aldeburghindependents
It’s endlessly in the national press, listed as among the best of its kind. It’s open 364 days of the year. It’s so famous that even Ed Sheeran namedrops about it at every opportunity: Aldeburgh Fish & Chips. As the mouth-watering aromas of vinegar and frying batter waft seductively on the sea breeze, you’ll hear fierce debate over which is better – The Golden Galleon, or the Aldeburgh Fish & Chip shop. There’s a simple answer, it’s neither and both: they’re owned, run and manned by the same people – but don’t let such trivial facts put an end to decades of family debate. This year celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, Aldeburgh Fish & Chips is a third-generation family business, owned and run by the Cooneys since 1967. The story goes that when Celia Cooney got a job as a dinner lady at the primary school, her husband Horace was not best pleased; her new role meant that he had a five-minute wait before she came home to serve his lunch. The opportunity to buy the fish and chip shop was the answer: Celia would have a secure job managing the shop and, primarily, would never again be absent at lunch. 18 AUTUMN 2017
aldeburghliving
Little did they know the success that was to come. The shop was bought from a Mr Cooper, who passed on a Yorkshire tradition of frying in beef dripping – a trick father and son directors Peter and Alan believe is among the secrets of their success (a short-lived attempt to fry the chips in oil proved immediately unpopular with customers and staff alike; according to Peter, everyone complained). Beef dripping was quickly readopted. The investment was wiser than anyone could have predicted; although at the time it wasn’t the primary fish and chip shop in town, Mr Cooper warned Horace that the trade could be overwhelming – ‘you’ll know it’s busy when you get a £10 lunch!’ Horace, keen for customers to truly enjoy their fish and chips, was known to admonish customers if he saw them dawdling, talking to friends instead of going straight home to eat before their food got cold.