A historic fish and chip shop in North Bristol will be reinstated to its original name this week. A sign is being prepared for ‘The Jolly Fryer’ to replace Ocean Catch on Filton Avenue, set to be installed on Thursday (November 24).
Its owner, Nick Lomvardos, started working in the shop when he was 18 years old alongside his brother after their parents bought an empty unit on the road back in 1986. They worked as a family for 24 years before his father retired.
Speaking to BristolLive, the 55-year-old said: “In 2010, I left The Jolly Fryer and purchased my own shop. At the time I wanted to do something for myself, I didn’t want to be someone who worked for their parents their whole life.”
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Nick launched The Bishopston Fish Bar on Gloucester Road, which he still runs to this day. When his father and proprietor of The Jolly Fryer passed away five years ago, his brothers continued the business for a year before they called it a day in 2018.
He continued: “I couldn’t bear the thought of [it closing] out of respect for my dad in all of the years we spent together. I know my parents sweated really hard for that shop.
“They worked ever so hard - my dad was working from seven in the morning until midnight six days a week. I took over the shop, but at the time I took over we always said my dad was the Jolly Fryer because he always worked with a smile on his face.“
"He was always so pleased to be working in his shop. I thought maybe it’s not the Jolly Fryer anymore because he’s gone, so I changed it.”
Nick purchased the shop in 2018 and renamed it Ocean Catch, but the regulars continued to call it the Jolly Fryer from the day he reopened. The shop was later hit with the pandemic in 2020, a time when Nick left the UK to be in Greece with his fiancée who had been diagnosed with cancer.
“I had a choice of ringing up and closing the shop to stay in Greece or leaving her and coming back to work. There was no way I was going to leave her.”
The shop was looked after in his absence by the manager and his team while he was in Greece for 14 months as his fiancée recovered from two cancer diagnoses. After she made a full recovery, the couple returned to the UK in August 2021 and many customers who had not realised it was still within the Lomvardos family enquired why the name had changed.
“I was told ‘you’re the Jolly Fryer, you’re the man who has a smile on your face constantly’,” he said, feeling emotional. “This young lady came in to say she remembered coming in as a little girl and said she always received a lollipop, which we still do. She said it will always be the Jolly Fryer.”
“I’ve been telling customers and everyone is so pleased. A lady summed it up in a small sentence and said ‘if you look at all the shops on Filton Avenue, every single one has changed apart from the Jolly Fryer'. It’s the only one that was there 36 years ago. Everything else has changed.”
Nick said The Jolly Fryer is considered by residents an institution of Filton and hopes it will remain a part of the area’s history for years to come. The new sign will be erected on Thursday and Nick will be handing out free portions of chips with each order to celebrate.
“Certain things will come back but not the complete menu like it was at the Jolly Fryer. My mum used to make moussaka, but sadly I don’t have the time,” he added.
The Jolly Fryer is located on 557a Filton Ave, Bristol, BS7 0QH
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