You can do without chocolate but not fish and chips
13 October 2014
Last month Croft Street Fisheries made a plea via The Squeaker magazine to identify the ladies in this picture from the 1970s.
We were saddened to hear that the lady on the right, Jean Brown, had passed away at Christmas 2007. However we were delighted when we heard that Pam William (left) and her husband Ralph still visit the shop.
It transpires that Pam and Ralph were previous proprietors of Croft Street Fisheries. They bought the shop in 1978 and were there for ten years. They were helped by Doreen Cooper and the two Jeans – Jean Brown and Jean Litvinov.
Pam delighted in telling us about her time at Croft Street. She said that Thursday nights were always a good night after people got paid. They also used to open on Sunday nights which was very unusual at the time and did very well.
The shop would open until 11.15pm on Friday and Saturday nights. In fact they used to be open for three shifts on these days – lunch, tea and night. Jean said that 11pm until 11.15pm was manic as customers passed through like a school of fish!
On Wednesday nights they couldn’t keep a pace with the chips. This was becasue of the youth club at St John’s Community Church.
She clearly remembers her time fondly and told us a couple of tales. She recalled the day when an elderly gentleman unfortunately collapsed in the shop whilst she and Jean were serving. She remembers Jean jumping over the counter to help him. Unfortunately her was pronounced dead when the ambulance arrived. As the man was being carried away, Jean rushed out of the shop and put a portion of fish and chips in his coat. When she came back into the shop, Pam asked why she had done that. Jean replied, “Well he bought ’em, he might as well have ‘em.”
Pam finished by saying how impressed she is with the recent refurbishments at Croft Street Fisheries and the work Rafael has put into making the business a success.
She said, “It’s very emotional to be back and I am delighted that the shop is flourishing. I have always believed that people can do without chocolate but they cannot do with fish and chips”. We think Pam is right!
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