Rag and Bone Man

[Humph Warden Bennett]

Who else remembers these driving along the street (although ours shouted "Old Iron")

[floo]

We did not have rag and bone men in my home island. I used to enjoy 'Steptoe and Son', it was quite amusing.

[Shaker]

I remember! And in my area even today from time to time you see a scrap van come round - people leave old appliances etc. outside the front of their properties for them to collect. They don't do the shout, though 

[Walter]

Who else remembers these driving along the street (although ours shouted "Old Iron")

I most certainly do, I always made sure I had something to give him in exchange for a balloon or a sweets
My mother wasn't too keen on the idea though!

[Anchorman]

Remember them well!
Mind you, even in the mid '7os, horse drawn fruiterers and fishmongers were to be seen on localstreets.
I can recall Johniie 'Dytes' Young, a war veteran with a wooden leg, who drove his horse and cart collecting rags.
Dytes was well known foe imbibing....his horse stopped at every hostelry; whether Dytes was aleep or not...and he was freqently dozing - no mean feat when my town had a major road carrying articulated lorries, buses and speeding motorists by the dozen.

[Robbie]

When I lived at our previous house, the one before that & when I was a kid, a rag and bone man drove around once a week on a Thursday in his horse drawn cart. He rang a bell (when I was young it made me think of "bring out your dead"). Later on I was usually at work but saw him when I had a day off. Then he stopped coming.

People who collect scrap, junk, old chairs etc. often take stuff from skips!

We have a wonderful Rag 'n' Bone man now though:-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3wKzyIN1yk