Are there any good folks with long memories who can remember who had the business delivering to Blaisdon around this time?

There was a topic on the Chaxhill Bakery back in August, but I do not know when this bakery ceased business. There is mention of a Westbury on Severn Bakery in the replies - I think this was still going then. I also think there was a bakery in Newnham delivering to surrounding areas.

As an aside I am wondering how these businesses maintained their customer bases. Was it all on gentleman's agreements where one did not tread on anothers' area or was it through trade membership. Perhaps along the lines of joining a trade body and a term to be signed up to is to not take business from a fellow member? Perhaps prices were also set like this?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi Hawkyboy

I would imagine it was the same way that Milk Rounds operated (and still do). You take your customers where you can find them! I was doing a milk round in 1971-2 and there were several other Dairies operating on the same patch. Occasionally we would buy milk off each other if we were running a bit low on stock!

Regards
ChrisW

The buying of stock off each other I can understand, but the trading was different. Nobody would travel onto another's territory and nobody would poach customers. Consequently on a road the left hand side belonged to one baker and the right hand side to another. At the end of the road there was an agreement on which direction each baker turned. So if you were Mrs Smith living on the left hand side and you wished to transfer your business to the baker serving the right hand side this was likely to be declined.

However I welcome opinions on this. Also to widen the scope, and possible responses, I should open up the title to "Who Was the Delivery Man on the Blaisdon Round at any Time up to 1947"! Perhaps some names will come forward on this?

Many thanks to all in advance.

Hi Hawkyboy,
I'm more than happy for this forum to prove me wrong, but I wonder if a "general" query such as yours might be best answered by your writing an open letter to the local newspapers asking their readership ?.
Have you tried the old phone books on Ancestry etc, I guess they'd include some if not most of the local bakeries. Similarly the BNA site searching out adverts in the Citizen etc, the BNA main website carries articles covering your 1940s/50s period (altho I think their associated sites such as FindMyPast do not cover such recent times).

J

(UPDATE: Hi again, I've just found (but not yet read) your similar thread from a few months ago about Longhope bakeries - so apologies if I've repeated what may have been suggested then. Perhaps the aforementioned letter could include reference to Longhope as well as nearby Blaisdon, for completeness.