News

Pembrokeshire still going strong as ice cream vans become a dying breed

Published

6 months ago

September 3, 2025

Tom Sinclair

From the days on Rabbaiotti’s vans in the 1960s to Superwhippy in Broad Haven, Wales now has just 80 ice cream vans left

ONLY 80 ice cream vans remain in Wales, a far cry from the golden era when their chimes were a soundtrack to summer.

A new report shows there are just 1,538 vans still operating across the UK, compared to around 20,000 in the 1950s. Wales ranks third among the four nations, with 25 vans per one million people, but ten local authority areas have none recorded at all.

Pembrokeshire has just three licenced vans for mobile trade.

The decline has been blamed on rising costs, supermarket competition, and restrictions on street trading. In Wales alone there are 600 prohibited trading streets or zones, with more than 300 in Cardiff.

Rabbaiotti’s legacy

In Milford Haven, ice cream was once big business. The Rabbaiotti family ran a café on Charles Street, an ice cream factory, and a fleet of vans that toured the town from the 1950s onwards. Locals knew the café simply as “Rabbis,” and for many, the highlight of a visit there in the 1980s was a coke float – Coca-Cola topped with a scoop of fresh ice cream.

***Family memories: Sonia Lorraine Bambrough pictured with her children Craig and Victoria while driving a Rabbaiotti’s ice cream van in the 1980s (Pic: Sonia Bambrough).***

The vans, meanwhile, were community fixtures. Doris Garland, who worked on them in the 1960s and 70s, recalled disinfecting coins in solution before serving cones, and remembered how the vans sold more than just frozen treats. “They sold everything — even fags!” she laughed. In an era before domestic freezers and convenience stores, they were mobile shops as much as ice cream sellers.

Well into the 1990s, those same vans were still on the road in Pembrokeshire, delighting a new generation of children.

***Rabbi’s, Charles Street, Milford Haven, 1987 (Pic: File)***

Fecci’s and Joe’s

Tenby had its own ice cream tradition in the shape of Fecci’s parlour on St George’s Street. A holiday institution for decades, it was remembered for queues out the door and classic seaside sundaes.

Further east, Swansea became synonymous with Joe’s, founded in 1922 by Joe Cascarini. Still run by his descendants, Joe’s remains a city landmark, its story part of the wider tale of Italian migration to Wales.

By the 1930s, Italian families had set up so many cafés in the Valleys that “Bracchi” became a generic word for a corner shop. But wartime tragedy also touched these communities. In 1940, when Italians in Britain were interned, Bartolomeo Rabaiotti of Pontypridd was among those who died when the Arandora Star was sunk by a German U-boat.

Pembrokeshire’s mobile operators

***McGeown’s van WIII HPY at The Rath, Milford Haven 2023 (Pic: Facebook)***

The modern fleet

While Rabbaiotti’s vans and Fecci’s parlour belong to Pembrokeshire’s past, the county still has ice cream men carrying the trade forward.

Martin McGeown, who runs Pembrokeshire Superwhippy, is one of just two operators in the county with a mobile street trading licence. Alongside Jack Worley, he operates a new Mercedes van fitted with the latest electric battery system, allowing the soft-serve machine to run without idling a diesel engine and cutting down emissions.

***Martin McGeown, his assistant Sian Davies with Martin’s three children Jack, Amirah and Alyannah. The team were giving out free ice cream to all the pupils of Ysgol Caer Elen in Haverfordwest***

***The McGeown family operate a fleet of two vans, with electric operation, the most modern fleet in all of wales***

But the investment comes at a cost. A new van now sets traders back around £200,000, a major barrier for anyone trying to enter the business.

Martin’s connection goes back a generation. His father Jimmy McGeown ran vans in the 1980s, while his mother Vanessa and aunt Ruth also worked on the family vehicles. “I was about eight and my sister Helen was five when we’d be sat in the garden while mum and dad were out with the vans,” he recalled.

And innovation is keeping the tradition alive in Tenby, where Anthony Phillips and his family-run Pembrokeshire Beach Ices have launched what is believed to be the UK’s first zero-emissions beach ice cream van. Converted from a Land Rover at a cost of £50,000, it switches to electric power when trading on the sands, proudly displaying the slogan: “Going green to keep the beach clean.”

***New ‘greener’ ice cream vans in Tenby have batteries to run the freezers***

A changing tradition

From Rabbaiotti’s coke floats to Fecci’s parlour sundaes, and from Superwhippy’s cones on the Rath to Tenby’s green van, Pembrokeshire’s love affair with ice cream spans generations.

The numbers may be dwindling — but as long as there is sunshine over the county’s beaches, there will always be a queue for a cornet.

Ice Cream in milford haven, 1967

Crime

Shop workers left ‘cheap, ashamed and scared’ after sexual assaults by customer

Published

5 minutes ago

March 17, 2026

Sarah Jane Absalom

Victims quit jobs and suffer ongoing anxiety following incidents in Milford Haven store

TWO Pembrokeshire shop workers have described feeling “cheap, ashamed and scared” after being sexually assaulted by a customer, a court has heard.

One of the victims said the incident had left her struggling to cope, in a personal statement read to Haverfordwest magistrates.

“This whole matter has made me feel depressed and cheap,” she said.

“I’ve had to leave my job at the shop because the anxiety became overwhelming. When I think about what happened, I feel ashamed. I want the person responsible to understand the impact it’s had on me. He is the one who should feel ashamed and embarrassed, not me.”

Appearing before the court was John Mason, 76, who pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual assault committed between April 2024 and August 2025.

Prosecutors said Mason entered a shop in Milford Haven on two separate occasions and sexually assaulted two members of staff by grabbing their buttocks over their clothing.

In a second victim impact statement, the other woman described the lasting impact of the incident.

“I live quite near to him and have suffered anxiety since it happened, as I’m constantly aware he could be nearby,” she said.

“It’s always on my mind, and I don’t understand why he thought it was acceptable to behave like that.”

Mason, who has no previous convictions, was represented by solicitor Tom Lloyd.

“This is a man of previously good character, and this experience has been life-changing for him,” he said.

“He was playing golf with friends when he received a call from police. He immediately co-operated, made a full admission, and accepted that his behaviour was unacceptable.

“He has shown genuine remorse for the distress caused, which is not always seen. He is deeply sorry and will not come before the courts again.”

Magistrates ordered Mason, of Coombs Drive, Milford Haven, to pay £500 compensation to each victim. He was also fined £550, ordered to pay a £114 surcharge and £85 costs, and made subject to a nine-month community order, including 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Crime

Army medic caught drink driving at McDonald’s car park in Haverfordwest

Published

10 minutes ago

March 17, 2026

Sarah Jane Absalom

Soldier nearly three times over limit avoids community order due to military career

A PEMBROKESHIRE army medic has admitted driving through a McDonald’s car park while nearly three times over the legal drink-drive limit.

Police were called to McDonald’s in Haverfordwest shortly before 1:00am on February 28 after a staff member reported concerns that a motorist entering the drive-through may have been under the influence of alcohol.

Officers found off-duty corporal combat medical technician Jessica Charles-Davies, 27, sitting behind the wheel of a Suzuki.

“She confirmed the vehicle was hers and said she had consumed alcohol, a pint of cider, around two hours earlier,” Crown Prosecutor Linda Baker told Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

However, a roadside breath test revealed 118 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, more than three times the legal limit of 35. Further tests at the police station recorded a lower reading of 92 microgrammes.

Charles-Davies, of Guillemot Avenue, Haverfordwest, pleaded guilty to drink driving. She was represented by solicitor Tom Lloyd.

The court heard that after completing her AS levels at 17, she joined the military and now serves as a corporal combat medical technician.

“She’s worked all over the world, including deployments in East Africa, Europe, Mozambique and Kenya,” said Mr Lloyd. “Her work is her life.”

In a letter read to the court, the defendant expressed remorse for her actions.

“I’m deeply sorry and would do anything to take it back,” she wrote.

“I’m aware of the impact drink driving has on others, and I accept full responsibility. This has scared me to the core, and I don’t recognise the person I see in the mirror.

“I’m filled with remorse and shame, and this experience will stay with me forever.”

Due to the high reading, magistrates were advised that a community order would normally be imposed, including unpaid work and rehabilitation activity requirements. However, the court was urged to take her military career into account.

“This woman has an exemplary background and is highly regarded by colleagues and friends,” said Mr Lloyd.

“That night she made a serious mistake which she deeply regrets. The consequences are already life-changing.

“She faces demotion and relocation, likely far from her family and partner. The court must consider whether this is a case where sympathy is warranted, and we say it is.”

After a short adjournment, magistrates agreed to depart from sentencing guidelines.

“In the interests of justice, we are prepared to deviate from the guidelines,” said the presiding magistrate, citing the defendant’s previous good character and the mitigation presented.

Charles-Davies was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay a £400 surcharge and £85 costs. She was disqualified from driving for 23 months.