Greenbridge Ltd Canteen Tokens

[JohnI]

The tokens below link to Amit's interesting articles on Indian mill tokens.

In 1909 J. and J. Trickett took over the closed cotton mill at Geenbridge, Cowperoad, Waterfoot. They were a slipper manufacturing company, part of the movement towards slipper and shoe manufacture from cotton that had started about 1875. This movement was driven by the cotton industry in Lancashire struggling to compete with overseas competition. At it's peak the shoe and slipper industry employed about 60,000 people in the area.

J. and J. Trickett's company was known as Greenbridge Ltd. when they moved to Hall Carr Mill in Rawtenstall, Rossendale in 1939. Hall Carr mill had been a wool carding mill opened around 1830 that by the 1840s was a cotton mill. When Hall Carr mill had closed in 1936 as a cotton mill it had 960 looms operated by 500 employees. The mill is now known as Greenbridge mill. By 1979 it was owned by Lambert Howarth & Sons, a shoe and slipper manufacturer. In 2021 the mill was renovated by WeBuyBooks, an online book reseller who, like Greenbridge, was moving from Waterfoot. This company employed 170 people in 2021.

An old building that has evolved how it has been used and is still active.

The tokens are similar in style to the British Restaurants tokens, which would date their use to around 1940 to 1960. The M probably stands for Main, S for soup or sweet and R for refreshment.

Regards;



John

 

[Figleaf]

Excellent fun series that indeed ties in very nicely with Amit's series of Indian textile tokens. TFP.

These are plastic tokens, I suppose. They remind me of post-war (but possibly pre-war), pre-decimalisation UK bus/tram tokens, so perhaps 1945-1969? More on the building here.

Peter