From the late 1950s a familiar sight and sound around the streets of Basildon Essex was a Tonibell ice cream van. The company, known as Tonibell Manufacturing Co. Ltd, was founded as Tonis in 1937 by Italian born Toni Pignatelli and his wife. Originally operating from a shop in Burnt Oak, Middlesex, their first vehicle did not take to the streets until 1951 by which time they were joined by their son Ronald. During the fifties the business grew and Basildon, with its new town status offering fresh custom, was seen as the ideal place to expand operations. Their first depot, a yard adjacent to the Laindon Service Station on the Southend bound carriageway of the A127 before the Fortune-of-War roundabout, opened sometime in the late 1950s. They continued here, having become Tonibell following a change of name in 1960, for a few more years before relocating to Bowlers Croft on the Nevendon Industrial Estate.
Their vehicles were custom variations of among others; Morris vans and the Bedford CA series. Early vehicles were finished in a blue livery with some featuring a scaled down cow astride the front roof. Later models also included the cow and a memorable colour change to pink, which was probably how people best remember them. They also had a specially written chime.
In addition to the street operations there were several ice cream parlours and snack bars in Basildon town centre.
In the late 1960s Tonibell moved again, this time to a new depot in Bentalls on Industrial Estate No.2 (Pipps Hill), but by the early 1990s had closed. Many thanks to the great GD for more fantastic period pictures, NICE....
