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“Prohibited street: no itinerant ice cream sales,” reads the sign on Greenwich’s King William Walk, a busy, tourist-filled thoroughfare that leads up to the park. I’m here on an unseasonably sunny spring afternoon and, outside the park gates, a growing number of punters are forming a queue in front of an ice-cream van.
Some time later, another vendor pulls up alongside, eager for a slice of the action. Far from showing any signs of hostility, the two sellers are all smiles, waving at each other and making friendly conversation before the second van takes over the spot. Unsurprisingly given the fine weather, trade is near-constant, but the distinctively jolly chimes that usually pull in customers are nowhere to be heard — a fact that might be related to the looming presence of the sign.
But why was it there? To me, the whole thing conjured up visions of rival ice-cream sellers jostling over some of South London’s most lucrative lolly real-estate. While this may have been the case originally, things have become much, much more complicated in recent years — at great public expense.
£47,000 in costs — and a whole lot of Mr Whippys
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