Aston/Erdington, this is where he settled with his wife and where my Mum was born. His name was Leslie Smith, just wondered if you remembered the name as you had recalled others relating to Francis Nicholls etc. Many Thanks, Ginette.

 

[ginettegisborne]

The photograph showing Francis Nicholls flower ground in Smithfield Mkt had the following staff,my father Walter Lloyd,Len Twist,Arthur Beech (known as AB ) who became a director of the company and several more names not known.
I worked in the market for 42 years !!

Geoffrey.

My Grandad worked for Francis Nicholls for many years and became a director when they set up a branch in Leicester. After living in Bath and then Aston/Erdington, this is where he settled with his wife and where my Mum was born. His name was Leslie Smith, just wondered if you remembered the name as you had recalled others relating to Francis Nicholls etc. Many Thanks, Ginette.

 

[Vivienne14]

Nicholls’s Registered Office in Moat Lane in the 1920s. Nice collection of lorries and market baskets. Viv.