Do ice cream vans have their own 'patches'?

[ManicUnicorn]

Ive never really thought about it today, my street and the council estate opposite the main road we live just off have an ice cream van that plays O Sole Mio. But the small estate behind us has one that plays Greensleves. I also hear one in the distance that plays Match of the Day, but have never been able to pinpoint where it is.

They never cross over onto each other's patches though, so O Sole Mio never enters the estate behind me, Greenselves is never on our street or the estate across the main road and Ive never seen Match of the Day anywhere around here but can hear it, so it can't be that far away.

Am I just reading far too much into this?

Yes and I have witnessed a fight between 2 ice cream men, presuming it was some kind of turf war!!

Yeah there was quite a big ruckus round here a few years ago between two rival vans!

Who decides where the "patch" is?

Apparently they're often used for nefarious goings-on. That might be partly why they don't cross patches.

I have no idea. As they sometimes fight about it I'd say it's usually a gentleman's (or lady's) agreement.

Yes and its annoying as hell. I can't get an ice cream van around my area as apparently it already has one. I've lived here 6 year never heard one. Saw one outside my childminders a few weeks ago asked him if he comes round my street he said no because someone else had that round "whos now dead" i said no he doesn't and he said ill come round. Never seen him yet!

We had brothers fighting over our street a few years back. At one point smoke bombs were deployed .
One of the brothers won. And Mr Sev has had lone rights ever since.
We get the very occasional chancery but no one ever goes out to them. We are very loyal

Definitely the case that they have their own patches and in NI that is strictly enforced in certain areas!

Some vans are known to offer certain other "treats" (so I have heard) which is another reason for territory being carefully adhered to.

No personal knowledge, just heard the rumours.

Got serious in Glasgow in the 80s...

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars

Although not really about ice cream...

I was just about to say about ice cream wars in Glasgow and wondered if I'd dreamt it. Off to click the link

I think it kicked off in Cambridge a few years ago as well but with cycling icecream sellers?

If you can get hold of the 1980s film Comfort and Joy you’ll be entertained and informed at the same time. It is humorous and about the Glasgow ice cream wars.

Duncan Bannatyne (Dragons Den) explains about this in his autobiography. It's a cut throat world this ice cream van business.

Actually ‘set in 1980s’ is more accurate- it was made later than that. Presumably after the main stooshie was sorted out.
Btw spell check doesn’t recognise stooshie - it’s a braw word.

I don't think there is anything dodgy going on Ive had ice creams from the on that comes here and so do lots of other people, especially the other weeks when it was hot. So it seems legit. But O Sole Mio is a bit shit, it doesn't do sprinkles or blue juice!

Well, there's ice cream vans and there's ice cream vans that sell the other stuff.

They cost a bloody fortune so im not suprised.

Blue juice?...

@SlatternIsTrying also heard the rumours about our particular brand of ice cream vans here in NI. Although funny story - my dad had run out of cigarettes one night and asked the poke van for some and he was like "mate I just sell ice cream" 😂😂 and we are from an area where the poke van rumours would more than likely be true (hence why he asked in the first place)

I hate that they have patches. Ours just comes round when he can be arsed, no consistency and he doesn't sell ice lollies, it's solely 99s.
At my last house the ice cream man was abysmal. He used to sell cheap versions of lollies such as twisters and magnums instead of the genuine thing. His 99s gave me a dodgy tummy.
We had a great van when I was a kid. The ice creams were so nice and the guy was Italian, my Mum used to flirt with him.

Defo, only one ice cream van enters our estate. He's out every afternoon and evening regardless of the weather. He must have a secret stash of dodgy stuff he sells because there is no other reason to be playing your ice cream jingles at 8pm on a snowy February evening!

He sells nice ice cream tho!

Yes and we have loads of turf fights back in the 80s.Burning vans and all kinds!

Usually yes. My grandad was an ice cream man for years.

An ice cream man near me was found dead in suspicious circumstances covered in hundreds and thousands. There were rumours a rival had murdered him but the police decided he'd topped himself.

*AventuresRUs' blue juice isn't a euphemism for anything dodgy lol. It's basically a blue juice which you can have on your ice cream in addition to or instead of the more traditional red juice.