hi everyone!
I'm the daughter of the old owner of Burdens Cream Ices. I've noticed a few messages on here that mentioned us and I just wanted to say how lovely it is to read such warm (or cold as it's ice cream!) memories.
To set the record straight a little... basically before we were ice cream makers we were grocers, but when my nan made a batch of homemade ice cream one day, my grandad, Norman Burden, had a lightbulb moment and started manufacturing if from my nans original recipe. After the shop, my grandad bought an old snooker hall by the corner of Ladypool Rd and Alfred Street, knocked it down and up sprung the factory. We also had another factory on alcester street in town where we made the long tip-top lollies, inventing the first with two flavours in one lolly. After that, the business moved on to Oldbury to combine the two factories into one big one, due to the ongoing successes of the business. However, that is also where things went wrong...
Contrary to what has been said here, we were not bought out by Walls, I wish! Unfortunately, a massive fire devastated the business and my family lost almost everything. It is a clear and poignant part of my childhood and that is also why it is so lovely to read that people remembered us. My grandad was a well known figure in Brum back in those days and a kind hearted man to his core who had a skill to turn anything to a trade, even my nan's homemade ice cream. It's so touching to know that all the hard work of him, my nan, my mum and uncle has lived on through the memories of our fellow brummies.
All the best to you all!
