In the early 1930s, the Gates Hygienic Laundry began operations in Teneriffe at 281 Harcourt Street and continued until the 1980s.
During WWII, the laundry did an enormous amount of work for the armed forces. The feature photo shows ‘emergency drying’, with every available surface—including the roof of the family home, as well as hedges, the front fence and a nearby vehicle—draped with drying blankets.
The company’s catch-cry was, “Let our phone line be your clothes line.” (Photos courtesy of JG)
1 am a former employee of Gates Laundry Tenerrife, my name then was Gloria nee Barber,My cousin worked there as well, her name was Carmel Anderson, she worked a Small washing machine, while the men worked the much bigger washing machines, i worked on the big collander, rolling all the sheets, pillow cases,tablecloths, etc etc, ironing them as they rolled through the hot rollers, as they came through the rollers i would grab the HOT cloths and fold them, i remember the foremans name a german fellow called Hans, he was a very good foreman and i loved him, cause he was a very good foreman,in other words, he was the boss us, but he was so good,i loved my job there. but the big boss was John Gates, and he had an American girlfriend, he went to America and brought her back to Australia.all in all , Gates laundry was a good place to work for.the year when i started there was 1961.
Hello Gloria
Thanks for your comment. I will pass on your comments to John Gates who is a member of our society
regards
Desley Garnett
President, NFDHS