Tag Archives: fish and chips

Game of cones in Cornwall

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SOME BUSINESSES HAVE chosen names that amuse me. There are plenty of fish and chip shops called ‘The Codfather’. In the small Essex town of Coggeshall, there is a fish and chips shop named ‘Coddes Hall’. And Royal Tunbridge Wells (in Kent) has one of these outlets, which serves fried fish and chips, with the name ‘Happy Friar’. If they have not already been used, I will suggest the following as appropriate names for seafood outlets: ‘Upon my Sole’, ‘The only Plaice’, ‘The Prawn Broker’, and ‘Get on your Skate’.

There is a hair salon in west London’s Ealing district called ‘Pure Barberism’. And when we are in London, one of our favourite coffee shops in Kensington calls itself ‘Perky Blenders’.

You may be excused for asking where this collection of gimmicky names is this leading to? Well, I was inspired to write this short piece after eating some ice cream in the charming Cornish seaport called Fowey (pronounced ‘foy’). The ice creams were sold at a shop called ‘Game of Cones’. I enjoyed the ice cream much more than the only two episodes of the TV show that inspired the ice cream parlour’s name.

Out to sea without stepping off land

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THE FIRST TIME I visited Southend in Essex was in about 1960. I was invited to go there on a day trip with my best friend, his younger brother, and their father, who was a senior official in London Transport. We went by car, stopping on the way at several London Transport bus garages, where we saw a few vintage busses. I remember two things about Southend on that first visit. First, we ate fish and chips. It was the first time I had sampled this cuisine because my parents were too snobbish about food to have been seen dead in a fish and chip shop. I have enjoyed fish and chips ever since that time in Southend. The other thing that sticks in my mind was travelling along Southend Pier in a special train that carried passengers almost to its furthest point from the seafront. It was not until the 11th of February 2022 that I made my second visit to Southend.

Southend Pier

Southend Pier is the longest pleasure pier in the world. It is 1.34 miles (2.16 kilometres) in length. The present pier, which replaced an earlier wooden one built in the early 1830s, was completed in the late 1880s. it was opened to the public in 1889. At about this time, the single-track railway running along it was also ready for use. It was extended by 1898. The trains were then electrically operated. In 1978, the electric railway was closed. By 1986, it had been re-opened using trains that were driven by diesel engines. It was on one of these that we took a return trip this February.

I enjoy piers. They provide a way of going out to sea without leaving land and without risking seasickness. In addition, like the one at Southend, most of the piers in England are visually satisfying when viewed from the shore. At the sea end of Southend Pier, there are various structures ranging from painted wooden shacks to the beautiful contemporary-style Royal Pavilion, opened in 2012. Despite being a complete contrast to the other constructions on the end of the pier, it enhances to visual attractiveness of the area.

Although the pier was not the primary reason for our excursion to Southend, it certainly enhanced our enhancement of the place as did our lunch at a local fish and chips shop.