The building in which the fried fish shop is housed is a replica copied from two shops out of a row of three still standing at numbers 38, 39 and 40 Lower Lichfield Street, Willenhall. Our building represents numbers 39 and 40. The Willenhall shops were originally built as houses and possibly were converted to front room shops between 1900 and 1910. Throughout most of the 1920s and 1930s number 39 was a fried fish dealers'. The outbuilding rebuilt behind the shops at the Museum is a scaled down version of the outbuilding remaining at Willenhall.
In 1994 the Museum collected the frying range and fittings from a fish and chip shop at 49 Old Birchills in Walsall. This shop had been operated from 1933 to 1954 by Mrs May Lambourne and her husband Herbert. Mrs. Lambert cooked and served in the shop while Mr. Lambert peeled the potatoes in the back yard and cleaned the fish in the kitchen.
The frying range from the shop dates between 1926 and 1930 and was made by Walker and Husler, sheet metal workers, of Birmingham. It was originally coal fired. The areas beneath the frying pans were lined with firebricks and the fire itself rested on iron bars directly underneath the pans. The fires were fed with coke using the fire doors situated at each end of the range.
Take a wonder down to the village and taste old-fashioned fish and chips for yourself!
Rollover the captions in the box to see the available images in thumbnail format, click the caption to see the full-size image
| Reference: | 532 |
| Keywords: | Lower Lichfield Street Lambert 1933 1954 Range Chips Food BCLM |
| Archive Ref: | Marketing Photograph Collection |
| Updated: | 16/8/2001 13:49:12 |