Woodbine And The Cigarette Machine
A machine on the outside wall of the pub, open all night.
Cigarette vending machines bolted to shop fronts, with a drawer that clattered out and change taped inside the packet.
They were everywhere: outside pubs, in station entrances, on the wall of the corner shop. Two shillings in the slot and pull the drawer.
The tuppence change was wedged under the cellophane, which felt like an enormous act of trust in a machine.
Cost back then
2/- for twenty
Goes for now
Restored machines £150–£600 as bar furniture
