Co-Op Laundry advert from a 1938 trade magazine

'Upstairs they used to sort all the dirty laundry. As they sorted it, they put all whites down one shoot and all the coloured down another shoot. They were washed, then starched, and pressed. You put the shirt sleeves on a sleeve press when they were wet, to starch them, then you put the shirt in a press to iron them.'

Mrs Coleman