THE public image of the cheery milkman, whistling as walks down the street delivering to every home is, of course, based on a fallacy.

Anyone whistling outside while the rest of us are sleeping would not be very popular for long!

However, the non-whistling milkman is a traditional part of the British way of life, albeit one that has been in constant danger of disappearing for more than 20 years since supermarket chains began to sell milk.

There is a clue there, however, because, despite being under siege for that length of time, the British milkman is still hanging on in there and is still a part of our way of life.

Throughout the country around eight million bottles of milk are placed on doorsteps each day. They are the most environmentally "sound" form of packaging available today -- a no-deposit "loop" which sees each bottle used for between 12 and 18 trips.

Supermarkets, on the other hand, sell around 40 million pints of milk a week -- so the milkman is still in front.

David Hargreaves has worked "on the milk" in Bolton for 25 years.

His father was a milkman and his grandfather was a milkman. David first went out on a milk round at the age of ten.

He laughed: "You could say it's in the blood, although I did have a break of a few months when I was 16. I was going to be a mechanic."

David lasted less than a year away and, at 17, returned to take over the business.

He has seen good times and bad, although he admits that today things are better than they have been.

"The really bad times were the late 80s early 90s," he said. "The supermarkets really made holes in our trade and a lot of milkmen got out of the business altogether."

It was the number of milkmen leaving the industry who helped save those who remained.

"We had to take on more and more rounds, just to build up one that paid," added David.

Today, he delivers between 700 and 800 pints of milk a day, getting up at 2am and starting his round at 3am.

"I still enjoy it -- apart from the winter weather," he smiled. "But the supermarkets are always breathing down our backs and, of course everything else is going up all the time." While much of the public discussion about the milk industry today centres on the "romantic" notion of the cheery milkman popping those bottles on to the doorstep, David also believes that the more practical aspects should not be discounted.

"We are the only people out and about at those times of the day," he said. "Every milkman I know has been able to call the police out at some time or another because he has seen something or someone suspicious.

"One friend of mine called the Fire Brigade out once and saved a house from going up in smoke.

"The police often stop and ask us if we have seen something -- although not so often these days as there are less and less policemen out and about."

A married man with two young children, he is a practical person with a family tradition on the farm as well as with the milk round.

He said: "The main thing that upsets us is the unfairness of the trade. Supermarkets are selling milk for less than we can buy it wholesale and then, you have to wonder what would happen to the price if milkmen did disappear and they had it all to themselves.

"Anyway, I don't believe that buying milk from a supermarket is as practical as it sounds."

Traditional milkmen like David Hargreaves are still appreciated by their customers.

Mrs Emily Byrne, of Halliwell Road, is worried about the day when daily deliveries are no more. She said: "I do most of my shopping at the supermarket but I still have my milk delivered.

"It is only a few pence more than the supermarket and the extra is worth paying for personal delivery." MILK FACTS Statistics from The National Dairymen's Association reveal that in England and Wales in 1994 there were 19,786 milk rounds. By the year 2000 there were just 11,081. In the early 1990s 78 per cent of household milk was delivered by a milkman compared with just 27 per cent today.

A spokesman for The National Dairymen's Association, based in Cornwall Terrace, London, blamed the slump on "changing lifestyles".

The spokesman said: "People do not have as regular a lifestyle as they used to and don't need the day to day basis of a milkman.

"Moreover the popularity of supermarkets is always on the increase and people find it easier to buy in bulk, especially as milk quality has risen so much over the years.

"The supermarkets have also pushed up the price of the milkman's milk to around another 17 pence per pint."