Liverpool Wash House 1959

[launderess]

Did you ever?

 

[thomasortega]

Not for me, thanks...

 

[appnut]

Oh my!!!!

 

[washerlover]

Hi Launderess,

Thank you so much for sharing! Living the life of leisure in Liverpool?

 

[launderess]

No thank you Luv!

Just watching that film made one want to have a lie down! *LOL*

That or just a quiet sit down with a cup of tea.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Doing this in 2020, here I come...!

— Dave

 

[mrsalvo]

I wonder what soaps / detergents they used back then? Dolly tubs? I had never heard of them referred to that name.
Thanks for posting Laundress.

Barry

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kittys Launderette

One has to know the climate of the UK, Liverpool, and the era of post WW2" to understand that Kitty Wilkinson`s vison was nothing short of a Public Health miracle.

To be able to boil wash and sanitize your clothes, bedding n towels while your house was probably over run with vermin, in around 2 hours from wash to fold dry would be literally a lifesaver never mind the benefit of a communal meeting place, chat and local catch-up !!

And to think that era is only 2 years before I was born ha ha, and my nearest city (7 miles) so don't knock it !!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty`s Launderette

Fast Forward to current era and we have Kitty Wilkinsons Launderette and ethos brought back to life by community launderettes and local housing projects.

https://kittyslaunderette.org.uk/

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty Wilkinson`s Launderette

The old wash house has gone, (local slang is The BagWash) the steam wafting above the Dolly Tubs and chain smoking men operating industrial washing machines and hydro extractors (call Whizzors) ,
the latest in Professional Laundry care is provided by Miele and don't they look majestic in their colour and stature !!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty Wilkinson`s Launderette

Kittys vison brought back to life !!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty Wilkinson Launderette

Brought to film supporting Womens Causes by local community films.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty Wilkinson`s Vision

Come along for a cuppa, catch-up and wash n dry !!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty Wilkinson Launderette

Even catch up on work....

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty Wilkinson Launderette

And dry time !!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty Wilkinson Launderette

Now all we need is a space next door for a "Wesher Museum"...#Looking !!

 

[turquoisedude]

Wow! That was quite the chore still. Seeing the spin-dryer units will always remind me of the 'lauderettes' I remember from childhood visits to the UK. They were everywhere it seemed. Naturally, I was the first one in the family to find laundry machines...

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty Wilkinson`s Launderettes

Where was the first UK Launderette you visited Paul, I bet the place was full of pastel coloured machines or even Frigidaires ??

 

[turquoisedude]

Mike, it was most likely in Mansfield or Nottingham (where most of the rellies lived...and still live!). I remember they had front-load washers with a chute to add detergents, softener, etc - when I now use my '58 Bendix Duomatic I am reminded of them! I do remember seeing Frigidaire machines, but I can't remember where... possibly somewhere on the coast.

 

[frigilux]

I was born in 1959. In contrast to the Liverpool wash house, my parents had a 1956 (or thereabouts) Kenmore wringer washer and took clothes to the laundromat to dry them during the winter, when hanging outdoors wasn't an option. She also had a couple of those multi-tiered air drying racks in the house. And this was in the era of cloth diapers! No boiling for sanitation as in the wash house, but she used liquid chlorine bleach a lot.

Early in 1960, my dad bought the Kenmore Model 80 pair I grew up with. My mom, who used a public by-hand wash house in Italy before coming to the States after the war, was not convinced the automatic would clean as well as her wringer, so she'd wash in the wringer, then transfer the clothes to the automatic and select the Rinse & Spin cycle. No wonder the black lettering on that cycle button was the first to wear off. She had the automatic a good nine months before trusting it with the whole job.

Thanks for embedding the fascinating film, Launderess!

 

[launderess]

To be fair

One does own a posser in form of C.T. Childs "Rapidwasher"

https://www.readymaderesources.com/product/rapid-washer-aka-yukon-plunger-free-shipping/

https://www.lehmans.com/product/rapid-laundry-washer

And am here to tell you the thing is amazingly effective.

Don't quite go at it like women in film (though if one is ticked off about something it is a very effective way to work out anger while getting washing done....) , but the thing works though a tub of washing faster than anything else one knows.

Often if have a load of linens that don't want to wait ages to do in the Miele or AEG (too many for one load, or a small load that would cause out of balance issues), will just bung the lot into wash tub and get out the posser.

Five minutes washing, several rinses later the lot is bunged into spin dryer. Can get though six sheets and twelve pillow slips in under 45 minutes. That is everything washed, rinsed and on the clothes horse.

Back on topic; would love to see the goings on when say one wife noticed her husband's/bf's shirt, hanky or other article of clothing in some other woman's wash.

Phrase "it all comes out in the wash" derives from secrets told by dirty laundry. That and when things that ought not to be in someone's bundle, well are. *LOL*

I mean if you're a widow or single woman and a man's drawers or other article of clothing is in your wash.....

This or some housewife is sorting out her washing in public and her man's shirt has a lipstick mark that all the others recognize isn't her shade.

Another well known phrase comes out of all this; airing one's dirty linen in public.

 

[launderess]

@chestermikeuk

Thank you for all the wonderful snaps and information!

Are those Miele washers coin operated? Do they heat their own water? How reliable/long lived are they and do the washers and dryers hold up to hard laundromat use?

 

[launderess]

And now the other famous Kitty from "North" UK

*LOL*

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty Wilkinson`s Launderettes

Wow, Paul I didn't realise, Mansfields just round the corner from The Washroom lol...oh will have to have a jaunt around and see if the launderettes are still there !!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kitty Wilkinson`s Launderettes

Hi Eugene, have heard that story so many times of mums not trusting the "Automatic" over the wringer or handwash and when they find out just how easy it is later on,

Thankfully we have all that experience, and still the magical washers from our childhoods that we can keep going and using and loving them

 

[chestermikeuk]

Kittys Launderette

Good afternoon Launderess, yes one could imagine the reactions when said "Unmentionables" get caught up in ya folded items of laundry ha ha…

The Miele laundry appliances are the new products from the Miele Professional range like the Little Giants and are often seen in Launderamats throughout the UK and Europe.
In this instance they are not coin operated and you simply pay your tab at the till when finished, its a lovely homey operation !! These are electrically heated usually couple of heaters wired in to boost quick heating times !! (See Link)

https://www.miele.co.uk/professional/product-selection-commercial-washing-machines-451.htm#31

 

[supertwin59]

Old and new times.

Why oh why did I not sign into this site before. I can remember my mothers sister going to the launderette conveying the weeks wash behind her on a childs triange trolley. But when her husbands business took off it was the latest hoover keymatic and an affected Stanley Baxter in drag voice, I quote, "we can only afford luxuries these days not neccesities" haha and off to the butchers in the ford capri three litre ghia. SMUG COW!!!