
The Big Scoop - YeGoblynQueenne
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/jul/09/the-big-scoop-what-a-day-with-an-ice-cream-man-taught-me-about-modern-britain
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mothsonasloth
In Glasgow around the 1980's there was a series of gang battles, the fights
were over the control of Ice cream vans and their distribution areas. It was
known as the Ice Cream wars, it nearly killed off the Ice Cream van (there's
still a few about in summer).

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars?wprov...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars?wprov=sfla1)

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Gravityloss
That's incredible. There's a movie or computer game there.

~~~
arethuza
Bill Forsyth's 1984 movie 'Comfort and Joy' is a comedy very loosely based on
the Ice Cream Wars:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_and_Joy_(1984_film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_and_Joy_\(1984_film\))

NB I'd recommend his earlier movie "That Sinking Feeling" \- at least if you
like Glaswegian crime-based comedies...

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MagnumOpus
> “Since Brexit, people have less money, and less confidence in spending
> money. They haven’t got the money in their pockets they had a few years
> ago.” (Eastbourne voted to leave the EU.)

England in a nutshell.

~~~
Hitton
Most likely it's just complaining of old grumpy ice cream man in dying trade,
I don't think there is any significant impact of Brexit in that area yet.

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petercooper
_Although Roach’s products are keenly priced – £2 for a small cone with flake,
up to £3 for a large_

Our local ice cream van is ridiculously cheap: 50p for a kid's cone, £1 for a
normal ice cream. But the local rumours are that he makes his real money with
"side ventures" from the same van (if you've played GTA Vice City you'll get
the idea).

~~~
Sodaware
Is that a common rumour for ice cream vans? I remember growing up there were
the same things said about our local one.

~~~
alexgmcm
It can be more than just a rumour:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars)

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coffeedoughnuts
ice cream vans (and hand car washes) carry modern slavery risks in the UK -
this company still have an ice cream van parked every day next to the park
near my house: [https://thebristolcable.org/2019/05/ice-cream-boss-
lopresti-...](https://thebristolcable.org/2019/05/ice-cream-boss-lopresti-is-
slavery-risk-and-banned-from-business-following-cable-expose/)

Personally, I dislike them as they specifically target play parks, school
gates and areas where children gather frequently, and often they leave their
diesel motor running constantly next to these areas. I understand that they
carry a sense of warm nostalgia for some (particularly the generation prior to
my own, who grew up when ice cream vans were popular), but I see no sense in
them myself.

~~~
lovemenot
>> I see no sense in them myself

Cool. Don't use them.

>> often they leave their diesel motor running

Seems a genuine concern. I suggest you voice your concerns to the operator
whenever it happens. Escalate to authorities if it becomes a serious problem.

>> ice cream vans (and hand car washes) carry modern slavery risks in the UK

Not cool. Please don't denigrate an entire class of something you dislike
using FUD. Even if it's true occasionally, it's certainly not true in general.

~~~
coffeedoughnuts
I didn’t say all ice cream vans or hand car washes are run by slaves.

I said that they carry modern slavery risks in our country at the moment.
There is plenty of data to support the claim that hand car wash businesses
carry this risk; there was recently an initiative to help identify known
problem businesses with an app: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
england-47829016](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47829016)

I recently found out that the ice cream van near us that I have used before is
part of a network of vans all around my city that has been linked to modern
slavery. It’s not an isolated incident in my part of the country.

I don’t think my statement in regard to the modern slavery risks denigrated
the ice cream van industry. If I said ‘don’t use ice cream vans because they
are all run by slave masters’ then I would have been tarring the whole
industry with the same brush. But I didn’t say that.

~~~
simonebrunozzi
What does it mean to "Carry modern slavery risks"? Do you mean "they employ
slaves, e.g. the owner took their passports and controls them like slaves?"

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vageli
> What does it mean to "Carry modern slavery risks"? Do you mean "they employ
> slaves, e.g. the owner took their passports and controls them like slaves?"

Human trafficking is a real thing. Coffeedoughnuts provided a link with a news
story about an app that has been used to report businesses suspected of
engaging in that industry.

~~~
lovemenot
Having the means to be reported and actually doing the crime are not causally
related.

My proximity to your smoke machine does not prove that I am on fire.

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YeGoblynQueenne
>> At the Kingsmere estate, we sell three ice-creams and a slush puppy to
51-year-old reiki master Russell Dobson. “When they hear the noise,” Dobson
says, gesturing to his son, “you tell them: ‘There’s none left.’” “You can’t
do that!” Roach exclaims. “That’s what everyone tells them,” Dobson says. “Did
you not know that?” (Later, at a playground, a girl of about five or six runs
up to the van and asks if we’ve sold out. When Roach shakes his head, she
looks confused, then enraged.)

I'd call that a man-in-the-middle attack. Is that too much abuse of
terminology?

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taneq
Ice cream vans are one of the many small business ideas that make me say "how
on earth is that viable" and simultaneously "you're charging WHAT?!"

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zimpenfish
> "how on earth is that viable"

Visit a London park on a hot day and the queue for ice cream vans is amazing.
Even though people could probably walk for <5 minutes and get something from a
shop cheaper.

> "you're charging WHAT?!"

Yeah, last time I looked at one (couple of weeks ago), it was getting on for a
50% premium over the local corner shop (<5 minutes from the van!) which is
_already_ a 50% premium over a supermarket.

~~~
frutiger
Soft serve ice cream is decidedly different to the regular ice cream you are
likely to find in a shop.

