HEAD’S CHIPPIE IN CLASS OF ITS OWN
YOU’LL usually find him in a suit running a busy high school but in the evenings head teacher Lee Humphreys rolls up his sleeves, dons an apron and gets frying at a fish and chip shop.
When he first opened Fish Kitchen 1854 in Maesycwmmer in 2018 Lee was deputy head at Llanishen High in Cardiff and went straight from school to work in the chippy five nights a week.
Now head at Barry’s Pencoedtre High he can be found making fish suppers two nights a week and is manager of the now multi-awardwinning chip shop.
It was by chance that Lee, a father of two and self-confessed lifelong fish and chip fan, saw a former Chinese take-away up for auction as he drove home with daughter Scarlett one night. Now his venture is listed in the UK’s top 50 chippies.
Lee said: “It literally was that: I just pulled up at the traffic lights and thought the building would be a good fish and chip shop. I had just picked my daughter up from ballet in Blackwood and was on the way home when I saw the old China Diner by the viaduct in Maesycymmer was up for auction.
“I drove home thinking it would be the perfect place for a fish and chip shop. I have always had a huge affinity for fish and chips. I have happy childhood memories of my grandfather taking me to the chippy and sitting on the counter waiting for the fish and chips.
“When I got home I phoned my dad and said: ‘How do you fancy opening a fish and chip shop with me?’ We bought the property at auction and fully refurbished what was a dilapidated property.”
Researching in his spare time, Lee felt they could offer a high-quality product in modern contemporary premises that celebrated the industrial history of the area and good food. But he admits “it was a bit of a leap” and some friends told him he was mad.
After buying the premises Lee and his father Gary went to Leeds for a three-day course learning to make fish and chips with the National Federation of Fish Fryers. There was a moment then when he feared he’d bitten off more than he could chew.
“I thought: ‘How hard can it be?’ The course covered the basics. But even that did not prepare me for what was in front of us. I felt it could not be that difficult to run a fish and chip shop but, trust me, to do it properly is different.
“When we first opened I would leave work at 5pm and be at the fish and chip shop until 10pm every night for a significant time. That nearly killed me and I lost three stone. I went from 16 stone to 13 stone.”
But soon Lee was into his stride. His wife Samantha started to run the shop more day-to-day and Lee employed experienced staff, including Mary Carpenter, a lifelong chip shop worker who had served him fish suppers as a child.
Fish Kitchen 1854 is now so popular it has customers from all over South Wales, with queues running out of the door and has won three awards. It is so successful that Lee and his family are now planning to open a second high-end fish and chip shop in Bargoed.
“My wife Samantha Link is a professional singer and during Covid she took over the fish and chip business day-to-day. I was hands on on Saturdays but not through the week. Now I work there two evenings a week. We now have 14 staff. I am the manager and my wife runs it day-to-day now as I am obviously busy in school and also busy with the new shop.”
Lee said he loves both his jobs. “Being a head teacher is a privilege and I love my job as a head teacher. I am lucky to also have this opportunity. I never expected it to be as successful as it is. We have regulars from as far away as Penarth, Ogmore, Newport and Brecon. We just want to do fish and chips as best we can.”
He said the shop is “more than a bog-standard chippy”. During the Six Nations specials included frogs legs when France played and “Scotland in a box” with Scottish mackerel.
Lee hopes his love of both jobs and focus on quality will inspire his pupils as well as his own children – daughter Scarlett, 14, and son Joseph, seven. His pupils at Pencoedtre High know their head teacher also runs a chippy and have asked him why he doesn’t open a chip shop in Barry. But for now Lee is busy with the forthcoming summer term and opening his second family-run chippy in Bargoed.
The new venture, a high-end fish and chip shop selling food including lobster and prawns, will be named Fish Kitchen 1931 and will open later this summer. Again Lee wants to celebrate local history with good food so there’s an element of education with the chip suppers.
“The shop we have taken over is one of the oldest fish and chip shops in Wales which opened in 1931. We will tell the local history in that building too.”