Free chips for the neighbours
Matilda Hume jokes that living next door to Robert Hatt is like living every Northerner’s dream!
Robert and his wife Helena aren’t just neighbours to Matilda and her mum Sophia; they also run the award-winning village chip shop Tony’s Fish & Chips.
And, when it’s time for the kind Sheffield couple to hang up the “closed” sign at the shop, they never hesitate to share any extra portions with friends living nearby. “Robert always pops round with free leftover chips for us and fishcakes for our dogs,” says Matilda.
“We’re doing a lot of work renovating our house, and there’s been quite a few times when we’ve accidentally knocked through to theirs and had to go round and fix it!” she laughs. “But they’re always so nice about it. They get along with everyone.”
The 18-year-old nominated Robert because he’s not only generous to them, he’s a big-hearted part of their community in other ways too.
Robert has worked at Tony’s in Mosborough for 40 years and owned it since 2002. He regularly supports local charities, churches and football team raffles with donations, and he also helped out his neighbours during lockdown.
“When restrictions first came in, I shut down the shop for 10 weeks and I’d got some 20lb bags of potatoes so I gave those to a couple of neighbours because I knew people were finding it harder to get to the shops,” he says.
“Now we’ve reopened, I always pass anything left at closing time to our near neighbours because I know people do appreciate it.”
Robert, 61, was surprised and delighted to be named as one of Britain’s Best Neighbours. “Whatever we do isn’t for any reward, so this was really nice and totally out of the blue.”