Bespoke ice cream for culture year

Dec 17 2007 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

Gurmeet Gumbhir serving ice cream from his van

THE son of Liverpool’s first ice cream man is making a bid to serve it up during Capital of Culture year, and create his own secret recipe for the city’s special event.

Gurmeet Gumbhir, or Bubu as he is known, is carrying on the family tradition of making and serving ice cream in the city, which his father, Joginder Singh Gumbhir, started in 1960 when he moved to Liverpool from India.

Bubu has applied to Liverpool City Council to serve ice cream on William Brown Street during 2008 and wants to operate his bespoke service from a van decorated in Victorian style.

The council will look at the application today and if he is successful, Bubu plans to create his own 2008 ice cream, to a secret recipe.

His father was said to be the first person to sell ice cream from a van in the city and the family, from Woolton, carried the business forward.

He said: “We are Liverpool’s oldest ice cream family and have operated in the city for over 50 years and three generations.

“My father came over from India and one day saw somebody selling ice cream on a freezing cold day.

“He thought, if he can sell ice cream today, then imagine summer.

“He took out a bank loan and bought a van – the first person in Liverpool and as far as we know the country to do it.

“The van was known as Mr Liverpool. My uncle, Gurbachan Singh, soon joined him and we have kept in the family.”

Bubu followed in his father’s footsteps when he left school in 1976.

Until a fire in 1999, the Gumbhirs had an ice cream factory on Jamaica Street, producing their own soft scoop and ice lollies, and supplied shops and ice cream vans all over the country.

Bubu currently operates a unit in the city centre, as well as carrying on his father’s legacy of driving an ice cream van.

He added: “I think the city wants bespoke and original touches next year and this could be one of them.

“I would also like to drive the unit out to schools and other places if they are having Victorian-themed days, it is very versatile.

“The ice cream will be organic, locally produced and unusual – to my own secret recipe though, I cannot give anything away.

“And, after all these years, we should now be expert at serving it.”

lizawilliams