fish and chip shops

There is a fish and chip shop in our city that has been in business continuously since 1895. I remember the fish and chip shop in the next road to ours in the mid fifties when I would have been about nine, but there were many others round about. Everyone had their favourites.

The earliest I remember (late 40s early 50s) there was a fish and chip van which belched out smoke and lardy steam as it went round the village where I was born and other villages on other nights. The smell was pervasive. either tempting or off-putting depending on whether you were in the mood for greasy food. By the late 50s the proprietor had acquired a shop which remains in the same place until today, though it has had many guises - pizzeria, Indian, etc. It has always mainly sold fish suppers.

The original owner was decidedly foreign, Italian perhaps, with a darkish skin and huge black moustache. He was pleasant enough to the customers but much given to shouting and swearing at his helpers. Although this was done in a foreign tongue you could tell that it was sweary words and the village boys used to shout these words at each other and grown ups, while insisting they were not swearing.

My grandma was born in 1884, and said that as a girl she ran errands for Gracie Fields (Stansfield)`s parents, they owned the fish and chip shop in her street.

I once read that fish and chip shops were started in mid Victorian times so around 1860 to 70’s probably.
Now, fish and chips twice please and a free bag of scraps!

According to Google and themselves, the oldest fish and chip shop is in Leeds

www.visitengland.com/experience/dine-oldest-fish-chip-shop-world