SNACK VANS I Phil Wills. All over the UK

Egg banjo no sauce, cup of tea one sugar, please. Photography by Phil Wills.

The Golden Cafe, Central Bristol

Who better to document the nation’s roadside snack vans than a lorry driving photographer. Phil Wills drives his DAF flatbed all over the UK and across Europe but the other half of his working life is as a photographer having studied on the famous documentary course at Newport University in Wales. Being a fan of the great American photographer Walker Evans, he photographed the snack van images in a stylistically similar way, ‘nothing fancy’ as he says, and this seems perfectly suited to the humble snack van itself. As he puts it, he is ‘documenting what I know and the life I live in’ and this project lasted over a decade.

The nations snack vans are evenly distributed across this fine country. In Europe, they are more often in towns but in the UK they are likely on a little lay-by, just off a good straight stretch of road, backed by some hawthorn bushes, maybe with some litter blowing around them in the breeze. There are exceptions though, Phil lovingly recalls a couple of great vans on the A470 between Merthyr Tydfil and Brecon in Wales, The Coracle’s location favourite is dramatically perched looking over the wastes of Rannoch Moor in Scotland.

Avonmouth Quick Snacks, A403, Bristol

The Brunch Box, A470, Powys

Franco’s Oasis, A46, Worcestershire

Sheila’s Snack Bar, A30, Cornwall

These are categorically not your fancy urban Food Trucks. No siree. There’s a time and a place for a food truck but it isn’t right here right now. Phil describes snack vans as ‘the other end of catering and an alien concept to some people’. Shame on them. With a broad mix of owners, some are professional caterers that also do events, some people rustling up your breakfast might be self-taught or you even find the odd retiree keeping themselves busy. There are some all-time classic van names: ‘The Hound of the Basketmeals’ on Dartmoor, ‘Carlsburger’ (think about it) in Thetford, Norfolk and ‘Jason Donervan’ in Clifton nr Bristol. You’ll need to watch what your ordering, bread roll, bap or barm cake? You can take your pick of the same thing.

There are a lot of Prets in this land and there is much to be said for a smoked salmon on brown with a Love Bar on the side but variety is the white pepper of life, right? Snack bars have that in spades. There are some mighty rubbish snack vans out there and some mighty good ones, the Brunch Box in Powys even appears in the county good food guide. Discussing this with Phil we both agreed that the risk is a good one, it’s not all the same standard throughout but there is an individual story to every one. It’s the polar opposite of those motorway service stations where you forget which part of the country you are in. Snack vans seem to have a secure future as long as the councils that provide their permits don’t turn against them. It would be amazing to see a few more immigrants owning them and bringing their own food culture to add to the mix but maybe I’m missing the point.

Gary’s, A5036, Liverpool

Nick’s Van, Industrial Estate Cardiff

Phil’s order is an Egg Banjo, no sauce and a tea with 1 sugar. That’s a fried egg in a bap, so called because when you take your first bite, the egg spills out over your front and as you brush it away, it looks like you are playing the banjo.

The Coracle prefers it straight up with bacon and a dib dab of ketchup, on white of course silly.

See more of Phil’s work here