Shops

BOSTON. J.H. Small, Market Place. "Killingworth and Dunn .. will sell by auction, by direction of Messrs. J.H. Small and Son .. 21 counters, .. the Rebesi Automatic Cash Carrier with fittings, the Cash Railway System with accessories." Stamford Mercury, 20 May 1927, p. 2

GAINSBOROUGH. Co-op Drapery Dept., Bridge Street. Wire system into the 1950s. Chris Coleman

GAINSBOROUGH. A haberdashery/ladies' outfitters, Market Place. Pneumatic tube system. Chris Coleman

GRANTHAM. Co-op, St Pater's Hill. "Wanted. Young lady cashier, to work Cash Railway." Grantham Journal, 21 Dec. 1901, p. 5
• "Cashier, female, reqd. for cash office; Dart cash carrier system in operation. Grantham Co-op Society Ltd." Grantham Journal, 18 Oct. 1957, p. 7

GRIMSBY. Chambers. "Money and receipts whizzed overhead in little gold capsules to the cashiers." Grandma Noddy's website

GRIMSBY. Co-op, Nunsthorpe. "There was the Co-op with those fabulous overhead tills.  The assistant would put your money and bill into a little cup and the wire would zoom it along to the cashier who sat in a little box like an office, she would then send your change and receipt back the same way." Nunsthorpe website
• "If you paid with money in the big Co-op, they didn't put it in a till like the other shops. The notes and coins were placed in a hand-sized metal cylinder that whizzed up a tube behind the assistant. It was then propelled along a tram wire overhead to the cash desk. Sitting behind a glass window in a tiny office upstairs I could see the cashier, who put the change and receipt in the tube and sent it back the same way. Sometimes there appeared to be several cylinders flying through the air at once." Maggie Silk. Dancing in the rain. (Kibworth Beauchamp: Matador, 2016), p. 64

HORNCASTLE. "A large shop". A canvas bag, approximately 9 inches by 7 inches, with brass hinged opening top was offered for sale on eBay in February 2021. It was claimed to be from a cash carrier system in a large shop in Horncastle. The shop later became a pet shop and closed "many years ago". There is no indication of who the manufacturer was and only a small square hole in the metal top which might have been the connection to the car.

LINCOLN. Bainbridges, 234-237 High Street. Wire system. Rex Broxham

LINCOLN. Boots. "I can remember the old Boots in Lincoln having one, used to stand there fascinated by it as a youngster." Sal Osgerby in posting to Facebook.

LINCOLN. Co-op, Free School Lane. "There was such a [cash railway] system in operation at the Cooperative Society's premises in Free School-lane until comparatively recently." Lincolnshire Echo, 15 Sep. 1969, p. 3

LONG SUTTON. Cross Brothers (drapers), London Road. "The expansion of Messrs. Cross Bros... The cash carrier system, which is adopted by the firm is an example." Spalding Guardian, 19 Jan. 1935, p. 8
• Two wire system in late 50s/early 60s. Jim Luff

LONG SUTTON. Fletchers (drapers), Market Place. Wire system in late 50s/early 60s. Jim Luff

LOUTH. Boyes. Cash carrier. Marie Adams in posting to Facebook.

LOUTH. Godsmarks, Fish Shambles. "I fondly remember watching my pocket money whizzing across Godsmarks 'cash railway' every week as I was buying the latest Airfix kit." Geoff Hill in posting to Francis Frith website 7/4/12

LOUTH. Topliss (silk mercer and draper), 16 Mercer Row. Cash Ball system. "This England", Spring 1975 has photographs of the top and bottom of the liftcashier and service point. Henry Topliss took over the shop in 1882. Miss Lacey ran the business until 1975 when it was taken over by Boyes and completely refurbished. Boyes stores book. The system remained in full working order until 1975. Mrs Proctor

SCUNTHORPE. Co-op, High Street. Dart Cash pneumatic tube system. In 1931 Mr Waite of Dart Cash visited and checked the time taken for a carrier to be returned to the tobacco kiosk. It was 8 seconds. Dart recommended coloured carriers to make it easier for the cash girl to distinguish them and sent a carrier guage for checking the wear on the felts. (Letter from W.A.Edwards, director of Dart Cash, 27/7/1931)
• See Anecdotes

SCUNTHORPE. Co-op, Ashby High Street. "In a tiny raised office at the far end was the cashier... Like a spider's web wires ran from different points on the counter, carrying brass torpedo shaped containers on overhead runners to the cashiers office. These could be opened to take the customer's payment along with the receipt issued by the assistant who served you. With every transaction there was a receipt for the customers as well... With a sharp tug the assistant would send the 'torpedo' shooting off to be dealt with by the cashier. As a child I never could understand how it worked. These torpedos seemed to have a life of their own, shooting back and forth across the ceiling." Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, 2 May 1998, p.5

SCUNTHORPE. Home and Colonial, Frodingham Road. Cash carrier. Patricia Evans posting to Facebook

SCUNTHORPE. Kirmans (ironmongers & general store), Market Hill. Lamson pneumatic tube system in late 1940s-50s with about 12 stations. Photographs of Gillian Wilks in the cash office and exterior in Scunnyhistory website and Denise Taylor. New shop built on Chapel Street in early 1960s.

SKEGNESS. Liptons, High Street. "Liptons on High Street in Skegness had one [cash carrier] in the 1940s. Us kids loved watching the money- containers whizzing round the shop." John Boothby in posting to Facebook.

SLEAFORD. Co-op. "The Co-op in Sleaford (Lincs) had one [cash carrier] too." nodrog597 on Pinterest

STAMFORD. Co-op. Numbers 44 and 45 High Street were purchased, rebuilt and reopened as the the drapery, tailoring and shoe department. (Later Wilco and now known as Wilkinson's.) This is particularly remembered for its 'cash railway'. the Lamson Pneumatic Tube system which conveyed the cash in metal canisters to the cashier." Stamford Living June 2016 p. 29

STAMFORD. Coop Grocery, St Paul's Street. "Thought it was the wonder of the age - utterly fascinating!" John Tyers in posting to Ancestor Gateway Forum, 14/10/09
"Peterborough Co op had a wire system in their shop in Stamford, when I was a youngster. I was always fascinated by the system which appeared to be fired by something similar to a catapult! A handle on a cord would be pulled downwards by the assistant and the money pouch, and one’s dividend number, landed above a lady cashiers head, who sat in a - pulpit- above the store floor." Derek Mundy. [Presumably the same shop.]

STAMFORD. Maypole. "The fascinating payment system where the bill and cash were put into a metal cylindeer which whizzed along on an overhead wire pulley system to the main cashier's office and any change would then be returned back to the counter for the customer?" Premises are now Edinburgh Woollen Mill. Gillian Hill in posting to Ancestor Gateway Forum, 13/10/09