The team
Glenys and Ray Price opened the shop in 1987 with a second-hand range and a lease the bank thought was brave; their son Dai has been at the range since he was fifteen; Lowri came for a summer in 2006 and runs the front; and on a Friday night there are six of us between the range, the window and the café.
Owner and frier. The range, the fish, the van, the curry sauce
Son of Glenys and Ray Price, who opened the shop in 1987; at the range since he was fifteen, the owner since 2009. Buys the fish from the four boats, chooses the potatoes every autumn on the Pembrokeshire farm, drives the van to the weddings and invented the curry sauce in 1989 with a recipe he will not write down. Fries most evenings and will tell you when the haddock is better than the cod.
The café and the counter. The slots, the deals, the allergens, Tuesday
Came for a summer job in 2006 and runs the front of the shop now: the café, the window, the slot bookings, the family deals and the allergens sheet, which she rewrites every time a recipe changes. Started gluten-free Tuesday with Dai in 2014 and fries it herself; knows half of Penarth by their usual order.
The rest of us, and the paperwork
Dai and a second frier on the range, Lowri and two students on the window and the café, Glenys on the till at seventy-four because she will not stop. About four hundred portions between half four and nine.
A horsebox converted in 2016 with a two-pan range, its own gas and a hatch. It does about forty weddings and parties a year, mostly in summer, with Dai frying and whoever is free on the cones.
Food hygiene rated five since the scheme began; MSC chain-of-custody certified; members of the National Federation of Fish Friers; the allergen sheets reviewed every time a recipe or a supplier changes.
Fish is a third of the price of a portion and the rest is potatoes, dripping, gas, wages and the rent on a seafront. MSC fish costs about 40p a portion more; we put it in the price and say so.
Number three
Number three was a tearoom for the people coming off the pier steamers, then a souvenir shop, then empty, when Glenys and Ray Price took it in 1987 with a second-hand range from a shop in Barry. The navy front and the mustard awning are Glenys's choice and have been repainted the same colours every five years since. The range has been replaced twice; the queue has not changed.
Finding the shopPick a collection time from the slots still open, every fifteen minutes through each shift, say what you would like, and it is fried to the slot and waiting in a bag with your name on it at the end of the counter.