Nuts and Whippy


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Who remembers the hot roast peanuts that Woolies sold?

The lady server wore a white hat and overall with the letter W embroided in red and she used a little metal scoop to transfer the warm nuts from a glass case. The white bag she put them in became transparent with the oil from the nuts.

Think there were other nuts available too

Near the entrance was an ice cream machine that dispensed soft whippy. This was well before Mr Whippy vans. In front of the machine was a fat tubular chrome barrier that you stood behind whilst being served. Don't think 99s had been thought of then.

Another memory is the beautiful wooden floor boards.

This would have been ca 1956/7

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#1

 

I remember their biscuit counter! Tins of biscuits lined with white corrugated paper and inclined at a 45 degree angle. Caramel coated shortbread, fig biscuits, chocolate digestive! Yummy! I was just about level with the wooden counter below the glass insert in those days. Mum always bought a bag of caramel coated ones.

 

My ambition was to work on Woolworths biscuit counter but they got rid of it before I left school!  :(

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Yes, Cliff Ton's pic shows the original store which had wooden floors. When it was extended the other side of the Sawyers during the sixties, the floors were all tiled. The hot nuts were before my time but the Carpigiani soft ice cream machines and chrome barriers were there when I worked there early '70s. Woolies were fairly quick off the mark with soft ice cream as early as '56/57, it was still relatively new in the US at that time.

 

Much of Woolies UK products and strategy followed on from what was working in their US stores.

 

The following site has loads of fascinating info.......

 

http://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/

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Great link TBI

There's a reference to freshly roasted peanuts on that site but I've not found any pictures yet.

I've just remembered another Woolies innovation. The store on Radford Rd Hyson Green were selling soft white bread rolls in the early 60s that were actually called "Softies"

They were very popular because most bread rolls at the time were crusty and quite hard.

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#8

 

What a fantastic site, TBI! There's even a photo of the biscuit counter with all those tins and white paper bags! It's like a trip back to childhood. Can almost smell those yummy biscuits. Ilb of caramel-coated shortbreads, please!  :rolleyes:

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re #8 TBI, thank you for the Woolworths link. I have just started working my way through it. Brilliant, so much interesting info. I have just finished the war years section and 1950s. As CliffTon says, it will keep us amused for quite a while.

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The thing I remember about the old Woolworths store was around 1950 my pal Dave Ashton and me used to stand by the big weighing machine just inside the entrance. The machine used to print your weight on one side of a stiff card, the other had a picture of a railway engine - part of a set. All was well until one day a floor-walker came along and said 'are you cadging tickets - clear off!' We never did get the set.

 

Outside was the Walter Fountain, with its metal cup on a chain to drink from. The photo on another thread shows the island that replaced the fountain.

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#8 The Woolworth's site is excellent. Thanks TBI Lots of memories of shopping at the counters with the glass edges around the front and the wooden floors. Good photos of the cafe. My mum did not like Woolworth's cafe. She said they poured the tea by just going along the line of cups with the tea pot!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 26/01/2017 at 7:38 PM, Cliff Ton said:

 

I believe it was officially classed as being on Lister Gate, which looked like this before Broad Marsh Centre ruined everything.

woolworth2_zpsebnczdiq.jpg

 

 

And there was C&A on the opposite side, with Burtons the Tailors between there and M&S.
Woolworths had its own special smell, didn't it?
I assume all those overhead wires were for trolley buses?
Imagine trying to park your car down there nowadays! :)

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On 27/01/2017 at 10:37 AM, Chulla said:

The thing I remember about the old Woolworths store was around 1950 my pal Dave Ashton and me used to stand by the big weighing machine just inside the entrance. The machine used to print your weight on one side of a stiff card, the other had a picture of a railway engine - part of a set. All was well until one day a floor-walker came along and said 'are you cadging tickets - clear off!' We never did get the set.

The big red weighing machine was there during my time. My first job was a floor-walker, telling kids to clear off was a constant, a lot of the little boggers would be on the nick.

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/27/2017 at 5:31 PM, BilboroughShirley said:

#8 The Woolworth's site is excellent. Thanks TBI Lots of memories of shopping at the counters with the glass edges around the front and the wooden floors. Good photos of the cafe. My mum did not like Woolworth's cafe. She said they poured the tea by just going along the line of cups with the tea pot!

Mrs C22s jumped when I read this one to her as she remembers it well.   Her mum used to promise her a plate of chips if she'd go shopping with her in Woolworths. Meadows girl, Mrs C22s. 

 

Thinking on, the women in Gedling canteen poured tea the same way.  When we were on afternoons, wed go to the pit to get our pay packets, taking any young pre school  children for a cream cake.  Our Michael was mesmerised by the tea pouring, and wanted to do it at home.

 

TBI above  says the little boggers  would be on the nick.  Yes, that's true, some of the poorest were, and those sloping shelves helped you to download stuff into your pockets. Airfix model kits had a liberated price tag of sixpence. We didn't know at time we were entrepreneurs!  Just making a living so we could get a bottle of dandelion and burdoch.

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