Nestled in a quaint Leeds village, with colossal country mansions, home to Leeds United super stars, sits an old fish and chip shop which hasn’t stopped trading for 111 years.
The Shadwell Village Fish Shop is situated in a stone-built cottage on Main Street, in the heart of the leafy North Leeds village. It was first in operation all the way back in 1911 and the owner claims it’s the longest trading chip shop in the country.
The chippy opened 40 years after the earliest known UK chip shops, run by Eastern-European Jewish immigrant Joseph Malin in London and John Lees in Greater-Manchester, in the 1860s. But unlike those shops, the Shadwell chippy is still in operation to this day without interruption.
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Mark Savage, 56, took over the shop in 2001 from his parents, who’ve had the shop since 1973. The Savage family have strong links with the swanky community, who’ll pull up in their various sports cars and 4x4s with either friends or family for a chippy lunch.
Those who’ve grown up in the upmarket village will have fond memories of being given a ‘chip on a stick’ while waiting for their order to be deep-fried in beef dripping and packaged up. Mark says his mother Hazel started this tradition when working with dad Geoffrey behind the counter.
Today, Mark, a father-of-two, sticks to the traditions and maintains that it’s a no-cod shop, only serving up the best – which he says means haddock, bursting with its sweet and salty flavour. Those who are known to enjoy the benefits of Mark’s hard work are present and former Leeds United stars.
Shadwell is located a twenty-minute drive away from the Whites’ Thorp Arch training ground and he says lots of the stars live in the village.
Mark said: “Lots of the Leeds players live in Shadwell. They like their fish and chips do the footballers.”
One of his favourite customers is midfielder and defender Stuart Dallas, who also plays for the Northern Ireland national team.
Mark recounted a funny story where Dallas brought former Leeds star and current Brentford captain Pontus Jansson to sample the fish and chips. Jansson hails from Sweden and Mark says he wasn’t familiar with some of the traditions of British fish and chips, to hilarious results.
Mark said: “We get in Stuart Dallas and Pontus Jansson used to come in. Jansson asked ‘What’s curry sauce?’ We said ‘ours is Chinese and you’ll like it’. We put some in a pot for him and he drank it! He ended up ordering it with his food.”
Other customers include: Shadwell resident Gary McAllister, who was part of the Leeds team which won the 1992 First Division; England cricket star Jonny Bairstow; golfer Howard Clark; and past customers included Revie heroes Peter Lorimer and Allan Clarke.
Mark’s very proud of his shop and runs it with the help of manager Danny Jacklyn. His two sons Joseph, 23, and Oliver, 16, who have also worked behind the fryer.
Mark’s also the senior manager for Wetherby Whaler chain, in charge of the frying department. When he was a teenager, he served the late Sir Bobby Robson who visited the chip shop in Wetherby with Jack Charlton. Sir Bobby said: “Young man, that’s the best bit of cod I’ve ever eaten.”
Mark didn’t have the heart to tell him it was haddock.
The Shadwell Village Fish Shop dates back all the way to 1911 – but Mark is certain it could date back to 1909. He’s said it hasn’t ceased operation since then, passing over only three families in its time, beginning with Harry Stead and then passing on to a couple called the Roberts.
The only thing Mark knows about the original owner is his name. The building dates back to 1637.
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