Like Father Like Son

Having found his ideal premises at Los Hidalgos Steve had to fit out an empty locale. As with most projects in Spain it took a little longer than anticipated. One job however did go according to plan. As far as Steve is concerned the only place to have a frying range built is in the home of fish and chips, Yorkshire, specifically Leeds, so, like father like son, he had his range designed and constructed by Hopkins Ltd.

The range was loaded onto a lorry at Pudsey to start its journey to the Costa del Sol. Steve and his English fitters, Keith Marshall and Peter Bell, waited anxiously. In the last week of April the range arrived at Los Hidalgos on a Portuguese articulated vehicle with a Portuguese driver. Steve was heard to mutter, “Not surprised it took so long if it went via Lisbon”.

With liberal lubrication the range was dismantled on the wagon and manhandled into the restaurant where the whole was re-assembled. Meanwhile the Portuguese driver discovered a taste for English ale. It was a tense moment, the time to switch on the range, like the switching on of Blackpool illuminations, would it all work? It did and Marlow’s Fish and Chip Frying Range lit up, literally. As a work of art it is likely to draw the curious as well as the fish and chip connoisseur. The coast has definitely never seen anything like it.

Marlow’s, A Family Affair

In 1965 Ken Marlow, a joiner from Leeds, set off on what was to become the journey of a lifetime, although the rest of his family, wife Maureen, daughter Margaret and five year old son Steven were not necessarily of the same opinion. Ken travelled to Spain and toured the coast from Torremolinos down to Gibraltar on a recon’ mission. To find the ideal place for a British Fish and Chip shop. Full of enthusiasm he returned to Leeds and announced to a disbelieving wife that they were going to sell everything, beautiful detached house in a suburb of Leeds, furniture, car, the lot. They were going to buy a caravan and tow it to Gibraltar. There they were going to open a fish and chip shop. Not just any fish and chip shop but the first ever fish and chip shop on Gibraltar. It was, in Ken’s opinion, time the Gibraltarians had some proper food. Mrs. Marlow made a few stipulations. Under no circumstances was she going anywhere without her cooker, furthermore she would not consider living in just any caravan, it had to be large and comfortable.

Undaunted Ken found just the caravan, a 35 foot mobile home, its twin was last seen being towed by a lorry owned by the lion tamer from Billy Smart’s Circus. Next a vehicle to tow the home. Back in those days there were not too many cars that were capable of towing an un-braked trailer of that size and weight, or legally allowed to for that matter. Ken solved the problem by buying an Austin Princess limousine. Unfortunately the Princess was never designed to tow so there was no tow hitch manufactured for that model. With house sold and the family nearly homeless Ken had to find an answer, and fast before Mrs. Marlow decided it was all a bad idea. A local welder offered a solution, a purpose built tow bar and hitch welded to the chassis.

Fully equipped the whole family moved sedately south to the coast, across the channel and on to La Rochelle where disaster struck. The mobile home decided to come adrift from the car, together with the fuel tank and part of the chassis. In his blunt way Ken soon found a French blacksmith who was nothing if not cutting about the flimsy job done by his English competitor. He welded a pair of railway tracks, French gauge of course, beneath the car, a proper job. With a cheery, “Cela réalisera le travail”, roughly “That should do it”, the Marlows were back on the road.

About a week later they arrived in Gibraltar. The family were installed on a campsite at Catalan Bay and Ken resumed his role as a joiner but only to build his dream shop, Irish Town Fisheries in an old tobacco warehouse. Then began one of life’s strange coincidences. A Leeds firm, A.R. Turner, manufactured the range installed in the shop. It was the first frying range exported anywhere in the world. Mr. Turner had a daughter who eventually married one Paul Bell.

Meanwhile Irish Town Fisheries opened. Ken had really done his marketing. His first order was fish and chips for 500, most of the crew of the Ark Royal on a visit to Gib. He never looked back. Such was the demand from Gibraltar and ex pats in the surrounding areas that Ken became the first person to export his cod and haddock directly to Gibraltar from Norway. The fish and chip shop had a restaurant attached called ‘The York Room’ that soon became a famous meeting place for yachties from all over the world. It was common practise to arrange to meet a fellow yachtsman several months hence at ‘The York Room’. Ken sold the business in 1972 and moved his family back to Leeds where he finished his working life with three fish and chip shops. Sadly Ken died last November at the age of eighty.

We now pick up the story of the son, Steven. Young Steve became a bit of a whiz at the ‘old fish and chip game’ and after formal training as a chef took control of the family business for a good twenty years before selling up and moving back to these parts.

In 2004 Steve became involved with the opening of La Taberna in Castillo and later acquired the lease.

Still with a passion for the fish and chip trade Steve looked for premises to open a fish restaurant, he found them on the doorstep in Los Hidlagos and is now on the verge of opening. The premises are superb with a state of the art custom-built fish range from Hopkins of Leeds and bright modern clean lines. The new range was fitted and tested at Los Hidalgos by none other than Paul Bell. This venue is sure to impress everyone who visits. It seats at least 120 diners inside in air-conditioned and ventilated comfort. There is also a covered terrace and evening take away service.

Just like his dad Ken did back in 1966 Steve will be importing the best quality cod and haddock from sustainable sources.