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Items that have faded away

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The story goes that there was a small team of men attached to the BCT Tyburn Road Bus Works looking after the Bundy Clocks. Over time these reduced to one man after the West Midlands PTE took over in 1969. He was approaching retirement and was having to make spare parts to keep the clocks running. When he retired the clocks were taken out of use overnight but not removed, many surviving well in to the 1980's but suffered a lot of graffiti and vandalism. The last Bundy known to have a working clock had a battery operated clock fitted at Druids Heath Terminus on the 50 route but drivers did not have to "peg" it with a key as they originally did. This was when competition was allowed to set up and a firm called Smiths of Tysoe (Warks) started a "Your Bus" 50Y service to take on the WM buses. The idea of a working clock was to ensure there was no excuse for WM drivers not to leave Druids Heath on time. When the battery ran out it was not replaced and before long vandals had smashed the glass and wrecked the face. (WM bought out 'Your Bus' at a later date)
 
I was in the supermarket and suddenly thought, 1lb bags of sugar, can you still buy them, or are they no longer available? I then thought of other things that have disappeared that were good sellers that you dont see anymore, e.g: Omo washing powder, camphorated oil that your mom rubbed on your chest in the winter, those green blocks (I think it was called 'Melrose') that you rubbed on chilblains, (If you had them on your feet, nan would tell you to pee on them) pot-menders,shirts with detachable collars and collar studs(front and back) stick on soles and heels, dried peas that you had to soak overnight, brown-paper carrier bags with string handles, bracers, boiling -fowl, sweet -tobacco,liberty-bodices, the list goes on.
 
ASTONITE said:
I was in the supermarket and suddenly thought, 1lb bags of sugar, can you still buy them, or are they no longer available? I then thought of other things that have disappeared that were good sellers that you dont see anymore, e.g: Omo washing powder, camphorated oil that your mom rubbed on your chest in the winter, those green blocks (I think it was called 'Melrose') that you rubbed on chilblains, (If you had them on your feet, nan would tell you to pee on them) pot-menders,shirts with detachable collars and collar studs(front and back) stick on soles and heels, dried peas that you had to soak overnight, brown-paper carrier bags with string handles, bracers, boiling -fowl, sweet -tobacco,liberty-bodices, the list goes on.
Click to expand...

And dont forget carbolic soap! This was mentioned sometime ago on here and out of interest I bought 6 tablets off Ebay as apparently some of the chemicals used in its production were carcinogenic, the reason its production had been halted. For me, the memory was more attractive than the experience of using the soap. It may sanitise the skin but it dries it out badly and the smell is hardly conducive to a seductive experience.
Havent seen 1pound bags of sugar for years, in fact supermarkets are now selling bags larger than the 1Kg size. Dried peas are still widely available and upmarket shops still provide brown carrier bags with string handles. You can easily buy grandad collarless shirts less the detachable collar and Vick for your chest.
 
Sweet tobacco is still available in one of the new 'old fashioned' sweet shops that seem to be opening throughout Brum at the moment. I know 'cause I bought a '1/4' the other day - it was delicious but I should imagine 'extremely bad for you' (isn't everything these days?)
 
Astonite - I recently bought several sticks of 'liquorice wood' (50p a stick!) .....my daughter, who had never seen it before, couldn't believe that every child used to go about chewing a bit of old dried stick. :)

I've now taken to 'chowing on it' when I drive; it is admittedly, something of an acquired taste.
 
I must admit to liking liquorice wood myself. Remember jungle juice jubblies (the red ones)?
 
Great replies, it got me thinking about 'patent medicines' some mentioned before on other threads, obviously cheaper than going to the docs pre N.H.S. My mom used to give us small grey pills called'little healers', god only knows what they contained, I think she bought them from the local newsagents, in those days small shops sold everything.
 
A new sweetshop has opened in Bromyard and I am certain I saw a type of liquorice wood in there. What about Life Buoy soap, the red variety. That distinctive smell permeated the cinema on a Friday night at a time when wearing mens cologne could get you some strange looks. It was that or sisters Camay or Lux soaps in our house. The perfume from them would get you a walloping from sister for using it or the same strange looks as using cologne. Mens aftershave really caught on in the 70s but I still cringe at the smell of some of them.e.g. Hi Karate....yuck.
 
I always knew it as licorice root, Carters Little Liver Pills, Glauber Salts, bundles of firewood, wax tapers, U-Like-Me tinned crab. Len.
 
Hi Astonite,

Omo is still readily available over here in Greece along with quite a few other brands that I thought had disappeared years ago. Omo is one of the big sellers here, but I think it's just a matter of branding by the big manufacturers such as Procter and Gamble. The same stuff is probably sold under a different brand name in the UK. The name Omo was most probably withdrawn in the UK to be politically correct because it has gay connotations. ;)

We also have a number of brands that they wouldn't put on the shelves in the UK, e.g. Teddy's Hit (a crisp like product). It sounds innocent enough to the Greeks, but you can imagine what the local Brits call it! :D

But a number of things have gone forever, such as Batger's Chinese Figs in the thin wooden round boxes. The London factory was taken over and closed down and I was told by the new owners that they had decided to cease manufacturing them. No reason was given. :(

Maurice :cool:
 
There is a thread in the Childhood section about sweets we used to have and many of the sweets mentioned here are in it.

1lb bags of sugar are available.We went to Norfolk a couple of weeks ago and we were met with a Welcome hamper, jam,marmalade.milk ,butter,and orange juice,in the fridge,
and also a small jar of coffee,packet of tea bags and 1lb bag of sugar.

I had some liquorice wood a while ago,did it really taste that bad when we were kids.?I love liquorice though,my husband always brings me a couple of sticks when he gets the lottery.

At christmas we travel miles looking for my husbands beloved sugar mice,I tell him it is just the same as eating half a dozen sugar lumps,but they remind him of his childhood.

Remember the days when a home was not complete without,Carters pills,iodine,caster oil(yuck),cod liver oil and malt,Epsom salts,Friars balsom,Eucaplytus oil(did we use all of these) and safety pins,useful when your navy blue knicker elastic was a bit too stretchy.
 
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Hi Lynn
yes you can still buy most of the things here in worc ;
what as been mentioned the only one thing i have not come across is the old detache collar
as worc; is still in the time wharp in most places and we can buy the pound sugar bags still as i do
often to keep up my levels , and the old fashioned sweet shops we have
where i buy my sweet tobacco every week with out fail
we still have old fashioned style little roads and buildings by the score
even the police still used old fashioned crimminal laws dating back years they are very qaint
but i would not change it nor leave worc; its a great place to live in
and its the safe place to live in more than any where in the country and thats even been stated by the BBC
have a nice day best wishes Astonian ;;
 
Hi Astonite, as already stated some of those things are still available. Your post made me think of some of the "old-fashioned" items which I use regularly and are always in my pantry. Just scanned these 3. As they say on the BBC Breakfast programme, "There are other brands available" !!!
 
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For those who like things dried , crystallized, weird and wonderful then try Julian Graves Ltd shops. I often am surprised what you can still get. Food products out of fashion in this country but imported from where they are still staples.
 
Some of the Coop Stores still sell or rather have recently started selling 1lb of sugar,and large bags like a bag of flower. I was once told that Omo was discontinued because ladies would put it in the window when hubby went out as a signal,Old man out,,, urban myth probably.
 
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Parma Violets - lovely jubbly - are still available. I get them occasionally from Morrisons. Shortie
 
Hello All,
As you all know, Omo is no longer marketed by Unilever in the United Kingdom although it’s readily available in France, South Africa, Australia, Turkey and Brazil.
This is because Unilever is the owner of several key detergent brands throughout the world. The company has rights to the Persil brand in the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand and it prefers to use the name Persil to market its premium detergent products in these countries. However, its premium brand in most markets of the world is still Omo (launched in 1954). Surf is usually its secondary brand."
Wikipedia tells me that the brand Omo vanished from the shelves of Belgian stores too at the end of 2009. David
 
The bags of sugar i was talking about are probably not a 1lb,they probably are kilos, but they look like a 1lb
 
Bill, my head still works in pounds, shillings and pence, I can't even think in metric, never mind use it. It is confusing to mix the two, you don't ask for 567mls in the pub, I'll still be measuring in ft and inches til I snuff it!
 
Elizabeth,
Just last week, in Bury St.Edmunds I went to buy a bag of sugar,there were 1lb.bags but it was cane sugar,and much more expensive,so I opted for the British 2lb.bag of beet sugar...well the beet is grown locally,and the Silver Spoon factory is in the town...I always support local industry.:)
 
It is perfectly legal to sell things by the lb.the E.U.changed the rules...to late to save the man known as the metric martyr,who died from a heart attack,brought on by officials who made his life a misery,with court appearances,for breaking their pettyfogging rules.:(
 
The only thing I can remember about metric is "A litre of waters is a pint and threequarters", I can remember going to the outdoor during the war for a pint of ten
penny for my Dad. Oh! Happy Days Bernard
 
Hello Bernard hope you are well,the outdoor near my house when i was a child sold jugs of beer,Ray the Coop has 1lb and 2lb
bags of granulated sugar
 
A slightly different commodity, but do any of the guys remember Wlde World Magazine? It was a monthly illustrated real life adventure magazine for men - a sort of Boys Own, National Geographic, and Biggles all rolled into one. Here's a sample cover......


And if you go here https://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/wide.html you can read all about it.

My uncle subscribed to it and gave me his copy every month. It kept me enthralled for hours and I still have a copy packed away somewhere.

Maurice :cool:
 
Lets lower the tone of the thread....What about "Izal " brand toilet paper ?...you know the crinkly stuff. I hope I never ,ever set my eyes on a roll of that stuff ever again. Medicated or not it should never have been allowed.
 
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