The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Bakers’ vans offered value!
Our main picture today is a superb vintage shot from the heyday of the travelling bakers that’s been sent in by Angus resident George Mitchell.
As you can see, the Austin vehicle in the photo is branded with the logo of Nicoll and Smibert Ltd, which was a bakery and confectionery firm that operated luncheon and tearoom facilities in Dundee at 2 and 4 Nethergate.
The company also had numerous bakery shops across the city, including in Tay Street Lane, Union Street, Hilltown, Albert Street, Strathmartine Road, Lochee Road, Princes Street, Craigowan Road, St Giles Terrace, Blackness Road, Fintry Road, Whitfield Drive and Clepington Road, as well as in Broughty Ferry’s Brook Street and at Pierhead over the water in Newport-on-Tay.
Among the delicacies that were included among its famed specialities – provided on the premises and to people in their own homes via its travelling ‘shops’ – were Strathmore shortbread and royal wedding cake.
Its proprietors were Thomas D Smibert, who lived at Tullavin in Carnoustie, and Whitehall Street resident JS Nicoll.
Mr Mitchell, from Birkhill, remembers there was a connection between Nicoll and Smibert and the smaller Dundee bakery TD Duncan, which it eventually went on to absorb.
He writes: “A familiar sight in the ‘60s and ‘70s was the baker’s van. These vans were run by TD Duncan Bakers and covered Dundee and districts. This was before supermarkets or deep freezes, and people depended on their ‘baker’.
“Bread and six rolls were a 1/- (5p) each, while you’d get a dozen tea bread for 2/(10p). Oh, happy days!”
Another Craigie reader, Moira Symons, teslls us she thinks the prices charged for products sold by the delivery vans were roughly the same as those to be found in the Nicoll and Smibert shops.
She adds: “I believe TD Duncan had started in Benvie Road, before moving to larger premises in Cleghorn Street, and Mr
Duncan at some point joined the board of Nicoll and Smibert.”