THE BIG INTERVIEW: A CENTURY ON THE COAST

Richard Ord Jnr is the fifth generation of his family to run Colmans Fish & Chips on Ocean Road, South Shields. As the business celebrates its 100th anniversary, he reflects on its origins and shares plans for a landmark year, including filming a documentary, launching the Colmans Foundation, and hosting a celebratory fish and chips festival

How did Colmans originate 100 years ago?

Colmans as a brand actually started back in 1905, but it wasn’t fish and chips at that point. It was a small hut on the beach selling drinks and chips. It wasn’t until 1926, when the family got their first permanent premises on Ocean Road, that they moved into fish and chips. They dabbled in ice cream for a while as well, but the funny thing is, they decided to stop selling ice cream because they said it was too cold. They’d come from Barga in Italy, where it’s obviously a lot warmer than South Shields.

When you say “they”, who are you referring to?

My three-times great grandmother on my dad’s side of the family. She came over from Barga, which is a small Tuscan village. We’ve actually just spent a week there in August filming a documentary in her hometown. What’s fascinating is that there’s a huge fish and chips festival in Barga every year called Sagra del Pesce e Patate. A lot of Scottish families who now own fish and chip shops also came from that same part of Tuscany, so fish and chips has become a big part of the town’s identity. As part of our 100-year celebrations, we’re showing the documentary on 30th of January and doing a live podcast alongside it. That’s our first official event to kick things off. We’re showing it at The Customs House, our local theatre, and it’s already sold out.

What did filming involve?

Myself, my mum and dad, and my brother Dominic all went to Barga. We went back to the old family home and visited places we’d heard about growing up, but we also tied the trip in with the fish and chip festival itself. Seeing the significance fish and chips have had on that town was incredible. It’s a proper community event and the whole place comes together around it. That experience inspired us to put on our own fish and chips festival here in South Shields in June.

What will your fish and chips festival involve?

It’s going to be a celebration of fish and chips in South Shields, held on our 100 year anniversary. There’s a huge event space next door to the Seafood Temple, which we’re hoping to use. We’ll be serving fish and chips and there will be communal seating, a stage with bands, things for the kids to do, and it’ll be really family-focused. The aim is to get everyone together by the coast, enjoying fish and chips the way they should be enjoyed.

Have you got other plans throughout the anniversary year?

The biggest thing we’re doing is setting up the Colmans Foundation, which is going to be a charitable trust focused on giving back to the community. We already do a lot of charitable work and sponsorship, but we thought that for our 100 years it would be nice to bring all of that together and amplify it. By putting it into a foundation, we can create more structure around it and raise more funds to put back into South Tyneside and the surrounding areas.

It’ll be a mix of personal donations from my family, along with fundraising events throughout the year. We’re planning foundation dinners, and all the profits from things like the theatre show and the fish and chips festival will also go straight into the foundation. We would love to raise £100,000 for the 100 year anniversary. It’s a big ask, but with a bit of hard work and determination, I think we can get there. It’s exciting because the Colmans Foundation will have a lasting effect and will become a bit of a legacy.

What does 100 years of fish and chips mean to your family?

Honestly, it means everything. It’s hard to sum it up in one sentence because it’s such a big part of who we are. Five generations of the same family, with a sixth now coming through, that’s not something you see very often. It feels like a legacy, it’s almost like we’re just caretakers of Colmans now, carrying it forward for the next generation. Every generation has put the work in to build on it. No one’s ever taken a step back or coasted along. It’s always been about hard work and determination to keep pushing it forward.

Are there any traditions that have been passed down that really stick with you?

There’s one really small thing that most people would never know about, and that’s New Year’s Day. When I was growing up, we used to close on New Year’s Day, but I’d always go in with my dad to do the prep. That’s probably the thing that sticks with me the most because I did it every year throughout my childhood. Even now, we still do it. We’ve got around 100 staff at Ocean Road, but I still go in with my dad on New Year’s Day to do the prep. That hasn’t changed.

How has Colmans Fish & Chips changed over the years?

In some ways it’s changed a lot, but in others it’s exactly the same. Originally it was just the takeaway, then we moved next door into the restaurant, and later extended again so it’s now about three times the size it originally was.

Technology has obviously moved on, especially when it comes to frying ranges. When I was really young, we had a range at the back that you had to light from underneath. I nearly blew Ocean Road up once trying to light it! But those changes have all been for the better. Advances in technology have improved the consistency and quality of fish and chips. The core product hasn’t really changed though, it’s still fish and chips, and we’ve always tried to keep it as consistent as possible.

Even the staff haven’t really changed. Michael and Alan have been there for nearly 50 years each. My Auntie Maria has been there for over 20 years. A lot of the team have been there for as long as I can remember. That shop is all I’ve known growing up, and in many ways it’s a bit of a time capsule. And we want to keep it that way. We keep up with the times where we need to, but we don’t want to modernise it so much that it loses its identity and charm. That history is a big part of what Ocean Road is.

You and Dominic, as the fifth generation, continue to take Colmans forward. How’s that going?

Yes, we opened Colmans Seafood Temple in May 2017 and it’s going really well. More recently, we opened at Fenwicks, the luxury department store in Newcastle, so the last ten years have probably been our biggest period of expansion. What’s important is that we’re still closely knit enough to stay on top of quality. Whether you’re eating at Fenwick, the Temple or Ocean Road, the product has to remain consistent.

How is Colmans at Fenwick working?

Really well. It was only meant to be a pop-up until the end of the year, but it’s been so successful that they want us to stay and we want to stay. We’re just in the process of sorting the full-time contract now.

How do you think the fish and chip industry has evolved during your time?

The biggest change I’ve seen is the sense of community. When I first started, there was a bit of a stigma around helping each other because people saw everyone else as competition. That’s changed a lot and maybe that’s partly social media helping to connect people, but now if someone has a problem, others are happy to help and give advice. It feels much more like an industry moving forward together. I’ve always watched my dad do that. He’d let people come in, show them around, explain how we do things. It was never a secret. And I’ve done the same at the Temple. We’ve had dozens and dozens of people come through the kitchens to have a look and pick up tips. That open door policy is important.

What changes have had the biggest impact on your business?

Building the team around me, without a doubt. The management structure we’ve built at the Temple and Ocean Road is incredible. There was always a question of whether a Colman had to be there all the time. We still are very hands-on, but the team is so strong that we don’t have to be constantly present. When we were in Barga filming the documentary, it was the busiest week on record for Colmans and the teams served tens of thousands of people. We didn’t get a single complaint – that alone is testament to the team.

The other thing was opening the Temple, it was a big learning curve for me. We see it as a seafood restaurant that serves fish and chips rather than just a fish and chip restaurant and that required a different level of service. That shift in mindset really helped when it came to opening Fenwicks. Everything I learned at the Temple made that process much smoother.

How do you see the business evolving in the future?

I never say never. In fact, the last time you asked me about expansion, I said no and then we opened Fenwicks, so ask me again in 12 months and we’ll see! We’ve got a project starting next year on the land in front of the town where we’re creating a small coastal village. It’ll be 20 beach huts and 14 retail pods, creating a little community hub on the seafront. Ironically, it’s the same land where my great-great-great grandmother had her original hut, so it feels very full circle.

And finally, how do you see the future of fish and chips?

I don’t think there’s another dish in this country that’s perceived in the same way as fish and chips. It’s nostalgic, it’s familiar and it’s still unrivalled. I can’t ever see it going away. And there are so many brilliant operators now, that can only push the industry forward. Yes, it’s a difficult time, but we just have to persevere and get through it together.