As Southport’s Food & Drink Festival takes over Victoria Park this weekend, we are diving into some delicious history by exploring a few fascinating food-related items from our museum collection. These objects reveal how people in the past prepared, served, and enjoyed their food, and how hygiene and innovation shaped the way we eat today.
🍦 The Glass Penny Lick
Before the waffle cone, there was the penny lick, a small, thick glass used by street vendors to serve ice cream for just one penny. Customers would lick the glass clean (hence the name) and return it to be reused for the next person. As you can imagine, this wasn’t the most sanitary practice. The shared glasses contributed to the spread of diseases like typhoid and cholera, and by the early 20th century, penny licks were banned in many cities. Thankfully, the edible waffle cone came along as a tastier, and much cleaner, alternative!
🍾 J. Hamer Southport Ginger Beer Bottle
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, drinks like ginger beer were often stored in heavy stoneware bottles like this one from J. Hamer of Southport. These sturdy bottles were durable and kept drinks cool, but there was one big drawback: you couldn’t see inside them. While that was once considered an advantage (helping to hide unsightly sediment), public concern over hygiene grew. By the 1920s, stoneware bottles were largely replaced by mass-produced glass bottles, which were more transparent, literally and figuratively, when it came to cleanliness.
🍮 Brown & Polson’s Cornflour Blancmange Mould
This beautifully decorated ceramic mould from the early 20th century was made for a classic British dessert: blancmange. Brown & Polson, a leading starch and cornflour producer since the 1860s, included a detailed recipe printed right on the side of the mould. Blancmange is a smooth, set dessert made with milk and cornflour, often served cold and shaped in an ornate mould, similar to jelly or panna cotta. With their Royal Warrant and innovative products, Brown & Polson helped define Victorian and Edwardian dessert culture.
🦐 Albert Wright’s Wholesale Shrimp Merchants
Shrimping has been part of Southport’s heritage since the 18th century, with the town becoming especially known for its potted shrimp. Cooked and sealed under spiced brown butter, these shrimp were preserved in ceramic pots and became a popular delicacy across the UK. The trade provided steady work for many local families. This photograph, taken during the First World War, shows workers at Albert Wright’s Wholesale Shrimp Merchants, 24 Marshside Road, Southport. It offers a glimpse into the people and industry that helped shape Southport’s culinary and economic history.
Whether you’re sampling modern street food or reminiscing about culinary traditions from the past, we hope these artefacts add a historical flavour to your festival weekend!
