Five minutes after we arrive at what was once John's Fish Bar, a passer-by peers through the doorway with a wistful expression. He asks hopefully: "Are you opening again?"
The Cardiff building's owner George Tsitsinakis laughs. "Everyone asks me that," he says.
It is about 20 years since a portion of chips was sold here, but you wouldn't know it from the site, which almost looks frozen in time. The shopfront on Clive Road, Canton, only looks slightly worn, with an eye-catching slogan painted on the window: "Cod almighty — freshest haddock in the valley!"
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John's Fish Bar is near-perfectly preserved inside — still home to fryers, an old-fashioned till, empty vinegar bottles, and a menu board offering cod and chips for £2.45. On the white tiled walls, there is something quaintly charming about the monochrome photos of early Hollywood heartthrobs and the bright orange image of a defunct soft drink called Corona once made in the Rhondda and sold across the UK.
Locals have long speculated about the dormant shop but George, 66, is happy to share its story. His father Nicholas came to Cardiff from the Greek island of Hydra and opened the chippy in the mid-1960s, converting what George believes was a butcher's. There was no John involved — the name was chosen simply because Nicholas thought it would help "break down barriers", says George.
Nicholas died in 1974 but George and his brother Pete kept the chippy going with the help of their mother Sophia. After Pete emigrated to Cyprus in the late '90s, George struggled to find staff who could replicate their chemistry and he closed the takeaway in around 2001.
George, who works as a taxi driver, has lived all his life in the five-bedroom house behind the shop. He holds special memories of John's Fish Bar, which he sees as his parents' legacy, and for many years he harboured hopes of reopening. Pete had planned to help run the business again but he died in his sleep in 2016, shortly before he was set to return. Sophia had passed away three years earlier.
The middle-aged passer-by at the doorway says with an air of nostalgia that he bought fish and chips here "many a time". He adds: "Now you have to go yonder. It's all chains. I know lots of people who'd be interested to take this place on. You'd make a fortune."
George, a likeable character whose warmth no doubt played a large part in the shop becoming a neighbourhood favourite, says: "We must have done something right all those years ago because wherever I go, people still call me John the chippy." With a self-deprecating laugh he declines to pose for a picture, telling our photographer: "My best side is the back of me."
He says the final years of John's Fish Bar saw it lose its "lustre". Part-time staff had been unable to fill the hole left by Pete and customers dwindled. "Once someone's had a bad meal, they don't come back," says George. "You can only really run these businesses with families. It's hard work."
George has kept the chippy and its equipment in good condition because he remains open to renting it out, but he has never received a proposal that convinced him. "I could rent it tomorrow but it would need to be to someone with experience. My insurance would go nuts otherwise. It's a fire risk."
Living in the same building, George has mixed feelings about the noise a new chip shop would bring, and he believes the unit is too small to use as a flat. One "very nice chap" came to George with plans for a coffee shop but pulled out.
On the windowfront is an advertisement for Utility Warehouse. George, who already does some leafleting for the utilities provider, has been considering using the premises for that work. "It would get me out of paying business rates," he explains. "It would just be me in the office. People could come in and enquire, I'd refer them and get a commission."
George says Cardiff Council has informed him that if the site was open for business, he would no longer have to pay the rates, which are around £225 a month. "At the moment I'm paying the rates and not getting anything for it, though I can see their argument that they're trying to encourage me to open it," he says.
"It's a conundrum. I might just flog it all, I don’t really know. I’ve learned over the years to take the days as they come."
If you have an interest in the property you can call George on 07950728436. You can read more food and drink news here.
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