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Fish & chip shops weren’t entirely out of the woods
though for with the war won they were stigmatised again
with tripe shops, pet shops and catsmeat butchers under
the Town & Country Planning Act of 1945.
And the Mushy Peas Pot Boiled Away For Months
Martin Harvey spent 13 years in the Regimental Band of
the Scots Guards before becoming a Blue Badge Guide.
For the past ten years he has been a valued member of the
City & Village Tours guiding team taking groups on a
day out he designed called Under the Bearskin - The
Scarlet & The Gold. He also brings his personal
experiences of state pomp and ceremony to our popular
Coronations & Celebrations Diamond Jubilee day trip.
Martin grew up in a fish & chip shop in the ship building
town of Barrow-in-Furness, at the bottom of the Lake
District, in the 1950s. Here are some of his memories.
I was brought up and lived in 'Fish HARVEY Chips'.
That was the way the sign was written above the shop -
so that is what we were known as. During the 1950s fish
& chips were the only 'fast' food and our shop was
incredibly busy. On Fridays the queue would go past the
Wool Shop, by the Newsagent past the Butchers along
by the Veg shop and stop at the Chemist. Yes, these
were the days of the small trader - no supermarkets then,
unless you count Liptons and the Home and Colonial!
When the first Chinese restaurant opened in Barrow,
we were shocked. As my Dad said ' it'll never catch on'.
Strange then that 40 years later he sold the shop to a
Chinese takeaway.
In those days we never sold frozen fish ready prepared.
The fish arrived from Fleetwood by train at 5am and my
Dad would go to the ice-store to buy supplies. There was
no refrigeration in our shop, we had huge ice boxes and
the wholesaler had a massive ice filled warehouse. The
fish came home and went 'out the back' where my Gran,
Mum, Aunties and assorted helpers would fillet the fish.
What a job! Freezing hands and fish bones everywhere -
but it was all fresh and we did cod, haddock and plaice.
No chicken and chips - we didn't dare sell that until my
Gran died. She would have thought it a heresy!
We used to make our own crisps, which was quite a
performance! Me and my sister used to have put the salt
into the blue bags and twist them up. It was also our job
to 'split' the newspapers. Before ‘Elf and safety’ got in
the way, we always used newspaper to wrap the fish and
chips in. People would leave bundles of old papers on the
front door step in exchange for free chips. We would then
have to take a newspaper and run our hand right up the
crease where the paper folded so that it split the paper in
two. We also had to remove the 'smelly' papers which
seemed to pong of old cat. My Mum always removed
Tit Bits and threw it away.
In a shipbuilding town, work was sometimes scarce and
my dad would run a tab, and give the kids bags of scraps
which were the fat scrapings from the pan - not very
Jamie Oliver! He also devised the Harvey's Fritter - take
some mince, an equal amount of sage and onion stuffing
and mix it together. Then spread it between two potato
slices and batter it and fry it. If times were really hard
Customers could also buy potato scallops - which were
just fried potato slices but sounded quite exotic. And the
mushy pea pot boiled away for months on end.
My Mum and Dad were rightly conscious of their position
as 'business people' - in an age when everyone was judged
by where they lived, if they wore a collar and tie etc.
We would often drive out of town for meals, always
dressed up in jackets and ties etc. As my Dad spent his
life with his back to the customers, frying up the food
on the range - he rarely saw their faces. My Mum was
the customer front. So, if people came into the restaurant
where we were eating, my Mum would smile and say
hello. She would then have to explain to Dad who they
were - and it was usually along the lines of 'Oh you
know, large haddock on a Friday, good job, works in
the Town Hall, lives in Crossland Park’. I was always
terrified that someone would over hear. We knew
everyone by what fish they ate!
When I was 6 I started playing the violin, and, as soon as
I could knock out a tune, I was brought into the shop for
selected customers and lifted on to the counter and told
play a tune. Can you imagine - those adoring eyes all on
me! This went on for quite a few years - it got a bit
embarrassing when I got to 16 as I was too big to stand on
the counter. Then, I joined the Scots Guards Band - so on
every leave I would have bring the full uniform home and
again be called into the Shop. Oh God - how awful.
And how my Mum and Dad loved it. 'What's our Martin
up to today'. I was always 'our Martin'.