• 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

R. White & Sons Western Road, Brookfields

If it is the same R .whites company im thinking of. It was near Dudley road hospital, which use to have R. whites pop. My dad and grandad worked at the company.
 
hi guys
i never worked therebut i used to pass it day and night coming up
through brookfields as some of my friends all lived down on western rd
white,s used to be facing the old summerfield hospital as it was known then
it was part of the old dudley rd hospital many years ago , crazy because they
now call it the city hospital , [why heavens knows ] it will always be called dudley rd for me ,simply for two reasons i spent most of my growing up
all around the dudley rd and winson green, and secondly i was born there
i have previously stated along time ago about my aunty maud smart
whom was from white house st aston and when she got married she spent all her life at the church hall in lodge rd by kent st north and devonshire st hockley
when i was a little kid on the bus one day going back home with her
she pointed to an big house on gerrard st hockley by farm st
she pointed and said thats where your grt grandad had formulated a formala
for lemonade in the garden shed at the rear and he had sold this formala for lemonade to mr whites i have found out on this forum about my grand ma ,s
back ground and apparentl y she had been married three times
the first time she was married to a gentleman called jennings
whom apparently was a soda water manufactuor so i presume she was speaking of him this aunt whom was my dads sister was not the natual sister because my father was from her third husband so he my father was an half brother in my calculations
grown ups inthem kept every thinksecret from there kids
so if thats the case it was jenning whom formulated the soda water to lemonade and not mr white but as she has said he sold the remedy to him making the
soda water advance to lemon fizzy he had every right to call it whites
lemonda -- personally i think its the best lemonade on the market
any way i think that western rd was only a storage depoy for them
to pick up and return empty bottles because when i left school i went to
work at the birmingham bottle exchange which was at the bottom of st michaels hill
handsworth with uncle bill smart and his brother ted
and we would go and pick up crates from all dairyies , and breweries and
from r whites western rd i never ever seen pop production inside
but the rd was always full with there lorries tryingto get into the depot
and fill up with the grates of pop
best wishes astonian ;;
 
brown said:
If it is the same R .whites company im thinking of. It was near Dudley road hospital, which use to have R. whites pop. My dad and grandad worked at the company.
Click to expand...

Hi

I remember Fred Brown who was a roundsman when I was there in the
late 1960s and early 70's. He was a fairly short chap (like me!) and wore
dark rimmed glasses. Always cheerful and ready with a joke. I wonder if
he was your relative?

Kind regards

Dave
 
Alf said:
Have you looked here Dave
https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2762&highlight=R.White
Click to expand...


Hi Alf and Astonian,

I have indeed looked at that thread, and some time ago left a bit of info on there regarding the set up when I was there in the 60's and 70's.

I think if Mr Jennings passed on his recipe to anyone, it would have
probably been a local company rather than R Whites as it started
life in London, and counting the generations mentioned, Mr Jennings would not have been far enough back, bearing in mind that R Whites started in 1845. I agree it used to be the best lemonade around,
but I believe the recipe is now different, and they no longer use sugar,
but various artificial sweeteners. They also used to use an artesian
well for their water (it's not called Spring Hill for nothing!), but this got polluted in the late 1960's, and they went over to mains water.

There was indeed a factory at Western Road, producing 26oz, 10oz, and 7oz minerals, -the various other drinks such as squashes and fruit juices coming from London

Kind regards

Dave
 
Yes that's right, along with Rawlings, who were already owned by R. White. Did you work for the B'ham R. White?
The idea with syphons is they are a 'sealed' container and the heads and spout are cleaned before re filling, but I see your point. Yes they do sometimes explode when filling if the glass has a fracture from use. When they are new, or reconditioned, they are tested to twice the normal working pressure. The old swing stoppers were a good idea, everything was sterilised and re used. No waste.
 
prawntrawl said:
Yes that's right, along with Rawlings, who were already owned by R. White. Did you work for the B'ham R. White?
The idea with syphons is they are a 'sealed' container and the heads and spout are cleaned before re filling, but I see your point. Yes they do sometimes explode when filling if the glass has a fracture from use. When they are new, or reconditioned, they are tested to twice the normal working pressure. The old swing stoppers were a good idea, everything was sterilised and re used. No waste.
Click to expand...

Hi Prawntrawl,

H.D. Rawlings was the trademark used on the Fruit Juices and Squashes,
and Stowells of Chelsea for the Fruit Wines which were sold from the
Birmingham branch but were shipped in from Albany Road Camberwell.
There were cheaper (and nastier) Orange and Lemon squashes which were
sold as R. White's Orange / Lemon Drink. I agree that the syphons
were sealed and therefore should not have required internal cleaning, but
I do not remember any external cleaning either. Perhaps the spray as the
filler connected/ dfisconnected to the spout was considered enough! I worked for R. White's Birmingham from 1967 - 1973.

Kind regards

Dave
 
Hi Dave, that's interesting. I wondered what happened to Stowells. So they ended up in the R. Whites group. There should be a pic coming up soon (going through admin) That will bring back memories.
Mark.
 
Hi Stitcher,

That advert goes back way before I was there. I think
the four figure phone number with no prefix must be the clue!
Although I've got an awful memory, I can still remember the phone
number from the 1960's. It was (021) 554-3378. Strange how
small (and now irrelevant) details stick in your mind when you
forget what happened yesterday!.

Kind regards

Dave
 
I know exactly what you mean Dave, I can remember the reg No of an old lorry I used to drive 52 years ago.
 
Hi TopsyTurvey,

This is a great picture, taken shortly before the acquisition
of W. Lant of Bond Street Coventry who had a branch at
St James Mill Road Northampton. The two W. Lant
Branches, and Western Road were renamed in 1964 as
R. White Lant, Ltd.

Interestingly the picture, although showing part of the
premises, does not show the factory side which was to the
right of the gateway, which starts at the right hand side of
the picture. I’m not sure that the 2 doorways in the picture
gave any access to the ground floor with the reeded windows,
as this area almost to the back of the premises had been used
as stabling, and subsequently as garaging for the delivery lorries.
The upper floor of the first bay shown was totally disused
during the time I was there between 1966 and 1973, and the
2 doors shown were never opened. The upper floor of the next
bay was used as offices during this time.

I would very much like to see any other pics of R. White’s
from around this time that anyone may have

Kind regards

Dave
 
hi dave ;
on the subject of mr jennings as i have stated its my calulation ;of my work out of whom my grand father was at that time ; and given my age at the time i was told by my auntie maud smart whom died years ago so i cannot go back to her on that if i was correct that it was my fathers side or my mothers side ; i took it upon myself to work out it was my fathers side whom is mother was married before to a jennings when he was a nipper ; and this jennings was a soda water manufact;
and this would be inthe 1800s ;and it was gerrard st or the bottom end wouyld have been nursary rd ; hockley end
and when sitting on that number eight bus when i was a little nipper she turned me to the house out side that partiucular house and pointed she said see that house your grand father made a lemonade fomular and sold it to mr whites of lemode and on passig the next siteing was ama street and said see that little red fire box with the steamed up windows thats your grand dads brother shop which was the tea room [ cafe ] i never forgot what she told me for all these years of my life ;
now as my other grand dad s family orinate from london ; may be its them ; and yes we are talking in the 1800s ; when this formular was made ;
but goung through old records he was a soda water manufact; and the son was a soda water worker ;as well / and to me it makes sense that jenning was the man ; he also had a bussiness in parliment stret aston ; a carrige making bussiness as welll ;and hiring ; i beleive ; yes it would have been in the 1800s
years later my grand mother married my dad whom is not a jenning ; and so her name changed in the 19900s i presume ;
and yes it would have been london if if was recorded or what ever happenend but rest assured my auntie did not dream she was very factual in life
and she new all about the jelfs whom she worked for when she was younng she was from white house street aston ;
as i have said as she said he sold the formular what ever it was if a recipie or whatto a mr white ; so i presume he had to be the senior or senior of the whites family and yes it would have beenin thre 1800s and yes it would have been mor advanced from tjhe 1800s to the 1900s when may be the sibbling of whites grew up and tok on there grand fathers bussiness ;; have a good day ; best wishes astonian
 
Hi Astonian,

I think the only thing that we can be certain about R. White's origin
is that they started in the 1840's in east London, with Robert and
Mary White. The source of the recipe used then does not appear to
be documented, and most probably changed many times in the life
of the company. The lemonade they produce today doesn't taste
to me anything like it did in the 1960's, and certainly they don't use
sugar as a sweetener today as they did then.

Mind you, which of us had the same taste buds as we did in the 1960's!!

Kind regards

Dave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top