According to an internet search these are boys or men who sell goods – especially fruit or vegetables – from a barrow; a costermonger
Must have been a very physically, demanding job. The description doesn’t indicate that these boys and men would have pulled their items for sale some way, from warehouses, wholesale markets, before they could even set up for the day.
Their barrows certainly added colour and vibrancy to the Bull Ring. I expect there are still some around present-day outdoor markets, but not in the numbers of the past. Fortunately Phyllis Nicklin captured many at work in the Bull Ring in 1959, just before it was redeveloped.
Viv
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Must have been a very physically, demanding job. The description doesn’t indicate that these boys and men would have pulled their items for sale some way, from warehouses, wholesale markets, before they could even set up for the day.
Their barrows certainly added colour and vibrancy to the Bull Ring. I expect there are still some around present-day outdoor markets, but not in the numbers of the past. Fortunately Phyllis Nicklin captured many at work in the Bull Ring in 1959, just before it was redeveloped.
Viv
Source: British Newspaper Archive