Down Memory Lane On A Milk Float!

There's Spiderman... Batman... and...Milkman. Or Milkwoman! OK, we made the last ones up. But in recent months, those milk delivery people soon became the superheroes of the hour. And rightly so, we say!

Benny Hill sang about Ernie being the fastest milkman in the west; Open All Hour's Granville was smitten with the local milkwoman, and EastEnders Kat Slater often used to return home on a milk float after a boozy night out!

Who wouldn't want to ride around on a milk float with Dennis Rickman? (EastEnders)

But from being a regular fixture in British society, the trusty milkman (and woman!) and their float just seemed to vanish and no one gave them a second thought. This home-delivery milk service that started out using a horse and cart before graduating to battery-operated milk floats seemed to be consigned firmly to the file marked history. Or so we thought...

The milkwoman who floats Granville's er, float! (Open All Hours)

Childhood memories

Forget alarm clocks, you knew it was time to wake up when you heard the gentle humming of the milk float as it glided down your street. People might say that one of the main benefits of the milk float was the noise reduction - but we still managed to hear them! Not that we're complaining. Those who lived in the country may have had the dawn chorus, but the soft whirring of the milk float along with the clinking of milk bottles in the crate was our equivalent! And even now it seems like such a comforting sound. Probably the nostalgia talking!

Ask anyone who grew up in the seventies, eighties, and nineties, and they will all tell you that the sight of a milkman doing the rounds on his milk float was a very familiar one during their childhood years. And all those pints of milk delivered to them played a big role in their formative years. How else did they grow up to be so big and strong? Back then a lot of people preferred to use the services of their trusty milkperson to deliver milk to their door rather than nip out to the shops.

We all remember our parents asking the milkman to deliver several pints a week, and leaving the empty bottles on the doorstep for him to collect as well as handwritten notes to the milkman which would be rolled up and popped into one of the empties regarding new orders. This home delivery service was a huge help to elderly people and stay at home mums with very young children who perhaps couldn't pop down to the shops as often as they needed to.

But over the years, we have seen the role of the milkman steadily decline as more and more people chose to purchase milk for themselves while out shopping. However the recent pandemic has meant that milkmen and women have become a familiar sight once again as they bring milk and other grocery items to people who aren't able to go out, or don't want to queue up outside the supermarket as though they're waiting to get into a nightclub!

Open All Hours (YouTube)

What exactly is a milk float?

When the horse and cart was made redundant, milk floats were used instead to deliver milk in the 1950s: a vehicle specifically designed to deliver fresh milk, usually operated by local dairies, that were known for travelling slowly and quietly.

One of the features of the milk float is that it didn't have any sides, so you could see the crates of milk stacked up. The driver's cab either had sliding doors or no doors at all. And although milk floats usually had four wheels, three wheeler versions were also available in case the milkman wanted to come over all Del Trotter, with the three-wheel model usually being a smaller sized vehicle.

Were there a lot of milk floats about?

Well let's put it this way - for those of us who lived in the UK, seeing a milk man doing his rounds on a milk float was as common as hearing the chimes of an ice-cream van. Or as usual as hearing someone yacking away loudly on their mobile phone today!

So everyone used to have milk delivered to their door?

It was definitely a well-used service and lots of people up until about the mid-nineties had milk delivered to them. Think about it - how convenient was it to have fresh milk brought to your door, every morning, which saved you the hassle of having to go to the supermarket? Plus your milkman would take your empties away too.

Furthermore, a lot of milkmen didn't just deliver milk. They also brought cream, butter, eggs, bread and orange juice, so it was like a little grocery shop on wheels. All that was missing were the penny sweets!

If they were that good, why did people stop using the milk delivery service?

It wasn't the case that people had completely stopped having milk delivered to their door - in the UK at least. But as more and more supermarkets; small, independent grocery shops; petrol stations, and convenience stores started stocking up milk, many people chose to go out and purchase milk from these places rather than using a regular home delivery service - even though we live in an age where we're very convenience conscious. And with the advent of Sunday and certain stores being open twenty four hours a day, no one was ever really stuck for a pint of milk. Furthermore, the introduction of long life milk; adequate packaging and good refrigeration meant that it wasn't necessary for the milkman to have to deliver milk to your door every morning. There's also the possibility that food allergies and people's changing dietary habits played a role in the decline of the milk home-delivery service.

But perhaps the biggest reason for the decline of the milk home delivery service was cost, and the increase of cost-effective milk being sold at supermarkets. Dairies couldn't compete with the big-name supermarkets who were selling milk a lot cheaper. Customers soon realised it made more sense to nip out and collect a bottle of milk themselves if it meant they'd make a saving. And who doesn't like making a saving!

But the milkman and his float are now making a comeback. Is this due to the coronavirus pandemic?

We'll come onto Covid-19 in a mo but the truth is that even before the pandemic hit, there appeared to be a slight increase in doorstep deliveries; the cause attributed to environmental factors. It seems as though plastic wasn't so fantastic after all. Changes in consumer habits and lower-priced milk drove customers into the arms of the supermarkets and away from the milkman and his float! But it seems as though the milk isn't always creamier on the other side and concerns over the use of plastics in packaging both for the environment and our health has lead consumers who want their milk delivered in glass bottles to go back to placing orders with milk delivery companies.

And it's because of the environmental and ethical issues that there's a desire to go back to shopping 'how Mum used to:' shopping at small independent stores; purchasing freshly baked bread or fruit in brown bags; meat from the local butcher, veggies without the unnecessary packing etc. all in an effort to cut down on waste - even if that means spending a little more. And with regards to milk, it makes sense to many people to buy milk in reusable glass bottles which can be reused a possible twenty five times, rather than having the overflowing plastics recycling bin spilling over. So is it any wonder that the milkman and woman are making a comeback?

But the current pandemic has played a role in the increase in milk doorstep delivery, right?

Indeed it has! The outbreak of Covid-19 and people having to stay at home has meant that milkmen and women have been out in full force and are busier than ever as they try to keep up with this sudden and surprising demand for their services. There has been a rapid increase in customer numbers, and many dairies have urgently needed to recruit more milkmen and women to handle the extra workload as customers attempt to reduce their shopping trips to purchase essentials.

So do you think the milk deliverers are here to stay?

We certainly hope so! Milkmen and women all over the country have been doing an excellent job providing a lifeline to those unable to leave their homes due to the restrictions, and many customers have felt the benefits of having milk delivered to their home. Naturally the milk delivery companies are hoping that all the new customers they have acquired will remain. This is indeed a possibility as concerns over plastics will still be there even when the pandemic crisis is over.

Catching up with Modern Times

There was a time, you'd have to wait in for the milkman; pay in cash only; leave rolled-up notes in one of the 'empties'... but milk delivery companies are aware of the different ways we live today, and have adapted over the years. Online orders and card payments have pretty much done away with rolled-up notes and hunting around for loose change before the milk float arrives! In the seventies and eighties, milk deliverers used to deliver milk early in the morning but now they're delivering even earlier with deliveries starting from midnight onwards which is ideal for those who are leaving/returning home in the early hours. And many companies have included tons more items to their list of grocery products, including fresh produce, pastries and the all important bog roll!

Those iconic milk bottles with the foil lid top. So reminiscent of our childhoods. (Pixabay)

So the future's looking good for milk delivers then?

It looks promising but at this stage it's hard to tell. Sure there's a chance that those who have been using the milk delivery services during the pandemic will continue to do so. But according to the Dairy UK website, only 3% of the UK's fresh milk is delivered to people's houses which is pretty low when you consider what the population of the UK is. It will definitely take more than nostalgia to float people's milk floats, but now that a lot of people have experienced the benefits and practicalities of using milk home-delivery services, there should hopefully be a greater influx of customers, and the whirring of the milk float will be a familiar sound once again.

Photos: YouTube and Pixabay

GIFs: Wix

Word cloud: Angel Noire