Taking street trading to the next level (From Bucks Free Press)

Taking street trading to the next level

7:46pm Tuesday 24th April 2012 in Your Say By ivor

As usual last Saturday I had my well deserved long lay in bed.

I was woken from my slumber by the chimes of the local neighbourhood ice cream van which has effectively become my alarm clock at the weekends.

Normally the van pauses for a few moments before driving off but last Saturday it stayed stationary outside the Hall for quite some time.

I was feeling rather hungry so rather than going through all the palaver of getting my own breakfast yours truly decided to take advantage of the ice cream man and I nipped out to buy four cornets each with a flake in them for my breakfast.

Sitting in my dining room tucking into my meal of ice cream I thought to myself how handy it was having my breakfast prepared for me indeed it was a real luxury.

In years gone by, when life was better, street traders used to be common place but over the years their presence has declined and now we are just left with the ice cream vans, rag and bone man and the milkmen still performing their rounds.

I wonder how many people remember when the muffin man used to come around selling hot muffins?

There must be a market for home deliveries because arriving home every evening I find my letterbox inundated with leaflets from local take always and restaurants.

Rather than blanket distribution of leaflets to people who don't even want them maybe the takeaways could start mobile vans to travel the streets in a similar manner to the ice cream vans?

When you think about it there are lot so foods that could be sold hot from mobile vans such as hot sausage rolls, hot dogs, burgers, cakes, bread and pastries.

Everyday items such as tinned goods, groceries and vegetables could also be sold in a similar way indeed it would save us from having to go to the shops every week.

From reading an article that appeared on the news section of this site last Thursday I understand a restaurant in Wycombe is giving away free 72oz steaks with accompanying side dishes providing the customer can eat it all.

Being obese I am used to eating large amounts of food and a 72oz steak is a mere snack to me. Maybe they could start sending their steaks out in mobile vans in which case I would place a regular order which would provide me with a source of free meals.

Of course the mobile traders would have to be regulated to ensure the streets were not flooded but it would certainly be a useful service for the people of Wycombe and the powers that be could probably generate a lot of income granting the street trading licences.

I wonder how many more people would like to be able to buy food from mobile convenience stores?

What do you think?

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here