Britain’s longest serving ice cream seller is celebrating serving more than three million cones in his lifetime.
Frank Penna, 85, has been selling ice cream since he was seven years old and is yet to hang up his scoop.
The grandfather-of-nine can be still be found manning the kiosk at Hull’s Pearson Park where he and his family have dished up the treat for seven decades.
Mr Penna said: ‘I have sold ice cream since I was seven-years-old – penny, tuppence and threepence cornets.
‘I don’t do as much as I used to – my knees are going now. The family do most of it now.’
Frank Penna, 85, has been selling ice cream since he was seven years old and is yet to hang up his scoop
Mr Penna has been selling ice creams at the kiosk at Hull’s Pearson Park (pictured) since 1959
Frank Penna’s grandfather, Francesco, sold ice creams in Hull after arriving in the city in 1889
Mr Penna’s Italian grandfather, Francesco, arrived in Hull in 1889 having learned about the ice cream trade in New York.
He then started making his own ice cream to sell on the streets of the port city.
‘Back then there wasn’t much going for business in Italy’, Mr Penna explained. ‘You either worked in oranges or lemons. In Hull, the opportunities were many.’
He added: ‘Because we made our own ice cream, it was always vanilla.
‘Over time they did introduce ice lollies and such but we never added any other flavour ice cream.
‘Vanilla is the best selling flavour, I do sometimes get asked for others but nobody ever seems disappointed when we say we only have the one flavour.
‘It might not be your favourite…but it is not disliked.’
The grandfather-of-nine can be still be found manning the kiosk at Hull’s Pearson Park
Mr Penna has been serving at the same kiosk in Hull (pictured in the 1990s) since 1959
Mr Penna’s grandfather developed his business and opened up a store in the ‘Little Italy’ area of Hull, in North Street.
He made ice cream which would be sold to vendors and hired out in Penna’s ice cream barrows on a daily basis.
The family’s fortune rose, with the Pennas owning 15 barrows, three Tricycles and three horse-drawn ice cream carts, stables and horses.
Mr Penna pictured serving ice creams in Hull aged 17 – he is still going strong today
During the Second World War, when Mussolini declared Italy allies to Hitler, Winston Churchill responded by announcing that the head of every Italian family living in Britain be interned.
Worried that Francesco was too frail, Mr Penna’s father volunteered to take his place.
Four months later, he was returned to his family as a naturalised citizen and, having fought in the East Yorks Corps in the British Army in the First World War, was deemed as no threat.
The family was back together but life was still difficult, as rationing meant the ice cream trade had ground to a halt.
Instead Mr Penna’s father bought a sawmill and, for the next few years, the family survived by selling kindling on barrows.
By 1944 the vital ingredients needed for ice cream were made available again and the Penna family were back in business.
Mr Penna, pictured with his van aged 28, is still selling ice creams at the age of 85
Mr Penna split from the family business when his father died in 1959.
He said: ‘My cousins continued running the factory while I got a few vans of my own and started up myself.
‘Eventually I got the contract for the kiosk and the rest is history. We have been running this as a family, with my wife, Anne, also 85, and most of the children, by my side.’
He added: ‘There’s nothing better than a cool ice cream shared with the family on a hot day.’
Mr Penna sells vanilla scoop ice cream at the kiosk, along with chocolate, crisps and drinks