A job with fizz – happy memories of the ‘pop men’
GENERATIONS of people who grew up in Macclesfield will remember the familiar sight of the ‘pop man’ - or ‘mineral man’ - rattling down the street with a wagon full of bottles.
Lorries making weekly deliveries of lemonade, cola, cream soda, dandelion and burdock, and pineappleade were once common in many parts of Britain, especially in the north of England.
In Greater Manchester, drinks companies like Alpine and Corona made deliveries, but others also remember FullSwing and AA.
And while ‘pop’ being delivered straight to your door has mostly disappeared - much like deliveries from the milk man - the industry gave many young men their first taste of work, and even a trade that would continue through their lives.
We’ve since spoken to two former ‘pop men’ who worked during the 1980s and ‘90s, who shared their experiences of what it was like working on those wagons.
Dave Schofield, 57, started off in the pop trade as a ‘van lad’ in 1983 just after he left school. Dave, who started at Alpine, said everybody joined as the company ‘gave you free driving lessons’.
He eventually went on to be a driver and later a supervisor for the company delivering pop across the Maccelsfield borough.
Despite working on a milk round when he was younger, Dave said he found his first taste of working on the ‘pop’ vans to be a ‘big shock to the system’.
“At the time it was very hard work and it wouldn’t be allowed these days either because of health and safety. You’d be out in all kinds of weather and you’d be absolutely wet through, and you’d just have to carry on.
“You do a 12-hour day, you’d get home at 10 at night and you’d be back in next day at
●●The ‘pop men’ were always a welcome sight eight. And you’d been running all day. Everybody was so fit,” Dave said.
Working out of the depot on Greg Street in Reddish, Dave’s patch included Macclesfield, Stockport, south Manchester and Oldham. Each delivery meant taking money from the household, with their takings and stock checked back at the depot after each day.
Dave said: “If your money was short you and the driver had to pay it. You had to make sure your money was more-orless spot on, because they made you pay.
“But we were like a band of brothers. We all worked hard and we played hard.”
However, even when they played things could get rough.
Dave recalled nights out with fellow ‘pop men’- and games of football against other depots - ending up in ‘mad fights’.
Dave said there was also a rivalry between companies, recalling incidents between Alpine ‘pop men’ and their rivals. Regarding these ‘pop wars’, Dave said: “We had a big rivalry with another firm in Liverpool. They tried nicking our business so we blocked them in the closes [with their vans] and stuff. It was absolute madness, it was.”
Working as a ‘pop man’ for six years until 1989, Dave said: “It went from being very busy to hardly selling anything. As people became more health conscious of the E-numbers and sugars.”
He later worked in retail and for a long time as a bus driver. These days he still continues to drive for a living, delivering medicines to care homes.
Another former pop man is Andrew Barlow, 57, from Salford. Like Dave, Andrew started as a ‘van lad’ just after he left school.
He also worked for Alpine but started off delivering in Merseyside before his patch changed to Greater Manchester, covering Whalley Range, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Moss Side. It was a job he enjoyed and remembers with great fondness.
“It was brilliant. You’re out there and on your own, but you’re your own boss. You’re talking to people all the time and you get to know them. In the summertime they’d be at the door waiting for you,” Andrew said.
He also remembered which flavours of ‘pop’ were the most popular on his rounds. “Dandelion and burdock, Coke, lemonade - they were your main three,” he said.
“Orange was a bit further down the line, and then you had your cream soda. One of my favourites was the grapefruit [flavour]. I used to love a bottle of grapefruit a day in summer.”
Andrew said some of his favourite memories of the job were just meeting and talking to people. Often he said he would get invited in ‘for a brew’, especially by older customers.
However, the job wasn’t without its hazards. “The worst one, I’ll never forget it,” Andrew said.
“I knocked on the door and I heard a dog barking. The next thing the door opens and there’s a big Alsatian there and a kid’s got it on a lead. The kid could have only been about five years old.
“I said to her, ‘You won’t let that dog go will you?’ And she went, ‘No, no, no’. So as I turned towards my van and walked out the garden I felt it on my backside. I looked around and the kid’s on the floor - she’s still got hold of the lead. It had dragged her down the garden.
“Lucky enough, I had my work pants on which were quite baggy. It had took a chunk out of my pants but lucky enough my bum was alright.”
Another hazard was kids stealing bottles of pop off the lorries.
“All the time, climbing up on to the back. That was one of the worst, just when you were driving off and kids were hanging on the back of the thing,” Andrew said.
After leaving the ‘pop’ game, Andrew continued to work as a driver until 10 years ago, when he was forced to give it up after suffering a stroke. But it’s a job he remembers with great fondness, adding: “It was the biggest part of my life.”