A South Lincolnshire institution is closing its doors for good at the end of the month.
Laddies of Holbeach will cease trading on January 31, and customers are already mourning its closure.
A statement put out on social media this week said that the current owner, Richard Ladbrook, has ‘decided that it is time to hang up his ice cream scoop and retire for a well-deserved rest.’
“The shop will be operating normally and will still be selling sweets, newspapers and cigarettes, but we will be reducing our opening times to 7am to 5pm until the closing date of January 31,” the statement continues.
Laddies was established just over 100 years ago and Richard is the third generation of the family.
His grandfather, William Ladbrook, made his first batch of ice cream to sell at the Gedney Hill sports and village show. He then bought a shop in Back Lane before swapping to the Wignals Gate site.
Prior to the First World War, ice cream was a luxury which could only be made in winter and only the wealthy could afford it.
“Small-scale refrigeration appliances started to appear and the ice cream season could be extended beyond April to October,” he said in a website history of the company.
The early days included a lot of trial and error in production and the arrival of the motor car saw a new market emerge.
In 1929 William bought an ex-army ambulance for £5 and had it converted so ice cream could be sold at village shows around the area.
William’s son Derek left school at 14 and joined the family business, taking the ice cream cart around his home town.
After the Second World War, in which William served with the Paratroop Regiment, the business moved to Church Street.
It continued to flourish and the shop became more and more popular. From an initial four flavours the menu grew to more than 50. The Champagne flavour was created when a local person won more than £100,000 on the National Lottery after buying a ticket at the Laddies store.
Vanilla has always been the most popular flavour, says Richard.
The shop will be contacting newspaper customers about deliveries and will also be holding an in-store sale over the next couple of weeks.
